LOS ANGELES – When you’ve waited this long to be No. 1 in the world, cramming 36 holes into one day in order to get there should be no big deal.
And the way Sunday unfolded at Riviera … well, it was fitting that a waterlogged weekend finished with a boat race.
Eleven players spent the back nine Sunday afternoon, the last stage of the Genesis Open’s golf marathon, within a shot or two of second place. Above them on the leaderboard, Dustin Johnson was, as he later admitted, “on cruise control,” his heavy lifting already done, and the top spot in the World Golf Rankings awaiting his final putt of the day.
He posted seven birdies and a 64 in the rain-delayed third round Sunday morning, teeing off at 7 a.m. and wrapping up around noon. Three more birdies in his first six holes in the afternoon round moved him to 20 under, nine shots in front and threatening the tournament records for lowest score (Lanny Wadkins, 264, 1985) and victory margin (Phil Rodgers, 9, 1962).
That momentum didn’t last, since he bogeyed 9, 15 and 16, snapping a string of par-or-better holes at 49 and shrinking his lead from 9 to an eventual 5.
The slippage should have been understandable. Since his entire third round was wiped out Saturday, Johnson had to be up at 4:30 a.m. for a 7 o’clock tee time, and he holed out for the day at 5:05 p.m.
And the break in between rounds? Poor guy couldn’t even grab a hot dog.
“I had 14 minutes from the time I signed my card to teeing off again,” he said. “I didn’t have time to really do anything. I went to my locker, grabbed some more golf balls and headed to the tee.”
He also said, “Sometimes, 36-hole days are good.” On this particular 36-hole day, the evidence backs him up.
Even as the tournament record book remained safe, last year’s U.S. Open champion and PGA Player of the Year took another step toward star status.
Being No. 1 in the world is nice, though relevant primarily to the true die-hard golf follower. Australia’s Jason Day had held that spot for the previous 47 weeks, but the formula for determining who’s No. 1 is, well, complicated.
“I don’t know if you guys understand it,” Johnson said in the interview room. “I don’t really understand it. But I can read the 1, 2, 3. I guess that’s all that matters.”
Anyway, it’s only one ranking. In the FedEx Cup points standings, which determine who qualifies for the four season-ending playoff events, he’s sixth. That, too, is more important to the week-to-week followers than the casual observer.
But there is this, also. Johnson now has 13 tour victories, and at least one in each of his 10 years as a full-time professional. Only three other golfers have won at least once in each of their first 10 years on tour: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
That sort of company gets everybody’s attention, even those who only recognize Johnson as Wayne Gretzky’s future son-in-law.
And while Johnson’s not that iconic, and likely never will be, he’s getting sound advice from the Great One himself.
“If I scored 50 goals in a season, I wanted 70 the next year,” Gretzky said in a Golf Magazine interview a couple of months ago. “If I got 70, I wanted 90. Never, ever settle. I’ve told Dustin he has to be more like Tiger … Dustin just won three tournaments and a major. That’s a great year. Now go win five tournaments and two majors. I want him to see that only he can put limits on himself.“
No pressure.
“It sounds like Wayne, for sure,” Johnson said Sunday.
“You know, he’s the greatest of all time and no one’s ever going to pass his records or pass him as a hockey player. I just don’t see it ever happening. So when he thinks very highly of you, it definitely gives you a lot of confidence and gives you more belief.”
Johnson’s confidence began to surge after winning the Open, his first major victory. He obviously feels good about his game now, and has seven weeks to gear up for the Masters.
But will that World No. 1 status throw another variable into the mix?
“There’s a lot of good and a lot of, you know, I would say kind of uncomfortable situations that you’re just not used to,” Day said. “You get obviously a lot more pressure, a lot more time commitments, a lot more stuff that obviously (comes) to you as World No. 1, but that’s just part and parcel of being the person.”
That said, Day had no advice for Johnson, nor did he think any was necessary.
“I think he’s going to do just fine,” he said. “I think he’s won every single year that he’s been out here. That’s the formula. You’ve got to win every single year and you’ve got to win as much as you can.”
Sounds easy, doesn‘t it?
Contact the writer: jalexander@scng.com
