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LAHAINA, HAWAII | Is it too early to wonder about Dustin Johnson?
Yes.
He spent much of last year dealing with a knee issue that was serious enough to require surgery in the fall. The procedure was invasive enough that Johnson was hobbled for several weeks, sidelining him for three months after the Tour Championship.
But still …
Johnson (above) played in the Presidents Cup last month (going 2-2), then turned in a promising performance last week in the Sentry Tournament of Champions, finishing T7 in the 34-man field. Before that, he hadn’t posted a finish better than 20th since he finished second to Brooks Koepka in the PGA Championship last May.
He arrived at Kapalua having slipped to fifth in the world ranking, his lowest spot since the middle of 2016. Johnson is still in rare air but he’s gone quiet because he hasn’t played much and when he has, he hasn’t done much.
For a 35-year-old who has won 20 PGA Tour events – only 33 players have won more – it was interesting to hear him describe how he felt after nearly two months without hitting full shots late last year.
“I probably didn't swing until probably about seven or eight weeks after (surgery),” Johnson said. “And it's funny, you take a break, and so you'd think you'd be like wanting to get out and practice.
“But I was like – it was on a Monday, I remember I went up to the Floridian and I was practicing, hit balls, and had a really good practice session, and I'm like, ‘All right, I'm going to get back into it.’. Tuesday came, no; Wednesday, no. I didn't go back. Then finally the next Monday I was like, ‘All right, I'm going to start this Monday.’ Hit balls, a good session. Yeah, didn't work. Waited until the next Monday.”
The issue, Johnson said, was lingering discomfort in his left knee, which led him to withdraw from the Hero World Challenge the week before heading to Australia for the Presidents Cup.
“It wasn't that it hurt, I just could feel it in the transition of the driver, like when I would kind of load into my left side, and so then I would kind of back out of everything,” Johnson said. “So that's why I kind of kept pushing it back until I could do everything I wanted to.”
In addition to the knee issue, Johnson’s wedge play – the element that helped separate him in his extended run at No. 1 in the world – declined significantly last year. From 50 to 125 yards, Johnson ranked seventh on tour in 2017, 15th in 2018, then 132nd last year.
During a pre-tournament media session, Johnson said he feels he should have won more than he has, despite the fact only Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Davis Love III among current players have more victories.
“It's very hard to win out here,” he said. “But should I have won more? I mean, I think so. Or could I have? Yes, I believe so. But I've still got a few good years left in me.”
Ron Green Jr.