FORT WORTH, Texas — There’s little in Dustin Johnson’s past that indicates this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge will become his 21st PGA Tour victory.
Johnson has only played the event at Colonial Country Club twice in his career and neither time netted outstanding results. In 2008, he made the initial cut, but then shot an even-par 72 on Saturday and was trimmed from the final day’s pairings.
He didn’t return to Fort Worth until 2014, and while he did open that year with a bogey-free 65, good enough for the lead, a 74 on Saturday dropped him into the pack, leading to a 14th-place finish.
Also, his play before the coronavirus hiatus began wasn’t exactly vintage DJ — he finished T-10 at the Genesis Invitational, but sandwiched that with a pair of forgettable events at Pebble Beach (closed out Sunday with a 78) and at the WGC-Mexico (T-48).
So, what makes Johnson, who still stands in the top 10 of the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings, think he’s poised to make a big splash in the PGA Tour’s first event back? The gameplan.
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Johnson doesn’t need to lean on his big driver, but instead needs to simply put himself in comfortable spots, and he feels with that mental approach, he’s ready to navigate his way around the classic course.
Oddsmakers think Johnson can do it. According to BetMGM.com, DJ is currently listed with the fifth-best odds to win the tournament, lumped with Patrick Reed and Brooks Koepka. Rory McIlroy is the favorite.
“It’s one of those golf courses where there’s a few holes where you can try to maybe take advantage of, but it kind of all depends on the wind and where the flags are because the greens are kind of small when they tuck them in the corners. You want to have full shots in, so you don’t want to be hitting little short pitches,” Johnson said. “I like the golf course. … I think if I can drive it in the fairway, no matter what club I’m hitting, driver, 3-wood, 3-iron, whatever it is, if I can play out of the fairway, I’m going to have a lot of success around here.”
Practice rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday have been accompanied by a strong wind, but forecasters insist the winds will die down when tournament play starts on Thursday. Johnson said that radically changes the complexion of Colonial.
“I think the golf course, a lot of it depends on the wind. If it’s real windy, the golf course plays very tough. It doesn’t look like it’s supposed to blow too hard this week,” Johnson said. “But yeah, I mean, the rough is up pretty good, so you’ve got to drive it in the fairways. Any time you play a golf course with Bermuda rough, it’s really important to hit the fairways. For me that’s a big key this week is just driving it in the fairway.”
The break might have come at an opportune time for Johnson, who seems to have worn a bit, both mentally and physically.
Johnson won twice in 2019 and finished runner-up in two majors, but then had arthroscopic surgery last September to repair cartilage damage in his left knee. The procedure was considered routine and similar to the surgery he had to the same knee in December of 2011.
When the pandemic set in, Johnson got an extended break, which he spent relaxing near his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
“The first six weeks or so, I didn’t do a whole lot of golfing. I spent a lot of time with family, Paulina, a lot of time on my boat, did a lot of fishing,” Johnson said. “But obviously the last few weeks been grinding pretty hard trying to get the game ready to come out here and play at Colonial.”
So, even though playing Colonial hasn’t been part of the routine for Johnson, maybe that’s for the best. After injuries and other setbacks, he seems ready and refreshed, perhaps in a perfect place to tackle a new challenge.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been here, but I got out and played 12 holes, 13 holes (Tuesday). Yeah, the course is in good shape. It’s exactly how I remember it,” he said. “But yeah, I mean, obviously I haven’t been back here. It just hasn’t fit in the schedule, but obviously with everything that’s going on, being the first tournament back, it was a perfect time to come back and play here.”
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