Dustin Johnson Battles Back From Early Quadruple Bogey to Stay in Hunt at U.S. Open
LOS ANGELES — Dustin Johnson isn’t much for showing emotion on the golf course, so the fist pump that came after draining a birdie putt on the 18th hole Friday at Los Angeles Country Club said something about how meaningful it was to him.
It meant a score of even-par 70 in the second round of the U.S. Open, but more importantly to him, it meant fully rebounding from the second-hole 8 he recorded, one that sent him spiraling down the leaderboard.
"That was a gut punch," his agent, David Winkle, said to Johnson as he exited the 18th green.
"Yeah," Johnson said. "But it could have gone the other way."
Johnson played the remaining 16 holes in 4 under par to finish where he started at 6 under, apparently within striking distance of the leaders despite such a serious error.
"Who knows what’s going to be leading after today," Johnson said. "But I feel like no matter what it is, I’m in a spot with 36 holes to go. I’m looking forward to this weekend.
"Obviously I feel like I’m swinging really well and rolling it good, too, so if I can keep driving it like I am, I’ll be around here on the weekend."
Johnson, who won the 2017 U.S. Open at Oakmont as well as the 2020 Masters, was in good shape after a first-round 64 saw him just two shots off the record-setting rounds of 62 shot by Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele.
But he was annoyed that he failed to birdie the par-5 1st, and when he hit his tee shot in a bunker at the par-4 2nd, it all went bad from there.
"I was just trying to make a 5, but obviously didn't really hit that bad of a drive," he said. "Just hit it a little on the top so it didn't quite cut enough. Caught the corner of the bunker and then chunked my bunker shot and then chunked the next one, skulled the next one. Everything that you could do wrong I did wrong.
"It happens sometimes, but just battled back and played a really good round of golf."
Johnson now has some difficult history to overcome. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, in major championships going back 30 years, no player has ever made a quadruple bogey and gone on to win the tournament.
In fact, only Tiger Woods at the 2000 U.S. Open—where he won by 15 strokes—was able to overcome a triple bogey. He made a 7 on the par-4 3rd hole at Pebble Beach during the third round.
In the past 10 years, only two players have overcome a quad to win on the PGA Tour—Tom Kim at last year’s Wyndham Championship and Adam Scott at the 2016 Honda Classic.
"Sometimes it is (hard to bounce back)," Johnson said. "Today it wasn’t, though. I’ve got a lot of confidence in the game and what I’m doing right now. It was nice obviously to come back and birdie the next hole. That definitely helped a little bit."