Dustin Johnson will become the world’s No. 1 next week and he’s not even teeing it up at the Honda Classic.
No D.J. will be out on his boat, hitting Starbucks, the gym or whatever he normally does on his off weeks at home in Jupiter.
Following his victory last week at the WGC-Mexico, D.J.’s been installed at the favorite at The Masters by WestGate Las Vegas SuperBook. He’s 10-to-1 with Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Tiger Woods behind him at 12-to-1.
This is starting to look eerily similar to 2017.
D.J. won in Los Angeles (Genesis) then won the WGC-Mexico and took the WGC Match Play.
He was the hottest man on the planet coming into the 2017 Masters, a huge favorite to win the Green Jacket.
Then D.J. went all Humpty-Dumpty on everyone, slipped in his stocking feet and tumbled down the stairs at his Augusta rental home.
Ouch.
He showed up briefly, tried to warm up that fateful Thursday then the mission was scrubbed. He rebounded to win the U.S. Open, tied for ninth at the Open Championship then missed the cut at the PGA. He came out of it all with his first major.
Closest he’s been to a second major since then was a third at the 2018 U.S. Open.
Which brings us to 2019.
D.J. looked every bit the world’s best player last week. He clubbed Rory McIlroy and everyone else into submission, a runaway victory. Rory was fortunate to get within five by day’s end last Sunday.
Johnson’s schedule heading into Augusta has The Players and WGC-Match Play in the lineup, beyond that it’s a guess.
What we do know is that this looks a lot like 2017.
Which means D.J. needs to rent a one-story house in Augusta.
