Dustin Johnson’s main problem is imminent

Nine years ago, then-No. 3 player Dustin Johnson arrived in Oakmont and wrote the decisive moments of his golf career.

Suffering from tough luck and close call, long-bombing Johnson entered the 2016 U.S. Open, still looking for his first professional profession – a victory in finding his rare ease of strength and accuracy always says he is destined to keep him safe. But Johnson’s main champion scars are deep and weighs a lot, even if he will never let you know.

The final 82 rounds left him wasting a three-stroke lead at Pebble Beach’s 2010 U.S. Open in 2010. Next was the PGA Championship in 2010 at the Whistle Channel, where Johnson took root in what he believed was a trampled area, only to find it designated as a bunker. That minute’s penalty kick brought him out of the playoffs. In the 2011 Open Championship, Johnson rode the rankings in the final round and then blew his 2 iron out of the boundary of the 14th hole to destined his chance to have a fuchsia jug. The 2015 Open at Chambers Bay won his first major on the 72nd hole, with Johnson having a 12-foot eagle on the 72nd hole. He scored three points and Jordan Spieth won the trophy.

By the time the 2016 U.S. Open was rolling, the 31-year-old Johnson was surrounded by questions about whether he had ever risen to the heights he thought of when he was on the PGA Tour. That week in Oakmont, Johnson silenced them.

Johnson is excellent in Oakmont. He scored 2.4 shots per round. He ranked No. 1 in the greens, No. 11 in strokes, close to the top 30 around greens and putts. He beat three shots at Shane Lowry, Jim Furyk and Scott Piercy. If it weren’t for the last round of a suspicious fine, until Johnson made a joke, he would have won four points.

That day, Dustin Johnson defeated his main champion demon and joined his birth brotherhood.

Nine years later, Johnson’s situation was mostly the same.

He still seems to be wandering around the world, which seems to be uncareful in the world. His sporty, 6-foot-4 frame still blows the ball into the sky effortlessly. He behaves as he did when he won the PGA Tour, both exaggerated and demeanor. There is grey in his beard now. He put on his Taylormade hat with four Aac hats and replaced four ACES hats after he moved to Liv Golf.

However, golf (a championship level that can dominate any track golf) seems to have disappeared.

Johnson missed five layoffs in 10 major starts since 2023. He is expected to compete in the Masters last weekend, then bogeyed at 17 and doubled, booking a Friday flight home. He missed a mile in the 2025 PGA Championship. He hasn’t won LIV in LAS Las Vegas since last February. He is now the number one player in the world on every data golf course, which is the LIV golf event. Johnson will score 0.40 per round of the season this season, according to Data Golf’s adjusted strokes. Ranked 12th in LIV and tied him with Steven Fisk for 31st. Johnson lost his brushstroke around the approach and green. He can only get 0.03 serve per round. That will tie for 49th place on the PGA Tour with Sami Valimaki.

In 2020, when Johnson won the last major in the Fall Masters, he scored 1.63 in green per round. Even during the final tour of the 2022 PGA Tour, Johnson scored 1.30 shots per round.

However, he arrived at the 2025 U.S. Open in Oakmont, which was his crowning achievement, feeling closure Just like all elite golfers.

“It’s nice to finally see some progress in the game,” Johnson said Tuesday at Oakmont. “I know my score doesn’t reflect it on the PGA, but I actually performed better than the score. I just struggled a little on the green. Well, maybe it’s an understatement. My struggles on the green are really bad.

“Golf is a weird sport,” Johnson continued. “I don’t feel like I’m slipping. My score hasn’t been reflected yet, but it’s a really good line. I remember a few years ago, I missed two cuts. I think I hit 80-80.

In Liv Virginia, Johnson scored 1.39 per round and tee 0.78. It was his third best stroke, second only to Lev Mexico City and Singapore Liv City.

Maybe the game is coming when Johnson returns to Oakmont, and a bigger question there is about his future of golf begins to loom.

Johnson needs a special invitation to enter the 2025 PGA Championship field. The 2025 Open Champion at Royal Portrait will be his last Open Champion to win in the 2020 Masters. Johnson exempted the U.S. Open with Shinnecock next year, but then ran out of 10-year grants he received from the 2016 victory.

Given Johnson’s game, his age, part of Reeve Golf of the equation and his extension of his ongoing questions about improving his craft, it’s a fair question whether we can wonder if we’re starting to withdraw from the Dustin Johnson era outside the Masters’ big champion golf course. Johnson can still get exemptions from the US PGA. USGA and RE&A have created a LIV golf waiver that will require him to be the highest non-waiver on the list. He can hone through local and final qualifying matches. All are options.

But when Dustin Johnson searches for the other end of the “fine line” he can be Dustin Johnson again, the sand is pouring out his main champion hourglass.

Nine years ago, Dustin Johnson did what he did in Taming Oakmont, becoming a course with only elite victory, becoming a U.S. Open champion. This is what golf fate realizes.

Now, as the sun seems to start falling into his Hall of Fame career, Dustin Johnson returns to Oakmont, knowing that the shadows are longer than ever, but believing that he can still transcend faded light with the same equation, making him a golf legend: graceful powerful, precise, precise, unwavering manner.

For Dustin Johnson, that would be enough in 2016. This has always been enough. But in Oakmont, reminders are everywhere, and it is worth mentioning whether his search produces the expected results.

If we’ll see That Dustin Johnson again.

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