It is debatable whether this is the biggest win of Dustin Johnson’s career. He already had a WGC title to his name before adding the first such event of 2015. It is, though, unquestionably the most significant and by quite some distance.
In only his fifth tournament since returning from a six-month absence to address what he called “personal challenges”, Johnson found himself back on the podium. The 30-year-old’s golfing talent has never been in question; an ability to develop that, rather than succumb to the distractions of life, more so.
Perhaps fatherhood – Johnson became a dad in mid-January – will bring a fresh sense of maturity. Upon his return to competitive golf Johnson had admitted to a damaging relationship with alcohol; now the headlines around him are suddenly more endearing. For the eighth season in succession Johnson will have at least one victory to his name. That is the best streak on the PGA Tour.
He has catapulted himself into the top six in the world rankings and, if not already, is a live candidate for the Masters in April. The ease with which Johnson handled pressure over the closing stretch at Doral is not particularly common in professional golf. Should Johnson harness that more often he will win multiple major championships.
Johnson prevailed by one shot, a success secured with a closing round of 69. Given the ferocious set-up of the Blue Monster course there should be no shock at all attached to the fact some of the biggest hitters on tour made up the numbers. That said, Johnson led greens in regulation as well as driving distance over the four tournament days.
Bubba Watson, seeking to become the only player other than Tiger Woods to claim back-to-back WGC titles, raced into a two-shot lead at the turn but frittered away three strokes on the inward nine. The two-times Masters champion finished third.
Watson had briefly been the one to upstage JB Holmes, who had led by five with 18 holes to play. Holmes, who partnered Johnson, had to hole from 43ft on the final green to force a play-off. As the putt slid right of the cup Johnson knew he had two to win and made no mistake with a lag from the fringe of the green. “Welcome back” was the general message to Johnson from golfing insiders thereafter.
“It has been a tough road but a lot of really good things came out of it,” said Johnson of his recent absence. “It feels awesome to get that win. I knew I was really good, I just knew there was something missing that could make me great. I started working hard on that and it is showing now. This might be the best win.”
Johnson’s fiancee, Paulina Gretzky, and baby Tatum were on hand to celebrate the triumph. Adam Scott will rue what might have been, the Australian’s 75 on day three ultimately costing him a proper tilt at glory. He finished fourth, five adrift of Johnson, after shooting a Sunday 71.
“I’m very happy with what I saw out there,” said Scott. “It felt like I started off the year on the right foot. Hopefully I can build on this and just get better.”
Rory McIlroy’s week was rather summed up on the 72nd hole. The Northern Irishman had produced his finest golf of the tournament to get to two under par for his closing round before dumping the same number of balls into a water hazard from the tee.
Fittingly the second of them came from the face of the three-iron which he had tossed into a lake on Friday. A double bogey was the consequence. Before exiting Miami, McIlroy was to return the infamous club to Donald Trump, Doral’s proprietor, who had earlier presented it to the world No1 on the driving range. His tie for ninth seemed somewhat inconsequential by close of play; this is a work in progress with Augusta National in mind.
“My game is just not quite there,” McIlroy admitted. “I’ve got a week off now to try and work on it a little bit. I am pretty disappointed with how I played overall. I felt it was a little better again today for the most part but that was a bit of a disappointing finish. It is just not quite 100%.”
Johnson has no such concerns. If this is an indicator of things to come, very interesting times await.
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