Gillespie: Bogies bury Dustin Johnson’s third round at British Open
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland
EARLY SUNDAY, the stage seemed set at the 144th Open Championship – which will finish on Monday for the second time in history – for Dustin Johnson to make some history of his own.
Here at the Home of Golf, the lanky Columbia native led after 36 holes over three days, and appeared poised to accomplish what observers have been waiting for since 2010, when he let the first of a string of golden opportunities to claim one of golf’s major championships slip from his grasp.
At 31, with nine PGA Tour titles including a World Golf Championship, Johnson looked ready going into the delayed third round to claim the Open’s Claret Jug, having led since a sterling opening round of 7-under par 65.
Instead, his lackluster 3-over par 75 – one of eight over-par rounds in the field of 80 and second-worst to last-place Ryan Fox’s 76 – left him at 7-under and revived the question: Does Johnson have what it takes to close the deal in a major?
On Monday, we’ll find out.
“I’ve got to have a special round out there (Monday) to have a chance,” he said, still able to smile at moments. “I’ll be out way before the leaders, so get off to a really good start, maybe. You never know what will happen.
“(Sunday) was the easiest of the days we played by quite a few shots. So it was definitely frustrating.”
The Open leader since Thursday, Johnson was passed by 17 players, including co-leaders Jason Day, Louie Oosthuizen (who won the last Open at St. Andrews in 2010) and Irish amateur Paul Dunne, all at 12-under, with Masters and U.S. Open winner Jordan Spieth a shot back.
Johnson will start Monday’s finale seven shots off the lead. Among those he must chase are seven players – Spieth, Padraig Harrington, Retief Goosen, Oosthuizen, Adam Scott, Zach Johnson and Justin Rose – with a total of 11 majors won between them.
How much of an advantage do those players have over non-major-winners, including Johnson? It’s a mental edge, said Harrington, who won back-to-back Opens in 2007-08.
“In my head, I’ll be telling myself that I know what I’m doing and I’ve done it before,” Harrington said after his round of 65, second only to Marc Leishman’s 64 on Sunday.
“It’s a good positive feedback, and I’ll be telling myself, as I’m heading home, that’s the case.”
That’s an advantage Johnson’s physical talents will have to compete with. Sunday, even those seemed to abandon him.
After a string of unimpressive pars, Johnson hit his drive at the par-4 eighth into the left rough, came up short on his approach, then chunked his pitch shot well past the flag. The resulting bogey dropped him from a shot off the lead to a tie for sixth at 9-under.
He made birdie at the 15th but then bogeyed the final three holes for four on the day. This after bogeying two of the first 36 holes.
While Johnson was struggling to stay around par, the rest of the leader board went racing past. Spieth, whose quest for the third leg of golf’s Grand Slam suddenly looks more viable than Johnson’s first major, birdied his first three holes on the back nine and added a birdie at the par-4 15th to shoot 66 and finish 11-under.
“At this point it’s free rolling,” Spieth said. “I’m going to play to win ... I’m not playing for a place. I don’t want to place third (Monday). I want to win.”
Right then, no one recalled how Johnson outplayed Spieth by five shots for the first 36 holes.
Unless he can rally past the rest of a talented leader board, this shapes up as Johnson’s fifth major-championship disappointment in five years.
No one doubts his off-the-charts talent and skills. But after so many close calls, Johnson is a candidate to succeed Sergio Garcia for the unenviable title of “best player never to win a major.” It’s a title no one wants.
So yes, it’s time for Johnson. Time to win what most observers believe will be the first of multiple major titles – if he can capture that first one.
Until Sunday, St. Andrews seemed tailor-made for his skill set. With massive length off the tee, Johnson had reached half the course’s par-4 holes at least once with wedges or less. In his first round, he reached the par-5 fifth hole in two shots – with a 7-iron – and made eagle.
But Sunday ... as he walked off in a steady rain, agent David Winkle, an umbrella in hand, struggled to keep up with Johnson. “I deserve to get rained on,” he quipped.
In his first 36 holes, Johnson had that eagle, 10 birdies and two bogeys. That second bogey came early Saturday morning during an ill-advised start, when high winds eventually were deemed too much by Royal & Ancient officials.
The question then: Would that bogey come back to haunt Johnson? On Sunday, it became an afterthought.
Unless he turns things around Monday, so – for this British Open, at least – will be Johnson.
This story was originally published July 19, 2015 at 10:39 PM with the headline "Gillespie: Bogies bury Dustin Johnson’s third round at British Open."