< BACK TO NEWS

Leader Johnson Confident Going Into Sunday

By Dave Shedloski

Pebble Beach, Calif. - Dustin Johnson had to sleep on his first 54-hole lead in a major championship Saturday night. If you're wondering how he's going to feel come Sunday with a chance to win the 110th U.S. Open, well, don't.

"I think I'm going to feel good," he said.

And why shouldn't he?

Johnson, 25, will tee it up this afternoon at 2:15 PDT at Pebble Beach Golf Links with a three-shot lead, three rounds of par or better under his belt and two victories at this storied layout in the last 16 months. He has to feel more comfortable here than Richard Ferris and Peter Ueberroth, two of the big hitters from the group that owns this wondrous playground who were seen strolling in Tiger Woods' gallery Saturday afternoon.

Yes, Woods is very much in it, but he is a healthy five strokes behind, even after a 66 that equaled Johnson's third-round effort. Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell is the closest pursuer, but he spent Saturday watching the South Carolina slugger take Bunyon-like whacks out of this almost sacred Monterey Peninsula turf. And he'll have to watch it again today.

"I put myself in a great position for tomorrow," said Johnson, who can be forgiven for stating the obvious since he's responsible for the circumstances. "It's going to be very hard out there. I am going to have to stay patient and keep playing like I'm playing, and I'm going to be tough to beat. I'm really hitting the ball well right now."

Johnson may be too young to seemingly fit in with the Mount Rushmore of past U.S. Open winners at Pebble Beach: Woods (2000), Tom Kite (1992), Tom Watson (1982) and Jack Nicklaus (1972. But he possesses the right pedigree with consecutive victories in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am the past two years. All four previous Open winners here had AT&T wins on their resume going in.

In the last six groups only three other players have previous winning experience at Pebble Beach: Woods, Phil Mickelson and Davis Love III.

Woods is five back, has never come from behind to win a major - and, remember, he owns 14 of them -- and making up such a deficit would be the third largest rally in the history of the U.S. Open.

Mickelson, a five-time runner-up in the national championship, has to make up seven strokes after a sobering 73 Saturday. The only player who has ever made up that many shots the final round did it 50 years ago at Cherry Hills in Denver. That would be Arnold Palmer, another member of the Pebble ownership group. Nice coincidence. Does Lefty, who just turned 40, have enough bullets in the chamber to shoot ultra low?

Love, 46, is 10 back. That's not impossible, because Paul Lawrie reeled in Jean Van de Velde from that far behind to win the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie, Scotland. But he needed Van de Velde to make a triple-bogey on the last hole to fall into a playoff to do it.

Johnson seems incapable of making a triple bogey at Pebble. Nor is he likely to put himself in such straits. Even Woods assesses Johnson's incandescent iron game through a prism of envy.

"He doesn't hit it short (laughter), that's for sure," said Woods, nearly 10 years older at 34. "We were playing a practice round, I've been telling all the guys this, on 17, it was into the wind, it was mainly dead into the wind, 226 to the flag and he took out a 4-iron and flew it flag high. I don't know how many guys have that shot. I certainly don't. When he's on, it's pretty fun to watch."

Yeah, well that was in practice. If Johnson plays like that today, he'll be the only one having fun.

"I have no reason to change my game plan. It's worked so far," Johnson said. "I'm going to stay aggressive and take what the golf course gives me."

Dave Shedloski is a freelance writer whose work frequently appears on USGA Web sites.

Back to Top

< BACK TO NEWS