Dustin Johnson Wins US Open, Overcomes His Past, And Saves USGA

Dustin Johnson, the lanky and laconic South Carolinian, won the US Open Golf tournament today and saved the United States Golf Association (USGA) from one of the great brouhahas in sports history.  As I mentioned earlier, Johnson is one of the great drivers and ball strikers on tour but his putting continually lets him down, especially in the majors, in addition to some incredible hard luck. In 2010, after hitting his drive on the final hole of the PGA Championship into a sandy waste area, Johnson grounded his club, not realizing that the area was considered a sand trap.  The two stroke penalty that was assessed kept him from getting into a playoff which Martin Kymer eventually won. And last year, Johnson three-putted on the 72nd hole of the US Open, gifting the victory to Jordan Spieth by one stroke. If ever I guy looked like the stars were aligned against him, it was Johnson.

Fast forward to today where, on the fifth green, Johnson took a couple of practice putts and as he was moving his putter to address the ball, the ball moved.  Johnson did not believe that he had done anything to cause the ball to move and, after a discussion with a rules official, it was agreed that he hadn’t and that he should play the ball where it lay.  Subsequently, after reviewing video evidence, the USGA informed Johnson that he may have incurred a penalty for what occurred on the fifth green while he was waiting to tee off on the 12th hole.  In addition, officials also apparently informed his closest competitors that a possible one stroke penalty could be assessed against Johnson after a discussion at the end of the round. This left the field and the viewing audience unsure of what Johnson’s score actually was for the remainder of the round.  But Johnson apparently did not believe he incurred a penalty and made sure that it would make no difference if he had.  Playing the last seven holes with utmost confidence, Johnson made all the shots and, more importantly, those short-to-medium range putts when he absolutely had to as the rest of the field succumbed to the pressures of a major and Oakmont. And then finished the round off in style with a superb birdie on number 18 and finishing at 5 under par and a four shot lead over his nearest competitor. Actually, no, make that a -4 finish and a 3 shot lead after the USGA did assess the one stroke penalty.

And that margin of victory saved the USGA from far more abuse than it was already getting over how they handled the situation.  Golf is a game of integrity where players actually do call penalties on themselves.  In fact, Shane Lowry, the leader going into today’s play, assessed himself a penalty for a similar situation to Johnson’s, but, in that case, Lowry felt his grounding of the club had caused the ball to move. Johnson’s firm belief that his actions had not caused the ball to move as he had not even put the putter behind the ball, led him to believe that he should not have been assessed a penalty. And, to a man, almost every other player or former player, agreed with Johnson.  In addition, they also expressed concern in letting Johnson know that he “may” be assessed a penalty while still playing – either assess the penalty or don’t, but don’t leave it hanging over the poor guy as well as the rest of the field. Rory McIlroy called it “amateur hour from the USGA” and “ridiculous”; Jordan Spieth called it a “joke”; and Brandel Chamblee on the Golf Channel was incredulous as he continually probed the USGA officials to point out what specifically Johnson had done to cause the ball to move. The response was basically that the reason the ball moved was because it was probable that Johnson caused it to move without really explaining how he did it.

The greens at golf’s majors are usually incredibly fast, with the grass cut way down and the ground underneath hard as rock. And, at Oakmont as well as other courses, the undulations in the greens can be incredibly steep.  We have seen instances, particularly at the British Open, where a strong gust of wind will actually blow a stationary ball completely off the green.  Under these type of conditions, it is quite possible that the ball will actually move on its own and, in fact, we see this situation occur pretty regularly at almost every major. At some point, the greens will have to slow down or the rules regarding a moving ball will have to be more refined than they are now or this will not be the last time a controversy like this will erupt. Thankfully for the USGA, Johnson made the penalty moot by winning by more than one stroke. But, if things don’t change, they may not be so lucky next time.