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2021 PGA Championship: What’s Wrong with Dustin Johnson?

By Tim Letcher

KIAWAH ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA - MAY 21: Dustin Johnson of the United States plays a shot from the sand on the ninth hole during the second round of the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Resort's Ocean Course on May 21, 2021 in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
KIAWAH ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA - MAY 21: Dustin Johnson of the United States plays a shot from the sand on the ninth hole during the second round of the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Resort's Ocean Course on May 21, 2021 in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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Dustin Johnson is the number one player in the world in the latest Official World Golf Rankings. However, his struggles continued this week at the 2021 PGA Championship.

Johnson opened the season’s second major with a 4-over par 76 on Thursday. It was a round that included two double bogeys, one bogey and a birdie.

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On Friday, DJ opened his round with a birdie on his first hole, hoping to make a run at getting inside the cut line. However, a double bogey at the par-3 14th hole, followed by a bogey at the 15th hole, derailed his round.

Johnson was able to shoot just 74 on Friday and it looks like he will not be around for the weekend. This is just the latest in a line of recent struggles for DJ.

Since the calendar turned to 2021, Johnson has not been the same player. He started fairly strong with a T11 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. A month later, DJ had a T8 at the Genesis Invitational. But since then, his results have not been what one would expect of the world’s best player.

DJ recorded a T54 at the WGC-Workday Championship in February. He followed that with a T48 at the Players Championship in March, where he shot four rounds in the 70s.

Johnson was T28 at the WGC-Match Play. Two weeks later, he shot 74-75 at the Masters, where he was defending his title, and missed the cut.

At the RBC Heritage, Johnson finished T13, a better showing for him. But at the Valspar Championship, DJ was T48.

After his result this week, there are questions about DJ and his game.

Is he healthy? DJ has battled injuries and has missed time due to those ailments. It is not known if he’s really 100 percent at this point.

Is he slumping? It happens, even to the best player in the world. This could certainly be the case.

Next. 2021 PGA Championship: Top 10 power rankings at Kiawah Island. dark

Did his success at the end of last year set unrealistic expectations? DJ was so good at the end of 2020, winning the FedEx Cup in runaway fashion and claiming the title at the 2022 Masters, that maybe we are expecting too much from him.

Whatever the case, it’s clear that DJ is not playing as well as he was nine months ago.

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