TIM DAHLBERG
TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Writer
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Dustin Johnson isn’t much for looking back. He doesn’t spend a lot of time wondering what might have been just a few weeks ago at the U.S. Open.
But if he needed a reminder of how close he came to winning his first major title at Chambers Bay, he won’t have to look far Thursday at the British Open.
There on the first tee with him at St. Andrews will be Jordan Spieth, who became the U.S. Open champion when Johnson 3-putted the final green from 12 feet.
“I like playing with Jordan,” Johnson said. “No pressure, though.”
Not in the opening round, for sure, when the pressure will be on Spieth to get off to a good start in search of his third major championship of the year.
And maybe not even on Sunday, when Johnson could be one of the contenders to upend Spieth and his chase for the third leg of the Grand Slam.
“I’m playing in the next two, so we’ll have to see,” Johnson said.
If recent history is any indication, Johnson figures to be in the mix at this Open, just as he was at the U.S. Open. Johnson can only hope the outcome won’t be as cruel as it was at Chambers Bay, where he missed a 12-footer to win, then missed a 4-footer coming back to miss a Monday playoff.
Instead of being known as a champion who hit driver and 5-iron on the par-5 to get into position for a winning eagle on that final hole, Johnson must deal with a growing reputation of not being able to close the big ones.
“I hit two great shots, and unfortunately my ball — I don’t know how it stayed where it did, above the hole up there, but unfortunately it stayed there and it was just a tough putt,” he said. “I was trying to make it, but I wanted it to barely go in, and it still went 4 feet by. Hit a good putt on the way back, and it just bounced and missed left.”
Disappointment in the final round is not new to Johnson. He lost a PGA Championship in 2010 at Whistling Straits by grounding his club in an 18th-hole hazard he wasn’t aware existed. He had the lead in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach the same year before collapsing.
He insists he uses such setbacks as a learning experience, much as he did when taking a six-month absence from the PGA Tour that has never been fully explained amid reports that it was for drug use.
Along with a new baby with fiancee Paulina Gretzky, Johnson believes he is also finally in command of his game.
“I think it’s very good, very positive,” Johnson said of contending in recent majors. “It gives me the confidence to know I have what it takes to win. I think I showed that at the U.S. Open. Coming down the back nine, I was hitting the shots that I wanted to hit. Unfortunately the ball wasn’t bouncing in the hole. I’ve got what it takes, so I’m excited to get this week started.”
One of the longest hitters in the game, Johnson is among a handful of the favorites at the Open in his first tournament since losing to Spieth at Chambers Bay. He may be playing with Masters and U.S. Open champion Spieth in the first two rounds, but believes his performance will stand on its own on a golf course he both loves and knows well.
He also believes his ordeals have made him stronger, and he gets some advice from future father-in-law Wayne Gretzky, the hockey great who knows well what it’s like to both win and lose.
“We do spend a lot of time together, just haven’t really got in depth about anything like that,” Johnson said. “I learn more from Wayne just by watching him and seeing what he does and asking him questions about when he was playing and things like that.”
O’Meara, Davies part of class inducted into Hall
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Laura Davies was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Monday, even though she wasn’t around to enjoy all of it.
A four-hour flight delay out of Philadelphia forced her to miss the induction.
In a rush to the University of St. Andrews, she at least watched the ceremony on Sky Sports in the car, but when her pre-recorded video came on, the signal went out and she missed her speech and that of Mark O’Meara. She finally made it to the reception, a surprise to hundreds of guests who thought she had abandoned efforts to get there.
“Everything that seems to happen to me is weird,” Davies said at the reception.
Not her place in the Hall of Fame. That was earned with four major titles, more than 70 wins around the world and becoming such a dominant force in women’s golf that she starred on the LPGA Tour and still took time to crisscross the Atlanta Ocean to support the Ladies European Tour.
Davies was inducted along with major champions Mark O’Meara and David Graham of Australia and architect A.W. Tillinghast, who studied under Old Tom Morris and created golf courses that hosted majors.
It was the first time the World Golf Hall of Fame took its ceremony outside the United States, and it created a scheduling problem for Davies.
The 51-year-old from England made the cut in the U.S. Women’s Open and tied for 47th on Sunday. And that’s when the fun began.
The heat in Philadelphia led to mechanical problems and a four-hour delay from the scheduled 10 p.m. departure. When it finally took off and reached Heathrow in London, the airport was so busy that her plane had to circle for about a half-hour.
And when she finally got to Edinburgh, her luggage didn’t make it. Davies had another bag that allowed her to wear something she considered presentable.
“I was quite upset,” Davies said. “At the end, it was getting quite distressing.”
She had a large group of family and friends at the induction, including the caddies of Justin Rose (Mark Fulcher) and Ian Poulter (Terry Mundy) who once caddied for Davies on the LPGA Tour.
During this saga, some of her peers on the LPGA Tour took to Twitter to express their outrage. Karrie Webb tweeted that her induction was a career highlight and the special occasion was taken from Davies through “terrible scheduling.”
Beth Daniel said she was “sad and sickened” that Davies couldn’t make the induction.
“Delayed flights from US. Lack of foresight by all,” she tweeted.
“As soon as her last putt dropped Sunday, the World Golf Hall of Fame and others onsite made every effort to get Laura to St. Andrews,” the Hall of Fame said in a statement. “Unfortunately, mechanical issues with her plane and other international travel logistics made it impossible for her to arrive on time.”
Previous induction ceremonies were held at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida. The ceremony in Florida first was held in May 1998 and in recent years was moved to the fall.
Davies arrived at the Old Course Hotel about 7 p.m., changed clothes and headed to the reception. She was announced as she walked in the door.
“I was terrified,” Davies said. “I look in the room and see Arnold Palmer and Bernhard Langer and all these great faces. It was a bit intimidating.”
The Hall of Fame selection process was overhauled to eliminate the independent voice of the writers and turn the voting over to a nominating panel and a 16-member board to vote on finalists. Both bodies consisted of a majority of golf administrators.
O’Meara won 16 times on the PGA Tour, including the Masters and British Open in 1998 when he became at age 41 the oldest player to win two majors in one year. He also won the U.S. Amateur and titles around the world.
Graham won three majors — twice at the PGA Championship and the 1981 U.S. Open at Merion when he putted for birdie on every hole in the final round.
Tillinghast was inducted posthumously and perhaps was overdue. He designed more than 250 courses, including Winged Foot, Baltusrol, Bethpage Black, Ridgewood and San Francisco Golf Club.
The next induction ceremonies will be in 2017 at the World Golf Village, and then in 2019 during the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.