The 2021 Major season: Winners and Losers
By Bill Felber
Dustin Johnson
Johnson entered 2021 as perhaps the hottest player in golf, having won both the Tour Championship and then the November Masters, the latter in runaway fashion.
Strangely, though, Johnson was never a Major championship factor in 2021. He missed the cut at both the Masters and PGA, came home mid-pack at the U.S. Open, then needed a Sunday charge just to get to top 10 status at Royal St. George’s.
The result?
Johnson never seized on the opportunity he had given himself to improve his peak score from -1.78, where it finished 2020. As such he continues to rank 22nd all time for peak performance, trailing Cary Middlecoff and Jim Barnes (-1.83).
Worse, Johnson’s career score backslid for the first time since 2017. He had begun the year at -5.37 – 82nd all-time – but ended at -3.87. That created a drop of four spots behind three old-timers (Alec Ross, Joe Lloyd and James Foulis) as well as 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama.
Like McIlroy, Johnson has become a maddeningly inconsistent player. Since 2016, he’s won two Majors but offset those gains to his statistical profile with five missed cuts, two coming in 2021. His is a classic illustration of one step forward, two steps back, and good luck guessing which steps will be taken in which direction when.