Gerry Dulac: Despite rules violation and botched USGA decision, Dustin Johnson conquered Oakmont in 2016

Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on May 29, 2025

Published in Golf

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PITTSBURGH — Dustin Johnson is no stranger to rules violations. Nor had he been immune from finding a way to cough up a major championship.

But he didn’t let either get in his way the previous time the U.S. Open was held at Oakmont — not even when the USGA admittedly botched the way it handled a rules infraction that set off a maelstrom of criticism from PGA Tour players.

Johnson won his first major championship in 2016 with a three-shot victory at Oakmont and he did it in grand style — flushing a 5-iron to five feet for a closing birdie at the 72nd hole to finish at 4-under 276, nine shots better than the winning score posted by Angel Cabrera at Oakmont in 2007.

It came one year after he all but handed the U.S. Open trophy to Jordan Spieth when Johnson three-putted the final hole from 12 feet at Chambers Bay.

That came five years after he appeared headed for a three-man playoff with Bubba Watson and Martin Kaymer at the 2010 PGA Championship until he was told after the round he had grounded his club in a poorly defined fairway bunker at the 72nd hole at Whistling Straits, resulting in a two-shot penalty.

And that came two months after he held the 54-hole lead in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, only to shoot 82 in the final round and lose to Graeme McDowell.

Blown chances were nothing new to Johnson — but not this time.

Not even after waiting two hours for the USGA to render a decision for something that happened earlier in the final round.

“I told him what you did with all that crap that they threw at you was pretty good,” Jack Nicklaus, golf’s greatest champion, said of what he told Johnson when he greeted him after the 72nd hole.

None of it, though, bothered Johnson. Then again, nothing ever really does.

That was apparent in the final round when he was told on the tee of the par-5 12th hole USGA officials were reviewing a possible rules violation that occurred on the No. 5 green. During a practice putting stroke, Johnson noticed his ball moved ever so slightly, which he quickly reported to a USGA rules official. The official ruled no infraction had occurred.

But, as he was walking off of the 11th green, Johnson was told the USGA was reviewing the incident on the fifth green, fearful a potential violation had indeed occurred. At the time, Johnson had a one-stroke lead.

The USGA, though, never came back to inform Johnson of its decision. That meant he had to play the final seven holes with a possible one-stroke penalty dangling over his head like the sword of Damocles. Apparently, it didn’t bother him.

But, then, what does?

He promptly smashed a 365-yard drive on the par-5 12th hole, one of several massive tee shots in a week when he averaged a tournament-high 317 yards.

When the round was over, Johnson was assessed a one-shot penalty, meaning he officially finished the tournament at 4-under, not 5-under, and his margin of victory on Jim Furyk was three shots, not four. Wonder if they would have done that if Johnson finished just one shot clear of Furyk.

The following day, the USGA released a statement, effectively admitting it wrongly handled the situation with Johnson and “regretted the distraction it caused.” Mike Davis, the USGA’s executive director, conceded the association made "a big bogey."

“Luckily it didn’t affect the outcome,” Johnson said. “It’s just one more thing to add to the list, right?”

Ah, the list.

It includes finishing runner-up at the Open Championship in 2011, when he got within two shots of the lead and inexplicably hit his second shot out of bounds at the 14th hole. He also held the 36-hole lead at the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews, one month after his disastrous 72nd hole three-putt, and shot 75-75 on the weekend.

Johnson, though, has all but disappeared from the golf landscape since joining the LIV Tour. So much so that he was given a special exemption into the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow because his five-year exemption for winning the 2020 Masters had expired.

Alas, he did nothing with the opportunity. He shot 12-over 154 for two days and missed the cut — the fifth time he has missed the cut in his past seven major starts.

But, on Father’s Day in 2016, those past disappointments were all erased at Oakmont.

“I’ve been so close so many times,” Johnson said. “It’s just an unbelievable feeling. It’s hard to describe.”

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