Dustin Johnson has sounded a warning to his younger 20-something rivals that he’s not about to relinquish his World No. 1 crown.
Johnson, 33 is just two weeks shy of being golf’s top-ranked player for an unbroken 12 months when he defends his February 15th starting Genesis Open title in L.A.
It was on the famed Riviera course last year Johnson went to World No. 1 and winning the first of three events in succession.
The American is currently the equal eighth longest World No. 1 since the ranking commenced in April 1986 and presently tied with Welshman Ian Woosnam.
Dustin Johnson goes to World No. 1 winning the 2017 Genesis Open. (Photo – www.goflbytourmiss.com)
Johnson will tie Australia’s Jason Day on Sunday night at 51 weeks should World No. 2 Jon Rahm not capture this week’s Phoenix Open, and this after the Spaniard stumbled to achieve that goal in ending well down in his defence of the Farmers Insurance Open.
“Well, it’s very important to be being World No.1 and I really like being No. 1 in the world,” said Johnson.
“For me, it’s a huge motivator to continue to do what I’m doing, continue to work hard in the gym, to continue to work hard on my golf game, and for me a bonus is it proves that what I’m doing and the way that I’m doing things is working.
“So, it just keeps on motivating me to keep doing the same, keep working harder.
“But in saying that, there’s a lot of really good young players out there such as Justin (Thomas) and Jordan (Spieth), Jon Rahm and each very, very talented players, young players.
“They’re younger than I am but not by too much. They are very, very good and they’re going to be good for a long time. They have all the skills it takes to be a very good golfer. They’re definitely guys that are going to contend a lot.
“They’re definitely my biggest competition.”
And ‘DJ’, and not a golfer who you sit down with for a long fireside chat, had plenty to say following Tiger Woods successful return to competition last week at Torrey Pines.
“I had played a round with Tiger right around Thanksgiving and we played with President Trump along with Brad Faxon and it was first time I had really seen him since the Farmers, so that was about 10 months prior to that,” said Johnson
“He’s swinging completely different. He looked healthy. He was swinging with some speed compared to what I saw at Farmers where you could tell he just wasn’t feeling that great, he wasn’t swinging very good and he wasn’t swinging with any kind of speed.
“So, it was good to see him playing and hitting the ball well again, actually hitting it with some force and getting the ball out there. He looked like he did when he was playing really well.
“It’s really good for the game of golf to have him out here. It’s good for me, it’s good for everybody. The more attention we get to the game of golf, which he obviously brings a lot of attention, so it’s good for everyone and I hope he plays well and I hope to see him coming down the stretch in contention soon on Sundays.”
