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Johnson Falters In Final Round

Pebble Beach, Calif. - When he teed off in the final round at the 110th U.S. Open, Dustin Johnson, who will celebrate his 26th birthday on Tuesday, was hoping to give himself an early present, a major championship victory at Pebble Beach. He had every reason to believe that might happen.

He had played nearly flawless golf for three days, shooting scores of 71-70-66. He came into the final round with a three-shot lead and a spotless score of 6-under for the championship. He was leading the field in greens in regulation, leading the affair in composure and resolve.

He also had some history in his favor - winning the last two AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Ams on the grounds. He seemed like a sure thing.

But in golf there are no sure things. Many a player has come face-to-face with his first major championship, only to have it dissolve before his eyes.

Johnson is the latest. Two holes into his round, he was 3-under par. Another hole in, he was 1-under par. One more hole later, he was even par. He lost six strokes in three holes.

Perhaps nothing demonstrated Johnson's troubles more than the sequence at No. 2, when he turned around and attempted to hit a shot left-handed from the lip of a greenside bunker. The ball barely moved. He then attempted a flop shot onto the green and the ball simply popped in the air and settled back down without advancing. He finally walked away with a triple-bogey 7.

His luck took a turn for the worse, if that's possible, at the short, dogleg-left par-4, where he tried to cut his tee shot over the trees on the left, but found, instead, the hazard. Unfortunately, no one saw the ball land and after searching in the junk for the allowed five minutes, Johnson was forced to return to the tee to hit his third shot, and eventually made a double-bogey 6. What made it more painful was that the ball was found less than a minute after the time expired.

Johnson fought on. He managed to get to the turn at 1-over par. He was still a viable contender. But it was a mirage. He suffered four more bogeys on the back side and finished the day with a score of 82, 5-over par for the championship and tied for eighth. It was the highest final-round score by a third-round leader in the U.S. Open since Fred McLeod, in 1911.

"We knew making the turn that even par, 1-under was probably going to win," Johnson said. "We were right there. We had a chance going to the back nine, and that's all we wanted when we started the day. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get it done."

In both of Johnson's wins at the AT&T, the tournament was shortened by weather and he had to play only three rounds. The fourth round at Pebble Beach was anything but a charm. That said, Johnson was not alone. Only 12 scores on Sunday were par or better, only six were under par.

No less than Tiger Woods, who had his own problems with a 75, could sympathize. "The golf course was playing too hard, too fast, and can get away from you pretty quickly out there," said Woods, who tied for fourth.

It certainly got away from Dustin Johnson, and it happened fast.

USGA news services.

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