Rob Carr
Dustin Johnson checks his yardage book earlier this year at the WGC-Mexico Championship. He was without it, however, on Saturday at the PGA Championship yet still managed to shoot a 65 and take the 54-hole lead.
By Brian Wacker
That Dustin Johnson posted an impressive five-under 65 on Saturday at TPC Harding Park to take the lead going into the final round of the PGA Championship was not terribly surprising. He’s already won once this season, at the Travelers Championship in June, and is a major champion with the kind of firepower to go low no matter the setting.
Only something was missing as Johnson prepared to tee off in the third round in San Francisco: His yardage book.
“I did [lose it],” Johnson said. “It’s got to be in the bottom of my bag, but I didn’t want to take all my clubs out on the golf course.”
Fortunately for Johnson, his caddie, brother Austin, had another one. He also said there wasn’t any difference between the two books.
“I just use a regular yardage book,” Johnson said. “I use it more so I can get the yardages out of the fairway and where the flag is.”
It worked out. Johnson made eight birdies, including three over his final five holes, to surge to the top of the leader board, putting him in position to win his second career major after capturing the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont.
As for the book, he had a good sense of humour about it.
Asked if the extra one was of TPC Harding Park, he joked, “No, it was from last week, but it worked out well.”
