It just wasn’t a fair fight.
When Dustin Johnson hauls out his “A” game, it’s not a fair fight, he hits it too far, too straight and putts too well for anyone else to have a chance.
This fight was over early on Sunday, they could have called it after three rounds out there in Los Angeles at storied Riviera where D.J. sucked the life out of the rest of the field with a third-round 64 that was an incredibly delicious start to a very long final day at the Genesis Open.
Johnson was on his way to becoming the new No. 1 player in the world, and once again, this big cat makes it look really easy when he’s hitting on all cylinders.
Ugly weather on Saturday forced the field to play 36 holes on Sunday — advantage D.J. — he’s bigger and stronger than most of ’em out there and in superb shape. Yeah, big advantage D.J.
All Johnson did was get out there early and shoot 64. He was 17-under and tied the 54-hole tournament record of 196. With a six shot lead, this one was done, this version of Dustin Johnson doesn’t blow leads, he blows entire fields away and that was the case in Los Angeles.
He got off to the start he needed over the final 18, found himself at 20-under and seven in front and then, basically, it got really, really boring, which is a good thing if you’re Dustin Johnson, a bad thing if your Jim Nance and Nick Faldo in the CBS booth, searching for a drop of drama with none to be found. None, nada, zero.
This was a damp stroll in the park for No. 1. He’s no longer just a Master Blaster. The guy has a complete game. His irons are really crisp and he’s dangerous inside 125 yards and when you can launch 350-yard drives, you’re gonna be there often. Add to that the fact that he’s become a really good putter and what you have is a guy who is unbeatable when he wants to be.
Here’s something scary to contemplate: Dustin Johnson led the field in driving distance AND strokes gained putting.
Seriously?
Not fair, is it?
This one got so boring that D.J. basically took his foot off the gas pedal. He got to the tournament record 20-under set by Lanny Wadkins in 1985 but he had 11 holes left and no one, no one could put any heat on him. Give Thomas Pieters some credit. He did shoot the round of the tournament Sunday, a closing 63 but he started 13 back of D.J. and all that got him was a tie for second with unheralded Scott Brown at 12-under par. Fortunately for those guys, second place on the PGA Tour these days looks like a lottery check.
No, this was Dustin Johnson’s day. His day to ascend the throne to No. 1, his day to show that maybe he should be the favorite at Augusta National in April. Why not, he’s the only guy on the PGA Tour who has won a tournament every year for the past 10 years.
“Sounds good,” D.J. responded when asked about that feeling of being top-dog. “Today was a big day. I played good all day. I didn’t finish the last 10 holes the way I’d like to. I had it in cruise control.”
Sure, D.J. was three-over par over those last 10. Hard to concentrate when your playing partners can’t make enough birdies to make you take notice, hard to keep your foot on the gas when you’ve gone 27 in one day and you just want to get it in the house and collect a kiss from Paulina Gretzky.
While the news and the performance was great for Johnson, his final observation may spell trouble for the rest of the PGA Tour:
“This gives me a lot of confidence to work harder and get better.”
Better?
Seriously?
How good can this guy get?
