This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
Imagine the No. 1 golfer in the world crushing an elite field and then saying: "I feel like I could still improve a lot."
That's what Dustin Johnson told reporters after running away with the year-opening Sentry Tournament of Champions, a 34-man invitation featuring seven of the top-10 golfers in the OWGR.
Johnson turned a two-stroke lead entering Sunday into an eight-stroke cakewalk. He did it by using his driver as a sledge hammer, gaining a whopping four strokes off the tee on the field in the final round alone.
There was no better illustration of that than the (very) early candidate for shot of year: Johnson nearly aced the par-4, 433-yard 12th hole, launching his drive to … six inches. Tap-in eagle, thank you very much.
Other in the OWGR top-10 on hand at Kapalua – namely, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, Jon Rahm and Rickie Fowler -- looked like mere mortals.
Besides his prowess off the tee, which is a given, Johnson finished sixth in the field in both scrambling and strokes gained putting. It goes without saying that if he can continue to combine that short game with his remarkable length, he's going to win a lot of tournaments this year.
Remember, Johnson was heading in that direction last season when he fell down some stairs on the eve of the Masters. He wasn't right for months. As he told reporters in Hawaii on Sunday, "I thought I broke my back."
Johnson had won three straight
Imagine the No. 1 golfer in the world crushing an elite field and then saying: "I feel like I could still improve a lot."
That's what Dustin Johnson told reporters after running away with the year-opening Sentry Tournament of Champions, a 34-man invitation featuring seven of the top-10 golfers in the OWGR.
Johnson turned a two-stroke lead entering Sunday into an eight-stroke cakewalk. He did it by using his driver as a sledge hammer, gaining a whopping four strokes off the tee on the field in the final round alone.
There was no better illustration of that than the (very) early candidate for shot of year: Johnson nearly aced the par-4, 433-yard 12th hole, launching his drive to … six inches. Tap-in eagle, thank you very much.
Other in the OWGR top-10 on hand at Kapalua – namely, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, Jon Rahm and Rickie Fowler -- looked like mere mortals.
Besides his prowess off the tee, which is a given, Johnson finished sixth in the field in both scrambling and strokes gained putting. It goes without saying that if he can continue to combine that short game with his remarkable length, he's going to win a lot of tournaments this year.
Remember, Johnson was heading in that direction last season when he fell down some stairs on the eve of the Masters. He wasn't right for months. As he told reporters in Hawaii on Sunday, "I thought I broke my back."
Johnson had won three straight tournaments preceding Augusta and, while he did have some high finishes after he returned a month later, he didn't win again till August.
In looking at Johnson's schedule last season, he followed the TOC (in which he finished sixth) with Torrey Pines (missed cut), Pebble Beach (third) and then the three straight wins at Riviera and two WGCs (Mexico and the Match Play).
Johnson hasn't confirmed his upcoming schedule, but we should look for him again later this month at Torrey. That, historically, has been one of his worst tournaments, as he's missed the cut there two of the past three years, with only one career top-10.
But if he does do well there, watch out … everyone else will continue to play for No. 2.
MONDAY BACKSPIN
Jon Rahm
For all the winning that Justin Thomas did over the past 15 months, Rahm has now surged ahead of him in the world rankings. The Spaniard leap-frogged Thomas to No. 3 in the OWGR by finishing runner-up at Kapalua. And Rahm is very close to overtaking Jordan Spieth for No. 2. There isn't one facet of Rahm's game that is weak, but the area he still needs to improve on is his putting. He was 16th in strokes gained putting in the 34-man TOC field.
Brian Harman
At age 30, Harman may really be entering the best phase of his career. He was solo third at Kapalua, giving him four straight worldwide top-10s. Harman is up to a career-best No. 23 in the OWGR, and it's not impossible to envision him nearing or cracking the top-10 this season. At only 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds, Harman was 27th in the field in driving distance, but he still finished sixth in strokes gained tee to green. That's impressive.
Hideki Matsuyama
Matsuyama had a marvelous 2016-17 season yet was plagued by two issues: his schedule and his putting. If the early going is an indication, he has taken steps to play fewer tournaments, which hopefully will keep him from tiring at the end of this season. For instance, he played the Sony last year but will skip it this week. As for putting, well, he's working on it. Matsuyama tied for fourth at the TOC despite ranking 24th in strokes gained putting. He doesn't need to be Spieth on the greens to win majors, but he does need to get a bit better.
Pat Perez
Perez was asked on TV the other day why he's suddenly upped his game to an elite level after turning 40. He basically said it's because he doesn't care as much. He stressed that he still works and practices hard, it's just that he doesn't sweat the results. And with that, the results have been improving. Perez notched another high finish in an elite field, tying or fourth to move him to a career-best No. 16 in the OWGR.
Si Woo Kim
Time and again, we have seen that when Kim plays, he can be outstanding. The reigning Players Championship winner cashed solo 10th at Kapalua – even with substandard putting, as he was 25th in strokes gained putting. Up to 37 in the world, Kim needs only one thing to have a fantastic season: to stay healthy.
Justin Thomas
Thomas didn't have a good week, on the course or off. On it, he finished his TOC title defense with a tie for 22nd that featured four double bogeys on the week. Thomas led the field in driving distance – even more than Johnson – but he was 28th in strokes gained putting. Off the course, Thomas lost regular caddie Jimmy Johnson to injury. This week at the Sony, Thomas will have a big-name fill-in: Jim "Bones" Mackay, Phil Mickelson's longtime looper. The chances of Thomas repeating last season's five wins were remote under the best of circumstances; now, there are some early concerns that this season can be significantly worse.
Jordan Spieth
The best putter on the planet finished 30th in strokes gained putting at Kapalua. Spieth cashed solo ninth despite such trouble on the greens. And you have to figure it was just an off-week, however odd that sounds – golfers are more likely to have bad weeks off the tee than on the green, especially where they have putted well before. (He was third in SGP last year at Kapalua and first the year before that.) As Spieth drifted farther behind Johnson is the race for No. 1 in the world, he's also dangerously close to giving up the No. 2 position to Rahm. We'll find out more about Spieth's putting this week at Waialae.
Brooks Koepka
Oooh, boy. Koepka has a wrist injury and it doesn't sound good – nobody knows why he has severe pain in his left wrist or when the injury happened. But we do know Koepka has finished dead last in his last two tournaments – the 18-man Hero World Challenge and the 34-man TOC. He wound up a whopping 37 shots behind Johnson. Two weeks before the Hero, which was right after Thanksgiving, Koepka won a tournament in Japan. So presumably the injury happened in that two-week window or during the Hero. Regardless, it could derail the season for the No. 8 golfer in the world.
