Do You Believe Dustin Johnson?

This is really starting to look like “The Year of Comebacks” in golf. First there’s Tiger Woods, who’s a week away from his long awaited return to the PGA Tour. There’s Phil Mickelson who is trying to forget about his disastrous 2014 year and find his game that has produced forty-four career victories. Then there’s Dustin Johnson. Well maybe for him it’s not a return, it’s a rebirth.

The thirty year old is making preparations for a return to the game after abruptly leaving it last summer due to what he cited as “personal issues.” DJ is back, and according to a golf.com report he’s feeling better than ever. The eight time winner on tour has gone to work on himself over the last five months by trying to simplify his life and become an overall better person.

"In the article Johnson states “Over these past four or five months I’ve really grown up,” he says, “and I am starting to become the person I want my kids to look up to.”"

There’s still is plenty of curiosity surrounding Johnson, and why he took this leave of absence from the tour. It’s believed that the real reason is because of a third failed drug test, which he denied in the Golf.com piece and said “it was something he was not going to get into.” It’s not our business to know exactly what happened and know all the answers about him. We can still try and appreciate a guy who believed it was time to get help and change his ways. Let’s try to focus more on that.

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In this ultra-cynical world we live in; it’s sometimes difficult to give people the benefit of the doubt. Nowadays people are guilty before proven innocent and we almost root for others to fail. Take the NFL and the Patriots “Deflate Gate” scandal. We immediately are ready to throw the book at Bill Belichick and ban him from society for letting some air out of footballs. Yes he deserves some penalty but is he a monster? No. For Dustin, just because he’s made some bad decisions in his life both on and off the course doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate and root for a guy to change. In fact I believe his desire to do better is a reason we should root for him

For now all we can do is listen to Johnson and try to believe what he’s saying is true and sincere. According to the article he’s cut out the partying and now spends his nights watching television with his pregnant fiancée Paulina Gretzky. He’s a golf superstar just trying to live a simple life, which is easy to do when you’re away from the tour. It’s just how will he respond when he makes his return is what people are curious about. Will this changed man stick and will he finally become the player we’ve all hoped and believe he could be? Only time will tell.

Let’s hope that this new found spirit and approach to life changes things for DJ on the golf course. We know he can hit it a country mile and is one of the most talented players out there. It’s just that so far all that talent hasn’t come together when it’s mattered most. He has eight career wins but his performance in majors has been defined by disasters. Starting with his 2010 final round melt down at Pebble Beach, then bunker mishap at the PGA later that year, and finally his out of bounds drive at the 2011 Open Championship. Johnson’s career in majors has been defined by the blow up.

When you examine it from afar Johnson’s off the course life directly reflects his majors. His out of control nature that he talks about in the Golf.com article could be a direct correlation to why he’s yet to win one. Think about it, to win golf’s biggest events it’s not always about having the most talent; you have to be mentally tough, and Johnson may not have been. So through this self-evaluation and changes in his life we can only hope it carries over to course. If it does then for the first time in his career the guy we’ve expected to be the game’s next big superstar may finally be ready to take on the role.

Next: Phil Mickelson Needs a Big Year

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