Not playing competitively at all since the U.S. Open was not in the plans for Dustin Johnson. Unfortunately, he contracted the coronavirus prior to the CJ Cup a couple weeks ago. That sidelined him from a pair of no-cut money grabs he could have used to prepare for the Masters.
Instead, he’ll look to shake off the rust just in the nick of time at the Houston Open.
Johnson has been great this summer save for July and it’s a testament that he’s been out for over a month and is still No. 1 in the world.
DJ ‘s last six starts going back to the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational are eye-popping: T-12th, tied second at the PGA Championship, first at The Northern Trust, second at the BMW Championship, first at the Tour Championship and tied sixth at the U.S. Open.
I had to do a double take when I saw that Johnson has never won a stroke play event in Texas. He did win the 2017 WGC-Match Play in Austin.
This is more a product of the fact that the Houston Open, Texas Open, Byron Nelson and Colonial aren’t fixtures on his schedule.
The 23-time PGA Tour winner can win on any track, especially one like this where it looks like he can hit driver often.
Johnson ranked 11th in strokes gained off the tee (.612) last season and was 17th in SG approach (.524).
As long as Johnson is back in good health, he’s a threat to jump right back in and contend.