Dustin Johnson is playing the golf of his life and will be the man to beat at the Open
US Open winner Dustin Johnson looks like he’ll be the man to beat at the Open Championship at Royal Troon next week after the new world No2 racked up back-to-back victories on Sunday.
Johnson’s one-shot win at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational followed his maiden Major triumph at Oakmont last month and the American is currently producing the golf of his life.
He played beautifully to card two consecutive rounds of 66 on Saturday and Sunday when few others were scoring well, allowing him to take advantage of Jason Day’s disastrous finish.
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Johnson hits it so far and so straight; he is killing every course at the moment. You can never dictate exactly when you strike form but, with the Open and US PGA Championships both taking place in the next four weeks, he has come into a hot streak at the best possible time.
Joint overnight leader Day will obviously be bitterly disappointed to have come so close to winning, only to see it slip away with a bogey at the 15th and a double bogey at 16.
The world No1 can probably count himself a little unlucky with the first of those and I don’t think the collapse will affect him too much in the long term; after all, he was still tied for third.
So near and yet so far again for Rory
It was a similar story for Rory McIlroy at the French Open, where the Northern Irishman once again had one of those weekends when he does just about everything but win.
McIlroy, who ended third, was held off by the extraordinary Thongchai Jaidee, 46, who, like that other evergreen star of the European Tour, Miguel Angel Jimenez, has aged like a fine wine.
Perhaps Rory is saving his best for the Open. He very rarely seems to end up out of the top 10 whenever he plays and his game still looks to be in great shape.
There was a hellish finish for England’s Andy Sullivan in France, where his chances of a win dissolved with a bogey and then a triple bogey on the last two holes.
Sullivan and Jaidee will be among those playing this week’s Scottish Open at Castle Stuart, where Phil Mickelson was the victor last time it was held there, in 2013, and then landed the Open just days later.
Mickelson could be one to watch again in Scotland. If Jaidee can still win at the age of 46 then Phil certainly can too.