“Shit happens!”
That’s Dustin Johnson’s comments five years after ‘Bunkegate’.
However the lanky American need have no fear of finding the same bunker that cost him victory in the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
Why?
Because a grandstand is now in place down the right side of the 18th fairway after one of the most controversial endings to a Major Championship in some time.
The American stood on the 18th tee of the Lake Michigan course in Wisconsin enjoying a one shot lead as he sought to bury the demons of leading into the last day of the U.S. Open earlier that year but then shoot a last day 82 and end in a tie for eighth.
However Johnson sent his drive right at the dog-leg of the downhill par four.
His ball came to rest in one of the nearly 1,000 bunkers on the Whistling Straits golf resort and laid out on the site of a former WW2 U.S. Air Force training base.
Notices had placed all about the clubhouse that week to state any
Dustin Johnson some 20 yards inside the spectator ropes at the 2010 PGA Championship and about to be handed a two stroke penalty.
sand area on the course was to be treated as a bunker.
Therefore the onus was on Johnson and all other PGA Championship competitors that if your ball came to rest in a sand area you had to play is as though it were in a bunker.
When Johnson arrived at his ball he found it lying in a sand area strewn with empty drink bottles and candy wrappers.
Blame his caddy or blame Johnson because he then proceeded to ground his 4-iron not once but twice, before hitting his approach shot short and left. By the time he got to the green, chaos reigned and with the PGA of America into ‘damage control’ mode.
Instead of standing over a par putt to win a first Major, Johnson was slapped with a two shot penalty under Rule 13-4, ‘Ball in Hazard, and instead was now staring at holing a putt for double bogey.
Dustin Johnson clearly seen illegally grouding his club in a bunker despite the bunker being 20 yards inside the spectator ropes.
Johnson hadn’t read the local rules, but in fairness, he or the great majority of those present never even recognised he was in a bunker.
Five years later and Johnson’s moved on.
“Shit happens,” he says.
“Never once have I woken up since that day in 2010 to think that was a bunker.
“There was beer cans and all sorts of rubbish in this so-called bunker so how was I to know it was a bunker.
“But then everybody remembers what happened there on 18. They forget I birdied 16 and 17 to get a one-shot lead. So I’ve got what it takes. I’ve just got to get it done.”
When Johnson returns to Whistling Straits tomorrow morning US time (Monday), i
Happier times for American Dustin Johnson in capturing WGC – Cadillac Championship. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
t will mark his 27th Major start. That’s the number it took former World No. 1 David Duval to break through before he captured the 2001 Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.
But then Johnson, who turned 31 in June, has played among the final three groups on the weekend in each of the past five Majors only to see glory at the game’s highest level slip through his fingers.
You look back to the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach where he squandered a final round lead. He then flared 2-iron that sailed OB in the 2011 Open at Royal St. George’s. In June, he stood over a 15-foot putt for eagle at the U.S. Open but three-putted to lose to Jordan Spieth by a shot at Chambers Bay.
Whereas as the outside observer sees a golfer snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, Johnson sees it all part of the learning process.
“I feel like my game is in really good shape, every part of my game both physical, mental, every part,” he says.
“I like it. I like having a chance to win on Sunday. That’s why I play the game. The more times I am in the situation, the better chance I’ve got. So if I just keep putting myself in the situation, it’s going to work out.”
And five years after grounding his club in a bunker now covered by a grandstand, Johnson remains philosophical
“I like my chances at any venue but then going back to Whistling Straits where I went so close to winning a Major, definitely gives me a lot of confidence,’ he says.
“All I can do it put myself into a position where I have a chance to win on Sunday.
“I haven’t been back to Whistling Straits since ’10 but having played so well last month in The Open t St. Andrews and having given myself a great shot at winning at Chambers Bay, it’s all positive for me.
“It wasn’t like when I was at Whistling Straits I was playing bad or swinging it bad.”
DUSTIN JOHNSON – CLOSE CALLS – 26 MAJOR STARTS; 22 MADE THE CUT; 9 TOP-10s
2010 US Open – Held a three shot lead heading to the final round at Pebble Beach but after taking a second hole triple bogey, shot an 82 to finish T8th behind Graeme McDowell
2010 PGA Championship – Led by a shot with a hole to play but incurred a two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in a rubbish-strewn bunker deemed to be part of the course. Took a triple bogey and an eventually share of fifth place behind Martin Kaymer.
2011 Open Championship – One stroke behind when he hit a 2-iron OB on the 14th hole at Royal St. Georges to finish T2nd with Phil Michelson and behind new Open Champion Darren Clarke.
2015 U.S. Open – Leading by one stroke heading the 72nd green but three-putted from 15- feet for bogey to hand Jordan Spieth victory by a shot at Chalmers Bay.
