Fansided

Dustin Johnson comes up just short yet again in major championship

By David Salituro

FARMINGDALE, NEW YORK - MAY 19: Dustin Johnson of the United States plays his tee shot on the 17th hole during the final round of the 2019 PGA Championship on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park on May 19, 2019 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
FARMINGDALE, NEW YORK - MAY 19: Dustin Johnson of the United States plays his tee shot on the 17th hole during the final round of the 2019 PGA Championship on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park on May 19, 2019 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images) /
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Dustin Johnson still stuck on one major championship after another close call at the PGA Championship

Dustin Johnson gave Brooks Koepka his best shot on Sunday, but at the end of the day, it was another case of so close but so far away at a major championship.

The PGA Championship is yet another near miss for Johnson in a major. While he nearly erased Koepka’s seven-shot lead at the start of the final round, he came up two shots short to finish runner-up for the second straight major.

He came closer than anyone could have reasonably expected at the start of the round. On a difficult, blustery day at Bethpage Black, Johnson birdied three holes on the front-nine to get to eight-under for the tournament. When he rolled in an 11-foot birdie putt at the 15th, Johnson cut Koepka’s lead to just one.

Two groups behind him, Koepka was doing his part to let Johnson back in the tournament. He bogeyed four holes in a row from the 11th to the 14th and appeared on the cusp of the biggest collapse in major championship history. Koepka, though, responded with pars on the difficult 15th and 16th holes.

Johnson, meanwhile, missed the green on both 16 and 17 and made bogey. By the time Koepka came to the 18th the lead had grown back to two shots, and he rolled in a five-footer for par to win his second straight PGA Championship at eight-under.

For Johnson, who finished with a one-under 69 on Sunday and six-under for the tournament, it was still a day filled with nothing but positives. “I’m happy with the way I played,” he said after his round. “Obviously, I knew starting seven back that it was going to be a big feat, you know, to catch Brooks. I definitely gave him a run, though, I was happy with that.”

With the second place finish, Johnson earns the dubious distinction of becoming the eighth player to complete the runner-up Grand Slam. He joins Craig Wood, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Phil Mickelson and Louis Oosthuizen as players who’ve finished second at each of the four majors. A 20-time PGA Tour winner, Johnson still has only one major on his resume, the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont.

This week continues a checkered history at the majors for the 34-year-old. Johnson now has eight top-five finishes in a major, with four runner-ups. It’s his best finish at a PGA Championship since 2010, when he went to the 18th tee with the lead at Whistling Straits but was penalized for grounding his club in a bunker and dropped to fifth. The next major, the U.S. Open in June, is at Pebble Beach, where in 2010 Johnson went into the final round with a three-shot lead but shot 82.

Adding to the disappointment of yet another close call is having to watch Koepka win his fourth major. Johnson and Koepka are close friends. They train together in Florida with Joey “Joey D” Diovisalvi. Together they are the prototype of the new breed of PGA Tour pro, well-built athletes with an all-around game to match their immense power. As a reminder of how Koepka has passed him by where it matters most, Johnson will lose his No. 1 spot in the world rankings to his friend-turned-rival.

Johnson played well enough to win on Sunday, but Koepka’s lead proved simply too big to overcome. The turning point came on the 16th when Johnson was in the center of the fairway and trailing by just one. His approach shot sailed well over the green, essentially putting an end to his hopes of completing the comeback. After the round, he was still in disbelief at the shot.

“Hit the shot I wanted to right at the flag. I don’t know how it flew 200 yards into the wind like that,” he said.

Johnson was still the only player in the top-10 at the start of the round to shoot under-par in what proved to be the most difficult conditions of the week. He’s also the only player in the field to shoot under-par each of the four rounds.

None of that was enough to beat Koepka, however. That’s a feeling that’s becoming all too familiar to Johnson, who’s still stuck on one major title but who has had the opportunity, and the talent, to win so much more.

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