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Dustin Johnson

Pga tour wins, 2008 1 pga tour wins.

Turning Stone Resort Championship

2009 1 PGA tour wins

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

2010 2 PGA tour wins

BMW Championship

2011 1 PGA tour wins

The Barclays

2012 1 PGA tour wins

FedEx St. Jude Classic

2013 2 PGA tour wins

Hyundai Tournament of Champions

World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions

2015 1 PGA tour wins

World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship

2016 3 PGA tour wins

World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational

2017 4 PGA tour wins

Genesis Open

World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship

World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play

Northern Trust

2018 3 PGA tour wins

Sentry Tournament of Champions

RBC Canadian Open

2019 1 PGA tour wins

Exempt status.

Winner of the U.S. Open during the past five seasons. (Exempt through December 31, 2021).

Career Highlight

Johnson vanquished the demons of near misses at the majors when he triumphed at the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont for his first major championship trophy.

5 Things to Know

Dj's pga tour suspension.

In 2014, Johnson was suspended by the PGA Tour for six months after a drug test returned a positive result for cocaine, forcing Johnson to miss the PGA Championship. It was Johnson’s third failed drug test, following one for marijuana in 2009 and two for cocaine, in 2012 and 2014. In August, Johnson announced he would take a leave of personal absence with the events bringing to light Johnson’s conduct off the course – including frequent sighting at bars in Jupiter and a sexual indiscretion with at least one wife of a fellow PGA Tour player.

DJ's caddie/brother

Johnson has had brother, Austin, on the bag for six years since he first caddied for DJ at the Perth International in Australia in 2013. DJ admits Austin is his “best friend” and the pair have achieved enormous success on the course. Austin graduated from the Charleston Southern University in 2013 and was considering a career in pharmaceutical sales before he got the call to carry his brother’s clubs. Austin played point guard for the Charleston Southern University basketball team.

Major collapses

Johnson had a history of collapses and controversies at the majors before finally triumphing at the 2016 US Open. Johnson led going into the final round at the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach, but playing in the last pairing on Sunday, capitulated with an 82 to finish tied for eighth as Graeme McDowell won. Then in the final round of the 2010 PGA Championship, Johnson held a one-shot lead entering the final hole when he received a two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in a bunker, dropping him to a tie for fifth place. Even his 2016 US Open victory was shrouded in controversy; he was informed by the USGA mid-round of a looming penalty for his ball accidentally moving on a green.

Dustin Johnson's fiancee Paulina Gretzky

In August 2013, Johnson became engaged to model, singer, and celebutante Paulina Gretzky, daughter of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, after seven months of dating. The pair have not yet married. Golf fanatic Gretzky Sr. is a regular amateur partner of Johnson’s in the Pebble Beach Pro Am. Johnson and Paulina have two sons, Tatum Gretzky and River Jones. In 2018, Gretzky deleted all images of Johnson from her Instagram account, sparking rumors of a split. However, the couple made up after Johnson released a statement insisting he was committed to being a family man.

Career money list

Johnson was the fifth golfer to surpass $50 million in career prize money on the PGA Tour. With $57 million, Johnson sits fifth on the all-time list behind Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk. Johnson is a potent winner, with his 19 PGA Tour titles placing him behind only Woods and Mickelson as most wins by active players on the PGA Tour. When Johnson claimed the 2018 Tournament of Champions, it was his 11th consecutive season with a win on the PGA Tour dating back to his rookie year in 2008 when he won the Turning Stone Resort Championship.

Things He Does For Fun

Water sports.

Johnson is a lover of all things water sports. He owns a boat which he and brother/caddie Austin spend copious amounts of time taking out around Jupiter, FL and to the Bahamas, fishing and diving along the way.

Johnson and fiancée Paulina are avid globetrotters and document their travels well on social media. Johnson isn’t afraid of long haul flights to play events across the globe, and regularly takes the family, including children, Tatum and River Jones, along with him.

Suit collection

Johnson owns a large suit collection, containing around 30 Prada and Dolce & Gabbana suits. At 6-foot-4, he is a 41 long. The obsession may be related to his James Bond film fandom, which also influenced his decision to own a $300,000 Aston Martin.

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Dustin Johnson Resigns From PGA Tour and Commits to Rival LIV Golf

Johnson’s resignation could help him avoid a suspension or a lifetime ban from the tour’s commissioner, Jay Monahan, who has indicated that punishment on that level was a possibility.

By Bill Pennington

Dustin Johnson, a two-time major golf champion, surrendered his PGA Tour status on Tuesday and said that for the immediate future he planned only to play in major tournaments and events sponsored by the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit.

Appearing at a news conference in advance of the first of eight LIV Golf events in 2022 that will begin Thursday at the Centurion Club outside London, Johnson also occasionally used terms like “right now” and “for now” when describing his decision to bolt from the PGA Tour.

“For right now, I’ve resigned my membership on the tour,” said Johnson, who joined the PGA Tour in 2008 and is ranked 15th in the world. He added that he would play the LIV tour, “for now, that’s the plan.”

The breakaway tour headlined by Greg Norman has promised hefty appearance fees and a format that guarantees every entrant six-figure payouts, with 48 players competing for $25 million in prize money in a 54-hole format with no cut. A report last week in The Telegraph said Johnson was paid $125 million to join LIV Golf, whose major shareholder is the Public Investment Fund , the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia worth more than $600 billion.

Johnson’s PGA Tour resignation could help him avoid a suspension or a lifetime ban from the tour’s commissioner, Jay Monahan, who has indicated that punishment on that level was a possibility. But so far, the United States-based PGA Tour has remained quiet as Johnson and others, such as Phil Mickelson , the six-time major champion who has earned more than $94 million at tour events, have signaled that they will play in this week’s LIV Golf tournament. Monahan’s lack of response may just be a bit of institutional timing. PGA Tour players are not in violation of any of the tour’s regulations until they actually play in a rival event without permission — and the tour has not given its consent for any players requesting to play this week in England.

One thing is certain: Under current guidelines, if Johnson is not a member of the PGA Tour, he cannot play in the biennial Ryder Cup, a ballyhooed competition between top golfers from the United States and Europe with a history that dates to 1927. Johnson has played in the Ryder Cup five times, including last year when he was undefeated in five matches and helped lead the United States to a dominating victory.

But on Tuesday, at least in his mind, the door was still open to play in the upcoming Ryder Cups.

“Obviously all things are subject to change,” Johnson said. “Hopefully at some point, it will change and I’ll be able to participate. If it doesn’t, well, it was another thing I really had to think long and hard about. Ultimately, I decided to come to this and play out here.

“The Ryder Cup is unbelievable and something that has definitely meant a lot to me. I’m proud to say I’ve represented my country, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to do that again. But I don’t make the rules.”

Johnson’s eligibility for all the major golf championships is not a certainty, although on Tuesday the United States Golf Association released a statement that it would not bar any player who was eligible. “Our decision regarding our field for the 2022 U.S. Open should not be construed as the USGA supporting an alternative organizing entity, nor supportive of any individual player actions or comments,” the statement said. “Rather, it is simply a response to whether or not the USGA views playing in an alternative event, without the consent of their home tour, an offense that should disqualify them for the U.S. Open.” Johnson qualifies for a spot in the field in multiple ways, not the least of which being that he won the championship in 2016. The same is true for Mickelson, who already has a spot in the 2022 U.S. Open and in next month’s British Open.

Johnson has also qualified for this year’s British Open because of his 2020 Masters victory. The Masters title would normally make him welcome at the Masters for many years to come, as well as at a fourth major, the P.G.A. Championship, for the next five years.

But the Masters is run by Augusta National Golf Club, which has proved in the past that it would make decisions independently. The P.G.A. Championship is governed by the PGA of America. Before that event was held last month, the organization’s chief executive, Seth Waugh, pledged his loyalty to the established PGA Tour, which he referred to as part of golf’s existing ecosystem.

“Our bylaws do say that you have to be a recognized member of a recognized tour in order to be a PGA member somewhere, and therefore eligible to play,” Waugh said, speaking of the P.G.A. Championship.

Asked about the alternative LIV Golf tour, Waugh answered: “We think the structure of — I don’t know if it’s a league, it’s not a league at this point — but the league structure is somewhat flawed.”

How easy it might be for players to try to jockey back and forth between the LIV Golf Invitational series and golf’s biggest events, including the PGA Tour, is not known. Professional golf is largely in uncharted territory, at least in modern times.

The LIV Golf prize money and the reported upfront payments to Johnson, and to Mickelson who received a $200 million contract according to Golf Channel, are staggeringly large in comparison to payouts on the PGA Tour. Players scoring in the bottom half of the field after two rounds in most tour events typically earn nothing. And yet, the leading, young stars of the PGA Tour have nonetheless remained unwaveringly loyal.

Johnson is one of only two top 30 players to join LIV Golf. (Louis Oosthuizen, ranked 21st, is the other.) But the overwhelming majority of the rest in the top 30, who are both the vanguard overtaking the game and generally in their 20s or early 30s, have stood with the PGA Tour.

Johnson is 37, and Oosthuizen is 39 and said on Tuesday that he only planned to play one more year on the PGA Tour. In fact, many of the golfers who have committed to this week’s LIV Golf event have seen a declining world ranking lately: Sergio Garcia, 42, was ranked 10th in the men’s world rankings five years ago is now 57th; Graeme McDowell, 42, was ranked 15th in 2012 and is currently No. 374; Ian Poulter, 46, was ranked 12th a decade ago and is now 92nd; Martin Kaymer, 37, the world’s top-ranked men’s golfer in 2011 is now ranked 215th.

There is no inevitability that the PGA Tour’s young guard will maintain their solidarity, especially after next month’s British Open, the last major of the season, is contested. The PGA Tour schedule winds down in August when it turns toward the season-ending FedEx Cup playoffs, which awards the winner an ample $15 million. But some tour players who do not qualify for those playoffs might be enticed to enter some of the final, lucrative LIV Golf events in September and October.

That might especially be true for golfers with lesser tour status, but they would most likely still face a suspension from the PGA Tour that could continue into next year. And perhaps beyond. Is that worth it?

The situation, and the professional golf landscape, is evolving. Johnson, a prominent figure in golf, and Mickelson, a fading, aging — albeit popular — golf personality, have seemed to turn their backs on the status quo. At least temporarily, to hear some of Johnson’s words.

Mickelson, it is worth noting, insisted on Tuesday that he planned to keep the lifetime PGA Tour membership he has earned in his long career.

If it sounds knotty, keep in mind it could become more tangled. The next stage of golf’s burgeoning face-off may be in court.

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Aaron Rodgers’s Achilles’ Heel: The N.F.L. great was supposed to be the Jets’ savior. But since arriving in New York, he has spent more time voicing conspiracy theories  than playing quarterback.

A Key to Knicks’ Season: Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo have been buddies since college , a situation that those who study the workplace say can foster success.

The Future of College Sports: A   National Labor Relations Board testimony, now in the hands of a judge, could have wide-ranging consequences  — positive and negative — for athletes and their institutions.

Voice of Problem Gambling: Craig Carton, the bombastic sports broadcaster, shows a different side on a weekly show  that focuses on the stories of gambling  addicts like himself.

American Pizazz Meets Sumo: At Madison Square Garden, New Yorkers got a rare look at an ancient Japanese sport , cheering and booing as though they were watching a Yankees game.

Biography of Dustin Johnson

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Dustin Johnson has been a success almost from the moment he showed up on the PGA Tour as one of pro golf's longest drivers. His power can overwhelm golf courses, but, early in his career, he had a knack for blowing big opportunities and a reputation as something of a wild child. Once he settled down and started a family, the wins — including his first major championship trophy — only increased, and he also reached No. 1 in the world rankings.

Johnson's Tour Wins

• PGA Tour: 20 (Johnson's individual tournament wins are listed below)
• Major championships: 1

Johnson's one win in a major (so far) happened at the 2016 U.S. Open.

Awards and Honors for Dustin Johnson

• PGA Tour Player of the Year, 2016
• PGA Tour money leader, 2016
• PGA Tour scoring average leader, 2016
• Member, Team USA in Ryder Cup , 2010, 2012, 2016, 2018
• Member, Team USA in Presidents Cup , 2011, 2015, 2017
• Member, Team USA in Walker Cup , 2007

Johnson's Early Years and Start as a Pro Golfer

Johnson was born on June 22, 1984, in Columbia, S.C., and he stayed in South Carolina through the early part of his career. That included playing college golf for Coastal Carolina University. Johnson was a seven-time NCAA winner at CCU, and was named first-team All-American in 2006 and 2007. He was the Big South's Conference Player of the Year three successive seasons.

Also while an amateur, Johnson played on Team USA's winning Palmer Cup and Walker Cup squads. Shortly after that Walker Cup appearance, Johnson turned pro. He made his pro debut at the 2007 Valero Texas Open , missing the cut.

Over the last few months of 2007, Johnson entered all three stages of PGA Tour Q-School , and he wound up finishing 14th in the final stage — good enough to earn his rookie status on the PGA Tour for 2008.

Johnson immediately showed the huge power that would come to be the hallmark of his game. (Since 2008, Johnson has never finished outside the Top 5 in the tour's driving distance stats.) He posted three Top 10 finishes as a rookie and finished 42nd on the money list. And he won his first tournament, the Turning Stone Resort Championship, with birdies on each of the final two holes.

Johnson added another win in 2009, then entered a period where his stardom grew quickly, although not always for the right reasons.

Close Calls and Major Collapses

The year 2010 was a breakout season for Johnson. He won twice on the PGA Tour and made his first Ryder Cup team. And he was in the thick of things at two majors before late collapses or blunders cost him.

At the 2010 U.S. Open , Johnson held a three-stroke lead after three rounds. But in the final round, he ballooned to an 82 and fell to fifth place.

Then at the 2010 PGA Championship , Johnson appeared to finish the tournament at Whistling Straits tied for lead and in a playoff. But on the final hole, Johnson had failed to recognize he was in a bunker and subsequently received a 2-stroke penalty for grounding his club in a hazard. That knocked him out of the playoff and down to fifth place.

But while Johnson inadvertently laid claim to the "best without a major" title, he continued winning other tournaments. That included multiple WGC events. He blew another opportunity in a major, however, at the 2015 U.S. Open , where Johnson missed a three-foot eagle putt on the final hole that would have given him the title.

Johnson's First Major Win Came With Controversy

Even when Johnson did earn that first major championship — it happened at the 2016 U.S. Open and was his 10th overall win on the PGA Tour — it came with controversy.

During the final round, on his fifth hole, Johnson's ball moved slightly on the green as he was preparing to putt. After stepping away and speaking with the on-site rules official, Johnson was told there was no penalty and continued. However, a few holes later USGA officials approached Johnson and told him after reviewing the incident, he probably would face a penalty — but one they would not decide on until after the round. Johnson played the remainder of the final round under the cloud of not knowing exactly what his score was (penalty stroke or no?). 

Johnson rendered the penalty moot, however, by shooting 69 and winning by three strokes.

Keeping the Momentum Going: Johnson Reaches No. 1

That U.S. Open win was the first of three PGA Tour victories by Johnson in 2016, a year in which he also led the tour in earnings and scoring average and won the Player of the Year Award .

In 2017, Johnson won four tournaments, two of which were WGC events. His first win of 2017 was the Genesis Open , and that victory pushed Johnson, for the first time, into the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Johnson opened 2018 by winning the Sentry Tournament of Champions, his 17th career PGA Tour. Johnson joined Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson as the only golfers of the past three decades to reach 17 career wins before age 34.

Dustin Johnson's Family

Johnson's longtime partner is model and onetime celebutante Paulina Gretzky. Paulina, daughter of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, was not unknown to golf fans even before she started dating Johnson; the entire Gretzky family is golf-mad.

Johnson and Gretzky are not married, but have been together since 2013. They got engaged in mid-2013. The couple has two sons: Tatum (born Jan. 19, 2015) and River (born June 12, 2017).

Johnson's brother Austin is his caddie.

Controversies: Drug Suspensions

In the middle of the 2014 season, Johnson announced a leave of absence from the PGA Tour to deal with "personal challenges." But according to several golf publications, the break was because Johnson had been suspended by the PGA Tour for a positive drug test. Golf Magazine reported that Johnson tested positive for cocaine use.

The PGA Tour had a policy of never announcing or confirming suspensions due to drug testing, and the tour maintained Johnson's leave was voluntary. Golf Magazine , however, reported that Johnson had also been suspended by the tour for a positive drug test in 2009 and another one in 2012.

Dustin Johnson Trivia

• Three of Johnson's first seven wins were in tournaments shortened to 54 holes due to bad weather: the 2009 Pebble Beach Pro-Am, 2011 Barclays and 2013 Tournament of Champions.
• Through the end of the 2017 season, Johnson had five wins in World Golf Championships (WGC) events . That's more than anyone else not named Tiger Woods (Woods leads with 18 wins in such tournaments).
• Through 2018, Johnson has at least one PGA Tour victory in every season since his rookie one, 11 seasons in a row. Only Jack Nicklaus (17) and Tiger Woods (14) had longer such streaks beginning with their rookie years.

List of Dustin Johnson's Pro Wins

Here are all the PGA Tour tournaments won by Johnson, listed chronologically:

• 2008 Turning Stone Resort Championship
• 2009 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
• 2010 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
• 2010 BMW Championship
• 2011 The Barclays
• 2012 FedEx St. Jude Classic
• 2013 Hyundai Tournament of Champions
• 2013 WGC HSBC Champions
• 2015 WGC Cadillac Championship
• 2016 U.S. Open
• 2016 WGC Bridgestone Invitational
• 2016 BMW Championship
• 2017 Genesis Open
• 2017 WGC Mexico Championship
• 2017 WGC Dell Technologies Match Play
• 2017 The Northern Trust
• 2018 Sentry Tournament of Champions
• 2018 FedEx St. Jude Classic
• 2018 RBC Canadian Open
• 2019 WGC Mexico Championship

Johnson also has one win on the European Tour, the 2019 Saudi International.

Dustin Johnson Fast Facts

• Full Name : Dustin Hunter Johnson
• Also Known As : D.J.
• Occupation : Golfer
• Born : June 22, 1984 in Columbia, South Carolina, USA
• Education : Coastal Carolina University 
• Key Accomplishments : Winner of the 2016 U.S. Open and 2016 PGA Tour Player of the Year
• Famous Quote : "Golf is a weird sport. Some days you got it. Some days you don't."
• Offbeat Fact : Hit the longest drive on the PGA Tour in 2017 — a 439-yard blast during the WGC Bridgestone Invitational.
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How Dustin Johnson's South Carolina roots molded him into a Major Champion

The stories are true.

Biff Lathrop heard about them and Chris Miller saw them play out in person in Irmo, South Carolina – a two-and-a-half-hour drive from The Ocean Course on Kiawah Island.

As a youngster on the outskirts of Columbia, Dustin Johnson won a lot of money for himself and a lot of other golfers at the Mid Carolina Club, where his father, Scott, served as the head professional in the 1990s. Known for his raw power and ability to card rounds in the low 60s on a daily basis at courses throughout his neck of the woods, the current top-ranked golfer in the world was turning heads and filling pockets long before he raised the U.S. Open trophy in 2016 or put on a green jacket at the Masters Tournament in 2020.

“The stories about people betting on him at age 14 or so are definitely true over at Mid Carolina when I was a pro at Timberlake. That happened every Friday — that’s a given there,” Miller said, laughing.

Lathrop, executive director of the Irmo-based South Carolina Golf Association, doesn’t have a personal remembrance of any particular moment involving a young DJ, but he’s been around long enough to hear the tales.

“He was a legend around here before he became a legend around the world,” said Lathrop, whose father, Happ, is regarded by many as “Mr. Golf” in South Carolina after serving as the SCGA’s executive director across four decades.

“I can’t speak on anything he did, like driving a par 5 or anything like that … I just know he took a lot of people’s money at a very young age.”

Those stories and memories flooded the minds of Lathrop and Miller in November as they watched Johnson put his twist on a Masters Tournament unlike any other.

“After Dustin won it and we all got to watch, there’s more people that had never talked about golf who were talking about golf all of a sudden in Irmo,” Lathrop said.

“He was the highlight and I think everybody is really excited for him.”

Miller was one of Johnson’s golf coaches during his time at Dutch Fork High School and the former managing director of the South Carolina Junior Golf Association.

He’ll never forget how he felt on Masters Sunday in 2020 as he watched Johnson become the first South Carolinian to put on a green jacket inside Butler Cabin.

“I can’t speak for everybody, but I think for everybody that knew him in South Carolina, that was one of the best days we’ve had yet,” Miller said.

“Obviously, I was just extremely pumped for him. My wife’s sitting over there and I’ve got tears in my eyes and she’s like, ‘It’s a golf tournament, honey.’ ”

Miller was quick with his response.

“You don’t understand,” he replied. “You don’t know what this one means to this kid. I know what it meant to Dustin. I thought that was pretty cool.”

From cutting his teeth at a driving range that’s now an apartment complex to bringing Augusta’s famed course to its knees, Johnson made it look easy at times. But his path has been paved with hard work and an appreciation for a game that’s forever connected him to his roots in the Palmetto State. 

BEAT BALLS UNTIL THE COWS CAME HOME 

Johnson’s laid-back demeanor often leads to conversations about his work ethic and how much time he puts into his game.

Johnson has never lacked the drive to get better. He spent countless hours at two spots as he began to get serious about golf: The Club at Rawls Creek and Weed Hill Driving Range.

Luckily for Johnson, they were located across the street from one another.

He’d shut both down many a night and, ironically, both are now closed. But Miller remembers the work Johnson put in at those venues.

“It was a public golf course, and it wasn’t anything special by any stretch. The members called it an outdoor pool hall,” Miller said.

“Dustin was one of the cart guys there, along with a lot of these kids who all played together on all these high school teams. … It seems like they were always there. When they were out of school, they were there from 8 till dark at the golf course or driving range. They just played and beat balls until the cows came home.”

Johnson recalls hitting a seemingly endless supply of balls into Lake Murray from the front yard of a house that belonged to Art Whisnant, his late grandfather.

As Johnson became older and started to play in more events around South Carolina, Miller noticed the growth. He knew this kid had the goods to be something special.

“He was definitely a little bit above the normal, as a special player. It was fun to see the progression,” Miller said.

“He didn’t play a lot of tournament golf compared to some of the other juniors at the time, just due to some family scheduling and how much time he could play. When he did, he was always competitive, and he always could hit it a mile.”

That behind-the-scenes work led to some remarkable feats. Johnson won the Columbia city championship in both of his appearances, but Miller always goes back to an astounding three-day stretch.

“A lot of these kids could go out and shoot 3-, 4-, 5-under par on a given day. Dustin had gone out, and over a three-period day between two golf courses that we had eight miles apart, he had shot 63, 64, 63,” Miller continued.

“He had done that in a week. That kind of sets yourself a little diff erent from what the rest of the guys are doing.”

Johnson also won the state junior championship and finished in the top 10 of the state high school tournament as a seventh-grader. By his senior year, after transferring to Dutch Fork, he helped win the 2002 state championship by 26 strokes in the state’s largest classification.

It was a team, as Miller candidly described it, that “destroyed everybody.”

As part of the SCGA, Miller got to see Johnson and his brother, Austin, play a lot on the junior circuit. The golf was pleasant, but Dustin’s hair during a certain Georgia-South Carolina team match also sticks out in Miller’s memories.

“He had dyed his hair orangish-red and we still have a picture at the golf association offices. It looked hideous, so we gave him a lot of crap about that,” Miller said with a laugh.

“It was not a good look on him, but as a kid he was always extremely quiet. On the high school teams, the guys almost had to really talk him into playing high school golf, and I’m glad they did.”

Despite the hair, Miller knew Johnson was capable of achieving greatness.

“There’s no doubt in the quality of golf that he was playing, but he also worked at it, even at that age. He was at the golf course and practice range every day,” Miller said.

When former Coastal Carolina coach Allen Terrell called Miller to “get some impressions” on Johnson, Miller discussed that three-day stretch in the low 60s.

Johnson later committed to Coastal Carolina and Terrell helped the young golfer go from a “raw” talent to one that was chasing a chance to do it for a living. 

HE STILL CALLS HIM ‘COACH’  

When asked about his earliest impression of Johnson, Terrell had a one-word answer: “Skinny.”

“He was a really tall, skinny kid back then,” Terrell added. “He hit it further with some speed at an early age; nothing earth-shattering. I’d say a raw junior golfer with a lot of upside.”

So how did Johnson make his way to Conway, S.C., to play for Terrell?

“You’d probably have to ask Dustin that one,” Terrell said, laughing. “I think, maybe, I was just the last man standing. Maybe other schools, and I don’t want to speak for them, may have quit trying. I think maybe they weren’t sure if he was gonna play college golf. His grandmother confirmed to me that he was.

“We were happy that (Johnson’s grandmother) Carole Jones was retiring and moving to Myrtle Beach and there was a connection there. To get a good player, there was some luck involved.”

Jones, who died in 2008, helped Johnson pay for college and financed his junior and amateur careers. Like most grandmothers, Terrell said, she thought Johnson was the best thing in the world.

“Back then we had fax machines, so she was faxing me his results. It really wasn’t about making our team better at the time,” Terrell recalled.

“Of course, we were getting a solid player but it being a South Carolina state school and having a kid from South Carolina that had a lot of upside, it was really about giving a kid a chance. This was late July — we didn’t have scholarships available at that point. I’m trying to convince a good player to come for free in Year 1. Not what I would have wanted, it was just the situation and the timing. Thankfully, it worked out for everyone.”

And so began the tough-love relationship between Johnson and Terrell, who added an element of structure and increased discipline to the young golfer’s life.

“If you get a chance to be around him and Allen Terrell, to this day it’s amazing that there’s still so much respect there. He still calls him, ‘Coach.’ It’s Coach Terrell, it’s not Allen,” Miller said.

“Allen put him on the golf team with a lot of practice regimen and, obviously, didn’t mess much with the golf swing as far as the physicality of it. The regimen, you see where his maturity as a golfer came in and the next thing you know, he’s winning amateur events and it’s like, ‘Now we’re starting to see something.’ ”

By the time he left Coastal Carolina, Johnson had won multiple tournaments as a two-time First Team AllAmerican and led the Chanticleers to a program-best fifth-place finish in the 2007 NCAA Championships.

Today, Terrell is the head instructor for Johnson’s golf school at the TPC Myrtle Beach and is the vice president of Johnson’s foundation, which benefits junior golf with a focus on growing the game in Myrtle Beach and beyond.

“It went from me having to be – probably Dustin would say an asshole – a disciplinarian with structure and stuff like that to a big brother of sorts and a friend,” Terrell said.

“When you’re coaching, everyone has their different philosophies and strategies. I felt more comfortable being at arm’s length with players and not being buddy, buddy. But we’re both quite older now and we’re talking 17 years ago. He can say whatever he wants to me. Whatever he needs, Dustin knows he can always call me.” 

MORE THAN A NAME ON A TOURNAMENT  

Johnson didn’t “create South Carolina golf.”

“To be fair, there’s a hell of a lot of good players that’s come out of South Carolina before DJ,” Terrell said.

Terrell’s not wrong. Jonathan Byrd, Bill Haas, Lucas Glover, D.J. Trahan, Scott Brown and Kevin Kisner are among the most-recent greats from the Palmetto State. Each of them has won on the PGA Tour, including Glover’s major championship at the 2009 U.S. Open.

“He’s just, right now, the highest-ranked player from South Carolina,” Terrell said.

“I doubt he would want to be appointed … but what he’s meant more to Myrtle Beach and growing the game with what our foundation and the school is doing, he’s made a huge impact.”

Lathrop, who rattled off many of the same names, knows Johnson’s importance at the moment.

“Just seeing his face, we’ve got a picture of him on our wall here of him at one of those junior team matches that he qualified for back in the day,” Lathrop said.

Johnson, who has 24 PGA Tour victories, is also featured on the cover of the SCGA’s Spring 2021 “Palmetto Golfer” magazine.

“I think everybody was aware of Dustin as he’s been coming through the last few years and how well he’s done on the golf course and on the Tour,” Lathrop continued.

“Obviously, when he won the Masters – which is only an hour and 15 minutes from here down I-20 – I think it’s made a little more of a difference. From what I understand, they’re naming a road here in Irmo after Dustin. Apparently, we’ll have a Dustin Johnson Lane or something like that around here pretty soon.”

And every year, Johnson tries to make an appearance at the World Junior Golf Championship, which bears his name, to show his thanks and appreciation for the next generation of golfers.

Johnson swung by TPC Myrtle Beach on March 4 to spend some time at his golf school ahead of the sixth annual event, which has quickly become one of the top junior events in the nation.

“I think it’s just gonna keep coming,” Lathrop said of the 36-year-old Johnson’s role as an ambassador for the game.

“I mean, Dustin’s young and he hasn’t had time to make a stamp on anything but playing golf right now. Most of that stuff comes as you work through your years, so I’m sure he’s got more of that coming in.”

From names on their lockers to placards on the driving range, the tournament provides junior golfers a top-level experience.

“It’s not like somebody just putting their name on something or writing a check and that’s it,” Miller said. “When Dustin’s schedule allows, he comes down. These kids got to hang out and take pictures with the U.S. Open trophy (in 2017). … They make it feel like it is a Tour event.”

Terrell, who said he thinks it’s “relaxing” for Johnson to be at the junior event, noted the consistent commitment to everyone involved with the tournament. Every time Terrell sees Johnson in Myrtle Beach, the coach has “100 things to try and get him to sign for his foundation.”

“I mean, how many Tour players, especially the No. 1 Tour player, take the time?” Terrell asked.

“Most people do something because of ulterior motivation, but there’s nothing he gets from this. He does it because he wants to do it. He’s passionate about this tournament and he wants the kids to know he’s thankful that they decided to play his event.”

Before the Players Championship, Johnson discussed his appreciation for his roots in South Carolina and his tournament in Myrtle Beach.

“I mean I grew up playing golf there. I went to college in Myrtle Beach … so it’s definitely a big part of where I’m at today for sure,” Johnson said.

“It was great to get back up there. … The golf tournament, it’s come a long ways. It’s become one of the best tournaments in the country, so definitely proud of that. For me, it’s just obviously growing up playing the South Carolina Junior Golf Association tournaments, it’s something that I can do to try to give back to junior golf a little bit.”

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Dustin Johnson Looking to Extend PGA Tour Win Streak to 15 Straight Seasons

• Author: David Droschak

Golffile | Scott Halleran

Johnson, No. 9 in the Official World Golf Ranking, makes his third Tour start since October at this week's Players Championship.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — We haven’t seen much of Dustin Johnson on the golf course so far in 2022. Heading into The Players Championship this week, the Ryder Cup hero from the fall has played just twice on the PGA Tour since mid-October — hardly enough to break a sweat.

Don’t be fooled that Johnson’s lack of tournament play is a signal he’s starting to lack the enthusiasm to compete or dreads the grind. Quite the contrary, as Johnson — the No. 9 player in the world — is anxious to try to add to his remarkable Tour victory streak.

In the 2020-21 season, the 37-year-old became just the fourth player in PGA Tour history to win in each of his first 14 seasons, joining Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods . And fewer than 30 players in the history of the game have secured as many as Johnson’s 24 Tour wins.

“I still feel great, my body feels good," Johnson says recently during a day of fellowship with some of golf’s best junior players at his annual Dustin Johnson World Junior Golf Championship . “I feel like I’m just getting into my career. I feel like I still have a lot of really good years ahead of me. My goal is to keep winning as many golf tournaments as I can.

“It’s very hard to win on Tour and to do it every year for quite a while is even more difficult, but hard work goes into it. I have a great team around me and my family supporting me and letting me do what I need to do to be successful is so key – everybody involved in your life is part of your team and thus a big part of your success."

Since joining the PGA Tour in 2008, Johnson has won the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont and the Masters in 2020 with a record-setting score of 20-under par. He has also finished second in each of the other two majors — the British Open and PGA Championship . Just a handful of golfing greats can claim a career Grand Slam. Johnson would like to add his name to that short list, too.

“Absolutely, that is one of my goals and I do think about it,” Johnson says of the career Grand Slam. “But to me every tournament I play in is important, and all of them have great fields. Obviously, the majors are different, and I have two and I would like to build on that. For me, I don’t go into an event saying I’m going to win this tournament.

“For me, it’s more of the process of how I get there. I want to put myself in a position on Sunday to have a chance to win. That is my goal for the week in any major, just to give myself a chance and see what I can do from there because it is so hard out there now. The talent level is so good -- from 1 to 100 and even beyond — so to me anybody teeing it up that week of a major has a chance to win.”

Johnson plans to head to Augusta National in a few weeks to do his homework for the upcoming Masters. He returns to one of golf’s iconic locations with a special point of view.

“You definitely feel different going back as a past champion,” he says. “It’s a different feeling you receive from the members, from the staff — it’s just a lot different.

“Every time you play Augusta, you feel you learn something new about the place. And they are really good at tweaking it a little bit so no player gets too familiar with it. I know they’ve moved some tees this year and they like to mess a little bit with the slopes on the greens. It’s such a special place to me being a past champion there and growing up so close to it. It was definitely one I really wanted to check off the list. Now I’ve got one I would love to get another one.”

One of Johnson’s golfing security blankets is his physical fitness. He still tries to hit the gym once a day in his mid-30s.

“For longevity, you definitely have to stay in shape,” Johnson says. “For me it helps me more on the mental side of things of golf, being in the gym knowing I’ve put in the work, knowing when I tee it up, I feel the same on the first hole physically as I do walking up 18. I do it because I want to stay healthy. I want to have a long career.”

“What I’ve seen him do athletically over the years, well let’s just say he’s pretty much off the charts,” adds Allen Terrell, Johnson’s longtime coach.

Going 5-0 for the victorious U.S. team at the 2021 Ryder Cup might have converted a few more fans into the Johnson camp, but for the most part, despite his remarkable resume, the 6-foot-4 former Coastal Carolina University star mostly flies under the radar, not receiving nearly the attention as others on Tour do who have much fewer accomplishments.

“No, it doesn’t bother me at all,” Johnson says of a general lack of fanfare. “Those (other players) want it, and I’m sure if I wanted it, I could get it, but for me I try to stay as low-key as I can because that works for me. Maybe something else works for other guys but I just try to do me. Everybody is going to be different and everybody wants different things. I’m perfectly content the way I’m doing it.”

“His demeanor on the course is what helps make him so successful — he keeps it pretty level and some guys just don’t have that type of personality, they are either too high or too low,” adds Terrell. “I know the fans may like to see him pump a fist a little harder sometimes but he’s a cruiser, and that’s how he has always been.”

Johnson has had very few rough patches in a career that is heading into its 15 th season, but when he has struggled — like a few tournaments after returning from the COVID-19 shutdown — his uncanny ability to bounce back into form is what makes him so darn good, Terrell said.

“Golf is a funny sport and it always has been,” Johnson says. “For me, I feel like it only takes one shot to turn it around. It’s all mental.”

“At his level it’s reminders, not changes,” adds Terrell. “At the end of the day for an athlete like Dustin you want them to discover the change because they remember it longer and they own it. Sometimes you have to lead them to the water, but I want him to feel like he has discovered it.”

Johnson, who has been ranked as the world’s No. 1 player for more than 130 weeks in his career, once again pledged his support to playing on the PGA Tour and not on a potential breakaway tour opportunity.

“The Tour is starting to do a little bit more for the top guys, where in the past they haven’t done that and some of the changes you’re going to see in the next few years are good,” Johnson says. “They are making the right changes and doing the right things, so I feel like at this point it’s going in the right direction, so I don’t have any complaints – the Tour is trying to step up and do the right things.”

By the numbers: Statistics confirm Scottie Scheffler's historical dominance

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Is impending fatherhood the only thing stopping Scottie Scheffler? Quite possibly.

His historic run continued Monday when he completed his victory at the RBC Heritage. It was his fourth win in his past five starts, a run that also included victories at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, THE PLAYERS Championship and the Masters. The only exception was a runner-up finish at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, where he missed a 6-footer to join Stephan Jaeger in a playoff.

Scottie Scheffler’s Round 4 highlights From RBC Heritage

Scheffler has seemed invincible lately, and the statistics confirm that. Here’s a closer look at some of the key stats that put Scheffler’s historic play into perspective:

• By winning at Harbour Town Golf Links, Scheffler became the first player since Bernhard Langer in 1985 to win the RBC Heritage one week after winning the Masters .
• Scheffler is the first player since Tiger Woods in 2006 to win the week after winning a major .
• With four wins and a runner-up in his past five starts, Scheffler is the first player since Woods in 2007-08 to have five consecutive top-two finishes . Vijay Singh is the only other player to have such a run in the past 30 years (2004).
• This was Scheffler’s 10th PGA TOUR victory, coming in just his 51st start since he earned his first win at the 2022 WM Phoenix Open. Only David Duval has needed fewer starts after his first win to reach victory No. 10. Duval did it in 33 starts. Tiger Woods is third on the list with 59 starts.
• In his 51 starts since the 2022 WM Phoenix Open, Scheffler also has 23 top-three finishes (45%) and 35 top-10s (68.6%).
• All 10 of Scheffler’s wins have come since the start of the 2021-22 season. He is the first player to win 10 (or more) times on the PGA TOUR in the span of three seasons since Dustin Johnson won 10 titles between 2015-16 and 2017-18.
• This is Scheffler’s fourth win of the season, matching his career-high from 2022. He is the fourth player with multiple four-win seasons since the start of 2000 , joining Woods (10), Singh, (3) and Phil Mickelson (2).
• Scheffler has now recorded 40 consecutive TOUR rounds at par or better , a streak that began in the final round of the 2023 TOUR Championship. He’s 12 back of Woods’ all-time TOUR mark of 52 straight rounds at par or better (set across 2000-01).
• In each of Scheffler’s last seven victories, eight or more of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking have been in the field . His most recent run of four wins in five starts has included two Signature Events (Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, RBC Heritage), THE PLAYERS and the Masters.
• Scheffler is averaging 5.38 birdies per round this season, on pace to set the all-time TOUR record for single-season birdie average (since the statistic was first tracked in 1980) . Woods set the current record (4.92) in 2020.
• In his 39 rounds this season, he has outperformed the field average 35 times . He’s been at least a shot better than the field 30 times, at least two shots better 26 times and at least three shots better 19 times.
• Scheffler leads the TOUR in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green by nearly a shot per round this season , after finishing atop the category by more than two-thirds of a stroke per round last season. No player had previously led the category by more than four-tenths of a stroke per round since Woods in 2009.

Rethinking Zach Johnson, the unlikeliest Ryder Cup captain

If you think about it, Zach Johnson’s two pinnacle career moments were, at the time, eclipsed by what didn’t happen.

April 2007. The man survived the most brutal of Masters Tournaments. Cool, then cold, then furiously windy. Augusta was a mess of vests and mock turtlenecks. Johnson played in Sunday’s third-to-last pairing, completed a dramatic up-and-down on 18, then buried his face into his wife Kim’s shoulder, trying to stifle his emotions. He was the tournament’s solo leader. Fairy tale stuff. All our focus, though, was on Tiger Woods, who’d held the lead early in the fourth round, lost it, stormed back with an eagle on 13, and was two back with two to go. But Tiger’s surge fizzled and to this day you can still hear the air coming out of the broadcast’s balloon. Johnson, a little-known Iowan, won the Masters with a final score of 289 (+1), tying for the highest winning score ever at Augusta. Presenting the Top 10 list on “Letterman” days later, he came to No. 6: “Even I’ve never heard of me.” The next day, Tiger was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

• Follow live coverage of the 2023 Ryder Cup 

And July 2015. The Open Championship at St. Andrews. Another brutal week. Enough wind and rain to force only the second Monday finish in a tournament dating to the Druids. Johnson shot a low final-round 66, then sat in the clubhouse for roughly an hour as the world watched Jordan Spieth. Golf’s wunderkind was eyeing the third leg of a calendar year Grand Slam, falling from heaven as some kind of marketable manifestation of a post-Tiger world. He was supposed to win. But he finished one shot back. Johnson returned to the course to beat Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman in a four-hole playoff. The next day’s New York Times headline read: “Zach Johnson’s Grand Win Slams Door on Jordan Spieth’s Bid for History.”

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This is how Zach Johnson has existed in golf’s collective consciousness for much of his career: always there, easily overlooked, oddly successful. Davis Love III, one of Johnson’s closest friends, is bemused. “Zach gets introduced on the first tee at a tournament and you kinda go, ‘Oh, wow, dang — he won two majors and (12) tournaments?’ ”

But now everything is different. Johnson is in Rome this week as United States captain for the 2023 Ryder Cup — what feels like an epochal moment for one of the game’s oft-ignored figures. He’s here, in part, as a product of duress. Early in 2022, around the outset of professional golf’s turf war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, a group of Johnson’s peers — Love III and other U.S. Ryder Cup leaders — urged him to accept the captaincy. As Love puts it, Johnson was seen as “someone who everyone trusts.”

Johnson didn’t see any of this coming.

“Given (the candidates) ahead of me in age and, I would say, clout, I thought there were a couple of other guys that would probably be chosen,” Johnson says. “To be honest, I thought I might be in line for a Presidents Cup a few years down the road, potentially , but not this.”

Johnson is speaking by phone, walking his dogs, Augie (Augusta) and Andy (St. Andrews), around his neighborhood in St. Simons Island. It’s one week until departure for the Ryder Cup and he’s attempting to process all of this. He’s walking fast enough to breathe hard. St. Simons is a resort community along the southern Georgia coast, where Johnson’s family resides, about a thousand miles from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the hometown with which he deeply identifies.

It’s been 31 years since a U.S. team won the Ryder Cup on European soil, when Tom Watson captained the Americans to a win at The Belfry. The streak rankles those associated with it. Often, the Americans have gone abroad with more top-to-bottom talent and higher rankings, etc., etc., only to return humbled.

A win this week? Massaging a lineup that finally cracks the code? Spraying champagne at Marco Simone Golf Club? It’s a recipe to possibly change how Johnson is viewed at large. Maybe this is what it will take for some to appreciate how he got here.

“I don’t know,” Johnson says, “but I’ve always been someone who’s very efficient in capitalizing on opportunities.”

As Jamie Bermel remembers it, 17-year-old Zach Johnson shot 80-81 in the Iowa state tournament as a Cedar Rapids Regis High senior.

Like most Midwest kids, Johnson grew up stashing his clubs in a garage for six months a year, when Iowa turned cold and Hawkeyes football took hold. Young Zach was an athlete. Soccer, baseball, whatever. He liked team sports and threw his body around. Good thing his dad was a chiropractor.

Golf was always a means to an end. Johnson began playing around 10, finding instruction at Elmcrest Country Club in Cedar Rapids. He ended up being good enough to earn all-county honors, but he was mostly off the radar of college coaches. Bermel, today the coach at Kansas University, then the coach at Drake University in Des Moines, only noticed him by chance. He was recruiting another young man who stood over the ball too long and got so fed up watching him that he began checking out his 5-foot-8 playing partner. The kid had a nice shape to his shot.

The bigger schools? They knew nothing of the young man who would go on to be the greatest player Iowa would ever produce. Why? “Because he wasn’t all that good,” Bermel says.

Instead, Johnson chose between interest from Drake and St. Ambrose University, an NAIA school in Davenport.

This, in reality, should’ve been it. Johnson was never Missouri Valley Conference player of the year. He was never even an all-conference selection. He wasn’t the best player on his team. Most players of his caliber would have gone to Drake, played four years of college golf and then gone into teaching or business or something.

Instead, after graduation, Zach Johnson declared himself a professional.

Years later, Morris Pickens, Johnson’s sports psychologist, would explain: “Zach always had the mindset that he would keep getting better, and at some point, his good would be better than other guys’ good. He’s operated with the idea that, if it’s a race of endurance, and his process being better than their process, then he’ll take his chance.”

But at the time, people thought Zach was delusional.

“I thought, ‘holy sh–, you’re the third guy at Drake and you’re gonna turn pro?’” Bermel said. “There are a lot of guys every year who think they can make it. Usually, they figure out how it’s gonna end.”

Great athletes in other sports have their numbers retired. Great American and European golfers get to be Ryder Cup captains. The position is, in theory, an honorary laurel.

How one leads a Ryder Cup, however, requires work and comes with a degree of consequence. Before the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, Irishman Padraig Harrington openly weighed how a loss as captain might impact his legacy. Famously, two of the game’s all-time greats, Tom Watson (2014, Gleneagles) and Nick Faldo (2008, Valhalla) , are inescapably tied to Ryder Cup flops without ever striking a ball.

Thankless is one way to describe the assignment. If a Ryder Cup team wins, the team is celebrated. If a Ryder Cup team loses, the captain is blamed. Corey Pavin can still be ridiculed for the U.S. team wearing ill-fated rain gear at Celtic Manor in 2010. It’s all fair game.

Much of the job goes unseen. A captaincy requires loads of leg work, meetings and organizational folderol. It’s yearlong communication. Site visits. Dealing with the PGA of America. Media obligations. Endless minutiae. Then comes everything that’s out in the open. The captain’s picks. The buildup. The week of the event. Choosing final pairings. Giving that Saturday night speech. Sending out Sunday singles.

Every captain has to fit who he is into the role.

“The thing about being a captain is, you can’t change your personality,” says Jim Furyk, who captained the losing 2018 U.S. team at Le Golf National. “If you’re a rah-rah guy, you have to be a rah-rah guy, or you’ll make people nervous. If you’re quiet by nature and, all the sudden, you start giving speeches, that won’t go over well, ’cause everyone will be there scratching their heads.

“You have to be yourself and pick and choose your moments.”

For Johnson, being who he is means being very Iowan. Honest. Process-driven. Diligent. He operates with an abnormal attention to detail. He writes everything down and loves lists — making lists, looking at lists, checking things off lists. Though he recently referred to the U.S. team’s analytics crew as the “nerd herd,” Johnson isn’t dismissive of data.

“Organization will not be an issue,” says Love III, one of Johnson’s five vice-captains, along with Furyk, Steve Stricker, Fred Couples and Stewart Cink. “And when Zach makes a decision, he’ll be confident in it.”

The key is for those decisions to be accepted and executed. That takes trust.

Fellow tour players have long gravitated toward him, a counter, perhaps, to a public image of him that can sometimes translate as ill at ease. He is exceedingly well-liked among fellow pros. In his 30s and into his 40s, Johnson, comfortable in his skin, welcomed the young stars joining the tour. From Rickie Fowler to Justin Thomas to Scottie Scheffler.

When Johnson won at St. Andrews in 2015, a 21-year-old Jordan Spieth — who had seen his pursuit of a Grand Slam end that day in the Valley of Sin — snaked through the crowd near 18 green, calling out, “Zach! Zach!” Breaking through a pack of bodies, Spieth wrapped Johnson in a congratulatory hug, then stepped aside to give him the stage.

Those relationships mean something when the time comes for decisions.

“I’m telling you, people are excited to play for Zach,” says Brian Harman, 36, this year’s Open Championship winner and a Ryder Cup rookie . “He’s one of those guys who is easy to like, easy to root for. Everyone here knows his story is pretty incredible.”

Johnson spent his first three years out of school kicking around the Prairie Tour, a Midwest-based mini-tour. He entered any event offering a purse. His pro pursuit was backed by a group of members at Elmcrest who put up about $5,000 a head to keep him on the road. Most of them figured they were just doing a favor for a good kid. No one expected a return.

Johnson took annual runs at PGA Tour Qualifying School but never advanced past the first stage.

A few years into it, Bermel, the old Drake coach, ran into Johnson at the Greater Waterloo Open. The event drew good amateurs and middling pros. The winner got one of those big checks. First-place prize: $15,000. Bermel asked if Johnson was enjoying professional life — living out of his car, surviving on fast food.

“I hate it,” Johnson replied, “but as long as I keep improving, I’m not going to stop.”

In 2001, at age 25, Johnson won the Iowa Open, taking home $15,000 of the $60,000 purse. “This is the biggest event I’ve won,” he told The Des Moines Register, “especially with this field.” A few weeks later, Johnson won a Hooters Tour event. Then he won two more and was named Hooters Tour Player of the Year. He earned an exemption into the Michelob Championship and made his PGA Tour debut in Williamsburg, Va. He missed the cut.

The next spring, Johnson Monday qualified into the 2002 BellSouth Classic outside Atlanta, his second PGA Tour event. He made the cut, then crept up the leaderboard, eventually appearing on the weekend broadcast in a Ralph Lauren polo and an unstructured Titleist hat. On the 72nd hole, with Johnny Miller openly rooting for him on-air, Johnson stuck his approach on 18. He was 41 inches from a closing birdie, a top-10 finish, a six-figure check and an exemption into the following week’s Greater Greensboro Open. Instead, he three-putted and landed tied for 17th on the leaderboard. He finished 94th in Q School later that summer, again missing out on the tour.

In 2003, Johnson came from six shots back in the final round to win the Nationwide Tour’s Rheem Classic, beating Steve Haskins in a playoff. He won $85,500, essentially assuring himself of a top-20 finish on the season Nationwide money list and a 2004 PGA Tour card. That day, sitting in the clubhouse parking lot alongside his wife, 27-year-old Zach told Mike Hlas from the Cedar Rapids Gazette by phone: “This is all I’ve ever wanted.”

Zach and Kim then moved to Florida and locked into a routine with longtime teacher Mike Bender. All parts of Johnson’s game began to come together. That draw. The tempo. The wedges. Precision putting. Chris DiMarco, who helped set Johnson up in Orlando, remembers him arriving as “a guy who had won at every level and learned how to step on people’s necks.”

The following year, as a PGA Tour rookie, Johnson returned to the BellSouth Classic and avenged his three-putt. He beat Mark Hensby by a stroke, posting a victory in his 13th career tour start. First-place prize: $810,000. Johnson was 28.

Thinking back, 20 years later, Hensby can’t believe what’s happened since.

“I specifically remember telling a few other players then, ‘Hey, this guy is gonna be really good,’” Hensby says. “Now, did I think he was gonna be that good? Win two major championships and how-many-ever PGA Tour events? No, absolutely not. Never.”

Johnson turned his PGA Tour status into a long run of made cuts and regular top 10s. He qualified for the 2006 Ryder Cup team by finishing ninth on the U.S. points list.

Six months later, he won his second event as a PGA Tour player — the 2007 Masters. He would spend the next 10 years ranked inside the world top 50.

Zach Johnson walked onto a temporary stage in Rome on Monday afternoon, arriving alongside European captain Luke Donald for the opening news conference at Marco Simone. Johnson held the Ryder Cup cautiously, left hand beneath the base, right hand gently grasping the stem. Part of his job as captain of the defending winning team is to carry the cup around before play begins. The other part of his job is to bring it back home.

Never mind those three decades of history that say he won’t.

Asked about the American team’s endless frustrations abroad, Johnson’s eyebrows rose with the question. He wandered through a reply before settling on a fact that he knew better than anyone else: “It’s hard to win outside your comfort zone.”

It all felt too appropriate. Maybe there’s a reason Johnson’s two major victories came in the harshest conditions.

“He harnessed his competitiveness and put it into a thinking process that allows him to kind of ebb and flow between relaxing and focusing in a productive way,” says Pickens, the sports psychologist who has worked with Johnson since 2004. “Zach possesses skills that aren’t easily measurable.”

Maybe that is why his fellow pros have long given him more credit than the media or general public. He maxed out a career that feels more than anything like an act of defiance, born from sheer will rather than obvious talent. Consider — four of the five Ryder Cup teams Johnson played on lost, yet his individual record stands 8-7-2.

He’s always done what he’ll try to do this week.

He’s won when he wasn’t supposed to.

The weird, the wonderful and The Shirt: 60 years of Ryder Cup fashion

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic ; photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

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Brendan Quinn is an senior enterprise writer for The Athletic. He came to The Athletic in 2017 from MLive Media Group, where he covered Michigan and Michigan State basketball. Prior to that, he covered Tennessee basketball for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Follow Brendan on Twitter @ BFQuinn

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COMPETE IN THE GOLF DIGEST OPEN

Two-person best ball.

Why do so many tour players live at Sea Island? It's pretty simple, really

When Davis Love III’s father moved his family to St. Simons Island in 1969, he had no idea it would become a haven for PGA Tour professionals for decades to come. But this tiny island community - and neighboring Sea Island -- is now home to approximately a dozen PGA Tour players, including Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson, Harris English, and Brian Harman.

A confluence of factors brings players here. First, there’s “Uncle Davis,” as many of the younger golfers call Love. Then there is Sea Island Golf Club, which features three 18-hole courses and the King and Prince Golf Course with another 18 holes. There’s also the mild weather and miles of unspoiled beaches. And there’s camaraderie among the players.

“There’s a sense of community here, which is really big for these guys,” explained Brannen Veal, Sea Island’s Director of Golf. “Most of them are family folks. If you take Davis [Love III], Zach [Johnson], Matt [Kuchar] -- they all have young children and families. Davis, of course, is a grandfather.

“It is such a perfect place to base out of. It’s fairly easy to travel out of and the amenities of Sea Island are unmatched,” Harman said. “My game has certainly improved since calling St. Simons my home.”

“Those guys can come off a tour week and really work hard and then go five minutes and be with their family and relax and be in a different atmosphere.”

Veal says he sees the families all being friends, with the kids going to school together and wives becoming friends. He credits the St. Simons and Sea Island communities with making it a welcoming environment.

“It’s a very secure environment here," Veal said. "It’s safe and people are genuine and real and they’re not hounding the guys to do things for them. They respect their time and space.”

The support goes beyond the home front and onto the golf course. Veal says playing together is part of what elevates this group among their peers on tour.

“I think Patton [Kizzire] would tell you living here has helped him get to the next level. It pushes him each day to watch Davis or Zach or Harris, or to play with Hudson or Brian," Veal said. "These guys can see where their games are at, and it makes them get better each day. That’s huge.”

Kizzire says he does indeed play with guys like Love III, Johnson, Kuchar, English, Swafford, Harman and Trey Mullinax while he’s home.

“It’s a great place to grow as a player and a person,” Kizzire said.

Veal credits the veterans with taking on a sense of responsibility when it comes to the younger players.

“Davis really started it as the patriarch and really gave back to the younger guys, and now Jonathan [Byrd] and Matt and Zachhave taken on that role and really give back and foster the younger guys along,” he said.

Veal says when a new player starts on tour for the first time –- like Kizzire this year -- they have the benefit of already knowing what to do. The more experienced locals on tour will help them do things like make their travel plans so they’re not going into the situation blind.

Veal says Sea Island doesn’t recruit players to come live here -- many of them play there when they’re younger and then return after graduation.

Harman, Swafford and English all played at the University of Georgia together, and now they all live on St. Simons Island and practice together.

Harman visited St. Simons for the first time when he was 11 in search of the best instruction he could find. Jack Lumpkin, Sea Island’s Senior Director of Instruction, has been his instructor ever since.

Love’s father, Davis Love, Jr., had the vision for the first permanent golf instruction site in the country at Sea Island in in the 1980s, and less than two years ago a massive renovation to the Golf Performance Center was completed that nearly doubled its size.

In addition to Lumpkin, other top instructors such as Todd Anderson and Mike Shannon call Sea Island Golf Club’s Golf Performance Center their home. Even PGA Tour pros who don’t live locally train at the center, like Brandt Snedeker and Scott Stallings.

“A couple of agents live here now that are bringing their folks in,” explained Veal. “Between that and hosting the SEC [Men's Golf Championship] every year, most of the players in the Southeast know Sea Island. We’re not going out and trying to recruit players to move here, it’s just happening. It’s really a neat thing. “

When asked what he likes most about living in the area, Harman can’t say enough about the place he calls home.

“It is such a perfect place to base out of. It’s fairly easy to travel out of and the amenities of Sea Island are unmatched," he said. "My game has certainly improved since calling St. Simons my home.”

Kizzire echoes his sentiments, calling it a great place to raise a family. If you’re visiting, though, he adds that you can’t go wrong with a trip to a couple of local restaurants after you play a round. So next time you’re on the island, head to Southern Soul Barbeque or Bubba Garcia’s and tell them Patton sent you.

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U.S. Open champ Dustin Johnson wins PGA Tour player of the year

• Associated Press

NAPA, Calif. -- Dustin Johnson 's first major was only part of a dream season that culminated with the PGA Tour player of the year award on Tuesday.

Johnson made it a clean sweep of the tour's biggest honors that are named after its most prominent players. He won the Jack Nicklaus Award as player of the year, the Arnold Palmer Award for leading the money list and the Byron Nelson Award for having the lowest adjusted scoring average.

"I don't even know if I dreamed this would be happening,'' Johnson said.

Johnson previously won the PGA of America's points-based award as player of the year and the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average.

The PGA Tour award is a vote of the players, and Johnson said he didn't even vote. That didn't matter.

While the PGA Tour does not disclose vote totals, no one could match the year Johnson had. The 32-year-old American ended his string of disappointment in the majors by winning the U.S. Open at Oakmont under extraordinary circumstances. Because of the USGA's indecision over a potential rules violation, Johnson played the final seven holes not knowing if he would be penalized, and he made sure it didn't make a difference.

He followed that up with by winning a World Golf Championship two weeks later at Firestone, and he won the BMW Championship at Crooked Stick.

The only disappointment was losing the lead at the Tour Championship and losing the FedEx Cup when Rory McIlroy won at East Lake.

Even so, Johnson established himself as a threat nearly every week. He finished out of the top 10 in only seven of his 21 starts on the PGA Tour this year. He won the money list with over $9.3 million and his performance in the final three FedEx Cup events -- 10 of his last 12 rounds were in the 60s -- allowed him to pull away from Jason Day , Adam Scott and Jordan Spieth to post the lowest scoring average.

Johnson said he worked harder this year than ever before, but not too hard. On a scale of 1 to 10, he measured his work ethic at a 7½, compared with about a 5 in previous years.

"There's still room to work harder, but I'm at a level that works best for me, so I don't get too burned out,'' he said. "I feel like I'm putting in enough quality work that works for my mentality so I'm not overdoing it.''

The key moment for Johnson this year came on a rainy Wednesday after the pro-am at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera. Instead of ducking into the clubhouse for lunch, he headed for the range and began working for the first time with TrackMan, a device using radar technology that allows a player to get dialed in on every aspect of his game. Johnson used it only for his wedges.

By year's end, he was in the top five in driving distance and proximity to the hole from 50 yards to 125 yards. The last player to do that was Tiger Woods in 2005.

"Knowing the work I'm putting in is working drives me to work harder, it makes me more driven to be better,'' Johnson said. "That's what gives me confidence.''

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Rory McIlroy's 25th PGA Tour win is by far his least impressive

Rory McIlroy just won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans to reach 25 career PGA Tour victories and jump Gary Player and Dustin Johnson on the all-time wins list, but hardly anyone cares. 

As you may know, the Zurich Classic is a team event in which duos compete in alternating formats of fourball and foursomes. It's not a premier event on the PGA Tour schedule — as evidenced by the weak field — and it's not an arduous tournament to win if both teammates play well. The Zurich Classic is more about having fun with your buddy than anything else, so there isn't the same pressure associated with signature events and major championships. 

No wonder McIlroy played so well. 

The McIlroy-Shane Lowry tandem fired an 11-under 61 in the fourball format to begin the tournament. They followed that up with a 2-under 70 in foursomes, an 8-under 64 in fourball and a 4-under 68 in foursomes. The Irish team still needed to take down the powerhouse duo of Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer in a playoff, which they did with an unimpressive par on the par-5 18th hole. Ramey and Trainer, who rank 235th and 395th in the Official World Golf Ranking, respectively, slapped the ball all over the 18th hole and limped to a bogey. 

JUST A SMALL TOWN GIRL pic.twitter.com/NefSbCQjAk — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 29, 2024

A win is a win, sure, but it would've been humiliating if McIlroy and Lowry hadn't held on in the final round. The rest of the top-10 finishers included names such as Ryan Brehm (World No. 538), Patrick Fishburn (World No. 331) and Nicolas Echavarria (World No. 293) — not exactly the Scottie Scheffler's or Jon Rahms of the world. 

The victory ended an eight-month winless drought for McIlroy, but it's hard to file this in the same category as his other 24 PGA Tour wins. This is McIlroy's first team win in his PGA Tour career and his first victory on U.S. soil since the 2022 Tour Championship.

This team win can't mask the fact that McIlroy hasn't won a major since the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Course. The good news? The 2024 PGA Championship is coming up next month, and it's being held at Valhalla for the first time since McIlroy's triumph 10 years ago. 

McIlroy can win all the Zurich Classics he wants; golf fans still won't be impressed until he finally wins major No. 5. 

More must-reads:

• Rory McIlroy perfectly sums up the state of professional golf with two words
• Report: PGA Tour rewards loyalty of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy
• The 'PGA Championship winners' quiz

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Pga tour lays out how the player equity program will work.

• Rex Hoggard ,
• Rex Hoggard

In February, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan introduced the rough outline of the Player Equity Program, a vesting plan for the circuit’s new for-profit arm that will carve up a hefty portion of the initial $1.5 billion investment from Strategic Sports Group. On Wednesday, players were given a more detailed version of the program, PGA Tour chief competitions officer Tyler Dennis confirmed on “Golf Central.”

The initial player equity grants will be approximately $930 million distributed to 193 players via four categories, starting with the game’s stars. Monahan informed players on Wednesday via a letter of their individual grants.

“There’s no other sports league in the world that has this significant number of their athletes as owners of their own sports organization,” Dennis said.

“We want to grow the PGA Tour in many different ways and having the alignment of players as player-owners with the organization is going to allow us to drive that quickly forward.”

The first group includes 36 players receiving $750 million in equity based on the last five years of play. “Career Points” will be awarded based on how many years a player has been a Tour member, how many times they earned a spot in the Tour Championship and how many times they have won, with extra points awarded for high-profile victories like the majors, The Players Championship and the FedExCup.

Group 2’s share of the initial equity will be much smaller ($75 million) and will be granted to 64 players. The group is considered “steady performers and up-and-comers” and will be based on FedExCup points earned over the last three years.

Equity to Group 3 will be $30 million going to 57 players based on career earnings and how many times a player finished inside the top 125 in FedExCup points.

The final group will include “past legends,” like Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, with $75 million going to 36 players based on the “Career Points” formula. Those grants will only be awarded to “past legends” that are living.

Perhaps most important to players will be the program’s eight-year vesting period. The grants will be worth 50% of their value after four years, 75% after six and 100% after eight years, when a player will be able to sell their equity in PGA Tour Enterprises, the for-profit arm the Tour created for the program. At each vesting benchmark players will be responsible to pay taxes on the grants.

The program has been created to encourage loyalty to the Tour in the face of ongoing challenges from LIV Golf, and the requirements of maintaining membership (which includes a minimum of 15 starts each year) would mean players who join LIV Golf would not be eligible for the program or would give up any unvested equity if they were to join the rival circuit.

“We want the players to be fully aligned with their organization,” Dennis said. “It’s something no other sport has done before and we’re seeing an incredible amount of excitement about that.”

SSG valued the PGA Tour at $12.3 billion when the group, which is led by Fenway Sports, became a minority investor and the assumption is that valuation will continue to increase like most professional sports franchises in the United States.

The remainder of the initial $1.5 billion investment (roughly $600 million) will be awarded in recurring player grants of $100 million each year, beginning in 2025 through 2030. These grants will be awarded based on performance and Player Impact Program results with an eye toward young talent, like Ludvig Åberg or Nick Dunlap.

2024 The CJ Cup Byron Nelson field: A look at the PGA Tour players, their rankings

T he 2024 The CJ Cup Byron Nelson field is set with the passing of the PGA Tour tournament entry deadline . This week's PGA Tour field is set for this FedEx Cup event, played at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, from May 2-5, 2024.

The The CJ Cup Byron Nelson field is headlined by the likes of Jordan Spieth , Jason Day , Will Zalatoris and more.

JOIN FOREBUCKS: Access a winning PGA Tour model, unique tools and in-depth analysis for just $40/year!

This is set to be a 156-player field is played out over four days, with this event marking the 20th tournament of the 2024 PGA Tour schedule .

The tournament is being played in its originally intended slot, with the PGA Tour coming back to Texas for the first of two events honoring Texan greats, Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan.

We do not yet have Monday qualifiers for this event, which will be played Thursday through Sunday.

The The CJ Cup Byron Nelson alternate list is set for this week, with the first two names being James Hahn and Marty Dou, who are the first to get in the field based on any player withdrawals.

The field will be playing for a $9.5 million purse, with 10 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking among the top contenders.

2024 The CJ Cup Byron Nelson field

Top 50 players in 2024 the cj cup byron nelson field.

The post 2024 The CJ Cup Byron Nelson field: A look at the PGA Tour players, their rankings first appeared on Golf News Net .

Copyright, Golf News Net. All rights reserved.

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PGA Tour players learn how much loyalty is worth in new equity program

Tiger Woods waves after his final round at the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Sunday, April 14, 2024, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, waves after making a putt on the sixth hole during the second round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Friday, April 19, 2024, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

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Players who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour amid lucrative recruitment by Saudi-funded LIV Golf are starting to find out how much that loyalty could be worth.

The PGA Tour on Wednesday began contacting the 193 players eligible for the $930 million from a “Player Equity Program” under the new PGA Tour Enterprises .

The bulk of that money — $750 million — went to 36 players based on their career performance, the last five years and how they fared in a recent program that measured their star power.

How much they received was not immediately known. Emails were going out Wednesday afternoon and Thursday informing players of what they would get. One person who saw a list of how the equity shares were doled out said the names had been redacted. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because many details of the program were not made public.

The Telegraph reported Tiger Woods was to receive $100 million in equity and Rory McIlroy could get $50 million, without saying how it came up with those numbers.

Commissioner Jay Monahan outlined the first-of-its-kind equity ownership program in a Feb. 7 memo to players, a week after Strategic Sports Group became a minority investor in the new commercial PGA Tour Enterprises.

The private equity group, a consortium of professional sports owners led by the Fenway Sports Group, made an initial investment of $1.5 billion that could be worth $3 billion. The tour is still negotiating with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia — the financial muscle behind the rival LIV Golf league — as an investor.

Any deal with PIF would most certainly increase the value of the equity shares.

Another person with knowledge of the Player Equity Program, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the dealings, said the equity money is not part of the SSG investment. That money was geared toward growth capital.

Golf.com received a series of informational videos on the Player Equity Program that was sent to players and reported only 50% of the equity would vest after four years, 25% more after six years and the rest of it after eight years.

It also reported how the 36 players from the top tier were judged on “career points,” such as how long they were full members, victories, how often they reached the Tour Championship and extra points for significant victories.

Jason Gore, the tour’s chief player officer, said in one of the videos, “It’s really about making sure that our players know the PGA Tour is the best place to compete and showing them how much the Tour appreciates them being loyal.”

Emails also were sent to 64 players who would share $75 million in aggregate equity based on the past three years, and $30 million to 57 players who are PGA Tour members. Also, $75 million in equity shares was set aside for 36 past players instrumental in building the tour.

The program has an additional $600 million in equity grants that are recurring for future PGA Tour players. Those would be awarded in amounts of $100 million annually started in 2025.

Players only get equity shares from one of the four tiers now, although everyone would be eligible for the recurring grants.

Even with equity ownership geared toward making the PGA Tour better, the concern was players questioning who got how much and whether they received their fair share.

LIV Golf lured away seven major champions dating to 2018 since it launched in 2022, all with guaranteed contracts and most of them believed to have topped $100 million.

McIlroy, playing this week in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, was asked how much would make players feel validated for their decision to stay with the PGA Tour.

“I think the one thing we’ve learned in golf over the last two years is there’s never enough,” McIlroy replied.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

PGA Tour players learn how much loyalty is worth in new equity program

Players who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour amid lucrative recruitment by Saudi-funded LIV Golf are starting to find out how much that loyalty could be worth.

The PGA Tour on Wednesday began contacting the 193 players eligible for the $930 million from a “Player Equity Program” under the new PGA Tour Enterprises .

The bulk of that money — $750 million — went to 36 players based on their career performance, the last five years and how they fared in a recent program that measured their star power.

How much they received was not immediately known. Emails were going out Wednesday afternoon and Thursday informing players of what they would get. One person who saw a list of how the equity shares were doled out said the names had been redacted. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because many details of the program were not made public.

The Telegraph reported Tiger Woods was to receive $100 million in equity and Rory McIlroy could get $50 million, without saying how it came up with those numbers.

Commissioner Jay Monahan outlined the first-of-its-kind equity ownership program in a Feb. 7 memo to players, a week after Strategic Sports Group became a minority investor in the new commercial PGA Tour Enterprises.

The private equity group, a consortium of professional sports owners led by the Fenway Sports Group, made an initial investment of $1.5 billion that could be worth $3 billion. The tour is still negotiating with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia — the financial muscle behind the rival LIV Golf league — as an investor.

Any deal with PIF would most certainly increase the value of the equity shares.

Another person with knowledge of the Player Equity Program, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the dealings, said the equity money is not part of the SSG investment. That money was geared toward growth capital.

Golf.com received a series of informational videos on the Player Equity Program that was sent to players and reported only 50% of the equity would vest after four years, 25% more after six years and the rest of it after eight years.

It also reported how the 36 players from the top tier were judged on “career points,” such as how long they were full members, victories, how often they reached the Tour Championship and extra points for significant victories.

Jason Gore, the tour’s chief player officer, said in one of the videos, “It’s really about making sure that our players know the PGA Tour is the best place to compete and showing them how much the Tour appreciates them being loyal.”

Emails also were sent to 64 players who would share $75 million in aggregate equity based on the past three years, and $30 million to 57 players who are PGA Tour members. Also, $75 million in equity shares was set aside for 36 past players instrumental in building the tour.

The program has an additional $600 million in equity grants that are recurring for future PGA Tour players. Those would be awarded in amounts of $100 million annually started in 2025.

Players only get equity shares from one of the four tiers now, although everyone would be eligible for the recurring grants.

Even with equity ownership geared toward making the PGA Tour better, the concern was players questioning who got how much and whether they received their fair share.

LIV Golf lured away seven major champions dating to 2018 since it launched in 2022, all with guaranteed contracts and most of them believed to have topped $100 million.

McIlroy, playing this week in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, was asked how much would make players feel validated for their decision to stay with the PGA Tour.

“I think the one thing we’ve learned in golf over the last two years is there’s never enough,” McIlroy replied.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf