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US Open: Johnson sheds choker tag, lifts trophy

American golfer captures first major title after multiple attempts

Afp/afp June 21, 2016

Dustin Johnson putts for eagle on the second hole during the final round of the US Open at Oakmont Country Club on June 19, 2016 in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. PHOTO: AFP

OAKLAND/ OAKMONT: Dustin Johnson shrugged off a litany of major championship disappointment and potential controversy to capture the US Open on Sunday, ridding himself of one of the most unwanted tags in golf.

“I feel lighter,” said Johnson after shedding the weight of that ‘best golfer never to win a major’ label. “I’ve been in this situation time and time again. For me to finally get it done on Sunday in a major, it’s a huge monkey off my back.”

Johnson came into the week with 11 top-10 finishes in major championships.

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At the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, he was penalised a shot on the final hole for grounding his club in a hazard, missing a spot in a playoff.

He had led the US Open that year at Pebble Beach through 54 holes but ultimately finished eighth.

Last year, he three-putted the 72nd hole at Chambers Bay to hand Jordan Spieth the US Open crown.

All week Johnson insisted he’d moved on from Chambers Bay; that last year’s disappointment and the ones that came before didn’t haunt him.

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But in the glow of a storming victory — wrested from third-round leader Shane Lowry and earned in the shadow of another rules controversy — the normally laconic Johnson let his emotions show.

“After last year, to come back this year and perform like this — I think it shows what kind of golfer I am,” said the world number six, who notched his 10th PGA Tour title.

After his experience at Whistling Straits, the rules controversy that blew up Sunday had special resonance.

Johnson was up by just one Sunday when he learned US Golf Association officials were reconsidering a ruling at the fifth green, and he could be penalised a shot for causing his ball to move as he prepared to putt.

“I felt like I wasn’t going to be penalised, so I just went about my business,” said Johnson, and when the penalty was indeed assessed, he’d built a big enough lead to make the matter moot. “I’m glad it didn’t matter ... that would have been bad.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2016.

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