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#Dustin Johnson couldn’t be hotter heading into daunting US Open task

#Dustin Johnson couldn’t be hotter heading into daunting US Open task

Dustin Johnson has never been to Winged Foot.

That shouldn’t matter, though, considering the way he’s been devouring the PGA Tour for the past month.

Winged Foot for this week’s U.S. Open, is going to be difficult. Very difficult.

That shouldn’t matter to Johnson, either, because the game — regardless of how difficult the venue — looks easy to him right now.

Take his past four tournaments for example: Johnson has won two of them, finished second in the other two and taken at least a share of the 54-hole lead into all four of them.

He’s coming off last week’s Tour Championship victory, winning $15 million and the FedExCup in the process. He’s the unquestioned No. 1-ranked player in the world. He looks kind of invincible.

Asked if he feels like the best player in the world, Johnson, who’s not prone to hyperbole, answered: “I do … and I think the stats show that, too.’’

They sure do.

He has three wins in his 10 starts since the PGA Tour restart of its 2020 season following the COVID-19 pause 14 weeks ago.

He also has two runner-up finishes — at the PGA Championship, where he shot 68 in the final round and was beaten by a better Collin Morikawa, and at the BMW Championship, where a 66-foot birdie putt by Jon Rahm vanquished him on the first extra hole.

Johnson is 66-under par in his past four tournaments.

“I’m definitely playing probably the best I’ve ever played,’’ Johnson said. “I really feel like everything is dialed in pretty well. I’ve got a lot of confidence in everything I’m doing right now. I’ve played well over the last four events and I’m comfortable in the spot that I’m in.

“Even the two Sundays where I didn’t win, I felt like I played really solid rounds. Just a couple guys played a little bit better.’’

Harris English, who finished 19-under par at the Northern Trust and finished second to Johnson, 11 shots back of DJ’s 30-under, had an up-close-and-personal look at his form as they were paired together in that final round.

“He was in a different gear,’’ English recalled. “He wasn’t just trying to win the tournament, he was trying to set records. We were walking up No. 17, and he was like, ‘Yeah, the whole day I was trying to get to 30-under,’ and damn if he didn’t birdie 18 to get to 30-under.

“It was incredible to watch. He never took the foot off the gas. I mean, he was going at every pin. It was incredible to watch. He had no fear at all, and I guess when you have that much confidence in your game, he had nothing to worry about.’’

Even at a venue like Winged Foot, which has carved out a reputation for crushing wills in U.S. Opens.

Remember the “Massacre at Winged Foot’’ in 1974? Hale Irwin won that U.S. Open at 7-over par. Geoff Ogilvy won the last U.S. Open played there at 5-over par in 2006.

Dustin Johnson
Dustin JohnsonGetty Images

If you think any of that bothers the unflappable Johnson, you haven’t been paying a lot of attention.

This is not to say Johnson — in a career that has produced 23 victories, including the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont — has not been immune to some troubled waters. For a while, in fact, his career was defined by calamity in the biggest moments.

There was the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, when he quickly leaked away a final-round lead and shot 82. Seven weeks later, in the 2010 PGA at Whistling Straits, he grounded his club in a bunker and cost himself a win because of a two-shot penalty. Then there was the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, where he three-putted from 12 feet on the 72nd hole to lose to Jordan Spieth.

Less than two months ago, when Johnson shot a pair of 80s to miss the cut at the Memorial then withdrew from the 3M Open the following week with a bad back, it hardly looked like he was going to go on the tear he’s been on for the past month.

“The thing about DJ is you never know,’’ Justin Thomas said. “I played with him at the Memorial and I’ve never seen him as lost, anywhere remotely close to that lost. He was grinding his ass off. He was putting so bad and playing so bad.

“But he never gave up. He wasn’t quitting. He was just trying to find it out there and he couldn’t find it again the next week. And then next thing you know, two months later he’s the FedExCup champion and running away.’’

So … mighty Winged Foot with your gnarly rough and narrow fairways, beware the hottest golfer in the world this week.

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