Masters Aftermath: More Majors Coming For Dustin Johnson? - Dog Leg News

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Tom Edrington

Tom Edrington spent the first 10 years of his misguided youth as a sports writer for the Tampa Tribune. His career brought him face to face with many of sports greatest stars -- Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Muhammad Ali, Don Shula, countless Hall of Fame NFL stars, more PGA Tour players than he can count. In 1980 he was honored by the Golf Writers Association of America for writing the best news story that year, his coverage of Jack Nicklaus' U.S. Open victory at Baltusrol. Today, 36 years later, golf is still a great part of his life, thanks to competitive playing days and the wonderful people he has met on this fabulous journey.

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7 Comments

  1. 1

    RM

    Very nice, summary and commentary, Tom. Interesting thoughts about DJ and the mental game. You watch this a lot more closely than I do, but this seems to be becoming a strength of his game in a certain way. All these guys are pretty darn tough mentally to have gotten to where they are, but DJ may be somewhat unique.

    Plenty of experience at the highest level in all types of conditions. He’s been hammered a couple of times in Majors when he was knocking on the door and lived to thrive. He had that crazy sand trap issue at Whistling Straits, and then had a heartbreaking loss in the US Open when he missed that 4 footer. But he’s managed to come back and snag two Majors since, one of which was a nasty humid, soggy slog.

    He has shown his ability to recognize a problem in his game and resolve it – wedge play for example. Yet he doesn’t overthink his game, or seem to get rattled by much of anything, which I think is a huge advantage.

    Maybe I’m wrong, but my perception is that he is continuing to learn to navigate his way around a course also as opposed to bombing driver and letting the chips fall.

    He’s comfortable with and trusts his caddie.

    Even his off course issues may (who really knows?) have help to polish the steel. Having the supportive partner, child, and in laws, the Gretzky’s, seeming to hang in with him has to be an advantage. In any case, he seems able to win even with personal turmoil in his life, and hopefully is continuing to mature as he ages.

    Maybe it will all fall apart, but fascinating to watch from afar.

    1. 1.1

      Tom Edrington

      RM: Thanks for dropping in, appreciate your insights, as always; I believe that DJ is just getting started with his best play; His driving sets up everything; The guys closest to him in the rankings — Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm are not as good as he is with the driver; J.T.’s putting is getting better, Rahm still gets himself into some trouble off the tee; If we ask ourselves: DJ, Rahm, J.T., Rory and everyone else shows up with their “A” game, who will win, I’d say Dustin Johnson. His best is better than anyone else’s. He’s learned from failure. The great Bobby Jones once said: “I never learned anything from a match I won.” I totally agree with Mr. Jones, we learn through our mistakes and failures, for sure.

      1. 1.1.1

        RM

        Good perspective with the A game analysis. Would love to have seen a head on head between DJ and Brooks, with both A games on. Hope we haven’t seen the best of Brooks.

        1. 1.1.1.1

          Tom Edrington

          RM: Just depends on the “real” status of his issues, we have no idea what the doc said to him confidentially…..he’s looking better but has a way to go before he looks like the guy who won four majors.

  2. 2

    baxter cepeda

    At least 4 majors for DJ because I think he gets the career slam.

    I see him easily winning a PGA Champ relatively soon; As in Kiawah SC 2021. Yea his home state.

    And at some point I also see DJ snagging an Open maybe redemption at the Old Course In ‘22.

    He will end up with 6 or more majors imo.

    I can also see him winning a major past the 10 years to his retirement plan. Unlike most golf Opinionators i unretire golf greats instead of always retiring them too soon.

    You and RM did a nice job describing why he will accomplish all of this. So I’ll leave it at that.

    1. 2.1

      Tom Edrington

      Baxter, nice to see that you, like the rest of us, believe that DJ is just hitting his stride!

      1. 2.1.1

        baxter cepeda

        Of course.
        Dj has always had the tools to reach double figure majors. Alas He already left 3-4 of those on the table he should have won. Old course, pebble, whistling straits. These aren’t lost opportunities
        from lack of Preparation; these were all but won.
        But He seems to be on a path now to finish the job when he has his chances.

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