D.J. Gets His Major And The U.S.G.A. Couldn’t Stop Him!

Dustin Johnson saved Sunday at the 116th U.S. Open.

He saved himself from the U.S.G.A. powers that did their best to throw him off kilter and he simply crushed his competition to finally capture a major championship.

The U.S. Open title belongs to Johnson. He shot a final round 68 that the U.S.G.A. turned into 69 and he won by four shots until the U.S.G.A. ruled that he only won by three.

Johnson prevailed because he was the coolest cat in the hunt on Sunday.

Overnight leader Shane Lowry led by four shots going into the final 18 holes but that lead was gone by the turn, after all this was Oakmont, in all its fury, all its difficulty and it separated the contenders from the pretenders.

Andy Landry, who refused to go away for 54 holes, went away on Sunday. He shot 78. Lee Westwood, who is now zero-for-73 in major championships, showed us why. He shot 80, including an embarrassing 43 on the front, playing with Johnson. Lowry was in the same boat, a 76 sent him to co-runnerup status.

Johnson saw his victory march turn sour early on the back nine when he was circled by U.S.G.A. officials on the 12th tee and informed that he might be assessed a penalty shot, but that they would have to wait until he was done to determine if a shot would be added to his final score. It revolved around a happening on the fifth green when Johnson thought his ball moved slightly but insisted he did nothing to cause that. The official walking with him made no ruling and all seemed well.

Until six holes later.

Johnson had turned two-under to move a shot in front of Lowry.

A bogey at the 14th tightened things up until Lowry went on a bogey-spree at 14, 15 and 16.

Johnson was four-under par and three in front as he stood on 18 tee, still with the uncertainty of a penalty shot looming.

He ripped it straight down the middle, 328 yards then hit a seven-iron that stopped three feet away. He holed the putt for a closing birdie and a four-shot win until the U.S.G.A. did its thing and hit him up with a shot after the round.

Fortunately, Johnson saved the U.S.G.A. from its own stupidity.

He accepted the trophy in gentlemanly fashion and as he walked off the 18th, got a hug from Jack Nicklaus, who won at Oakmont in 1962.

Lowry and Scott Piercy accepted their second-place medals. Furyk had already left for home. The three finished at one-under par.

“I just tried to focus on what I was doing,” Johnson said afterward, “and not the penalty shot.”

As he looked back on his second to the 18th, he added,  “Might have been one of the best shots I’ve ever hit under the circumstances.”

D.J. also rid himself of a lot of demons from majors past.

“Obviously I have had a bunch of tires and didn’t get it done.  Today I did.”

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