Dustin Johnson’s Long Road to Number One in the World

This past weekend, Dustin Johnson won his third straight PGA TOUR tournament, as well as capturing the career WGC slam.

To say Dustin Johnson has been dominant so far this year would be a bit of an understatement.

Just take this past week as an example.  DJ played 112 holes in his seven matches and never trailed at any stage.  He halved his first hole Wednesday, then led for his next 71 holes before Alex Noren drew level…for one hole.  It is one of the more dominant performances in Match Play history.

Naturally, this morning Johnson woke up as the new favorite to win The Masters at 5 to 1.

To say Dustin Johnson has come a long way would also be an understatement.

It wasn’t that long ago when those that write about the game of golf were questioning DJ’s mental toughness. Rick Reilly was so far as describing Johnson as “so dense, light bends around him.”

It was only a few years ago, in 2014, in which Dustin took a “leave of absence” from the game to take care of some “personal challenges”.

Rumors immediately circulated that this, in fact, was not a self-imposed break, but rather a suspension due to multiple drug test failures.

Expect Dustin Johnson’s “voluntary” leave of absence to last exactly six months.

— Gary VanSickle (@GaryVanSickle) July 31, 2014

The suspension also seemed to renew rumors regarding DJ’s love life.  Specifically, some time spent with the wives of other PGA TOUR members. 

This little tidbit was included in a Golf.com story when DJ took his leave of absence.

Johnson’s conduct has long been a topic of conversation among close observers of the Tour.  He is often seen in bars near his home in Jupiter, Fla., and is also known to have had a sexual indiscretion with at least one wife of a PGA Tour player.

The story was then followed up with this tweet from Robert Lusetich, who knows a thing or two about the extracurriculars of pro golfers.  He wrote an entire book about DJ’s pal, Tiger.

Not a huge secret either that #DustinJohnson had affairs with 2 wives of PGA Tour players. One broke up the marriage.

— Robert Lusetich (@RobertLusetich) August 1, 2014

But this column isn’t meant to drag DJ through his past.  It’s meant to celebrate his success.  Not just on the golf course, but in life as well.  He was going in a bad direction, there was no doubt.  But at some point something clicked with him.  Maybe it was the pregnancy of his fiance.  Maybe it was Wayne Gretzky reportedly telling him to get his collective s**t together.  Or maybe Dustin ultimately decided on his own that it was time for him to stop being a moron.

Although, it seems giving up a couple of his vices hasn’t stopped him from enjoying himself.

Things you do for the girl you put a ring on!!!! @paulinagretzky

A post shared by Dustin Johnson (@djohnsonpga) on Jan 13, 2017 at 9:22pm PST

Whatever it was, old DJ is nothing more than a distant memory.  And it feels like new DJ is just getting started.

Cover Image via Instagram