Dustin Johnson

DJ started his week with an afternoon tee time and put on a ball-striking clinic. He striped all 13 fairways en route to landing 14 GIR. He led the field in strokes gained tee-to-green. "Obviously won in Tulsa a few weeks ago. The game has been trending in the right direction, and obviously I feel really comfortable over the golf ball right now." Johnson has finished outside of the top 15 in three of his last four tries at the U.S. Open but zooming out he has finishes of T6 or better (including a 2016 win) in five of his last nine starts at the event. Johnson will get a Friday morning tee time and he expects to see a more beefy setup after seeing some generous tee boxes on day one. 

DJ piped 8-of-14 fairways on his way toward 11 GIR. The striking was solid but did start to leak a bit down the stretch. It was his short game that really shined, though. His score was 7.3 shots better than the field today and 6.4 of that was gained with the short game department (+2.1 around-the-green, +4.3 putting). "I kind of grinded it out. I didn't have my best stuff, but I felt like he managed the golf course very well and took advantage of the opportunities when I had it. Made some crucial saves there on the back side." Johnson arrived with converging trends, winning last week in Tulsa while also having a T8 on his Oak Hill resume (2013 PGA). 

DJ battled with a back injury to start the year and talked about that in his presser today, "I didn't hit balls for a few weeks, until right before I went and played Mexico. It's just taken my a while to get back, get the patterns right and just get my body moving right. Developed some bad habits, and it's just golf; things happen. Swinging it well, feeling good, got confidence. That's always helpful coming into a major." He's coming fresh off a win last week at the LIV Tulsa event. While it's nice to see a good result the week before a major it should also be noted the course conditions will be much different. Tulsa was dealing with a lot of weather issues and surrendered a 17-under winning tally for a 54-hole event. The last two winners at Oak Hill (-4 and -10) have not even reached that number, across 144 holes. Johnson has been boom-or-bust in recent PGA Championships, posting back-to-back podiums before missing the cut in his last two tries. 

This announcement doesn't surprise but it does provide some clarity that future changes to qualifying criteria will likely be made. Whether that is advantageous or not for LIV Golf defectors is to be determined. ANGC chairman Fred Ridley had this to say in his statement today, "As invitations are sent this week, we will invite those eligible under our current criteria to compete in the 2023 Masters Tournament. As we have said in the past, we look at every aspect of the Tournament each year, and any modifications or changes to invitation criteria for future Tournaments will be announced in April." There are currently 16 golfers from the LIV Golf circuit that will get their 2023 invite as a past Masters champ or through the Top 50 OWGR criteria.