By Kent Gray
For a man who routinely makes mince meat of par 5s around the world, you’d have thought Dustin Johnson would have had The Nationals long holes firmly in his crosshairs coming into this week. He didn’t but does now.
The world No.1 finished a shot shy of Tommy Fleetwood in his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship debut last January despite recording just three red numbers – a birdie and two eagles for a collective five under – in 20 visits to the par 5s.
That stat caught the 33-year-old American unawares in his pre-tournament presser.
“Yeah, I guess, I didn’t know what I shot on the par fives last time. I guess you just told me, so I didn’t play them that great. Obviously like to play them a little better.”
If DJ plays the 2nd, 8th, 10th and 18th holes anything like he’s capable of, he’ll take some beating, especially as he comes in with form after an eight shot romp to the PGA Tour’s Sentry Tournament of Champions a fortnight ago.
“The golf course here is very good. Actually the fairways are probably a little bit softer this year than they were last year, same with the greens. You know, the par 5s, they are not real easy because they are fairly long, but dependent on the wind, I can reach them if I hit good tee balls.”
With six drives of more than 370 yards in his closing 65 in Kapalua, two of them in excess of 400 yards, that shouldn’t be an issue.
“This year I know the course a little bit better, so we’ll see. Hopefully I can play as well as I did in Hawaii.
“It’s hard to say, yeah, I’m going to go out and win. There’s a lot of great players in the field, so you know, I could have a really good week and still lose. That’s just how golf is. I just want to go out and put myself in a position to have a chance to win on Sunday…that’s kind of all I can do.”
