Did Dustin make history?

[The Recreational Golfer]

Will Dustin Johnson’s final green gaffe go down in U.S. Open history like Mickelson in 2006, Palmer in 1966, Mangrum in 1950, and Snead in 1939 and 1947, among others?

[mvmac]

Yes I'm sure it'll be on the "highlights" reel when they show blunders in majors throughout the years.

I do think DJ will recover and end up being a multiple major winner.

[saevel25]

Yes I'm sure it'll be on the "highlights" reel when they show blunders in majors throughout the years.

I do think DJ will recover and end up being a multiple major winner.

I agree. He has too much ability not to be a multiple major winner.

I don't think it will go down as one of the greatest blunders, because it wasn't a blunder. It wasn't really a melt down either. He hit two amazing shots on that hole. It was really just one misread putt.

Dustin Johnson is 145th on the PGA Tour from 3-5 feet, with 86% making the putt. So in that instance he had a 14% chance of missing it. Maybe more so with how many putts he missed inside of 10 FT that day. It gets in your head a bit.

[Mr. Desmond]

I don't think anything beats Phil at Winged Foot ... and yes, we will see this on TGC often ... both putts.

DJ has done this previously, in 2010 at the PGA, at the British Open, and now the US Open. Maybe he must gaffe at the Masters, too.

He is talented and should overcome these late errors. Winning Majors is a learning process for many.

[David in FL]

I don't think anything beats Phil at Winged Foot ... and yes, we will see this on TGC often ... both putts. DJ has done this previously, in 2010 at the PGA, at the British Open, and now the US Open. Maybe he must gaffe at the Masters, too.   He is talented and should overcome these late errors. Winning Majors is a learning process for many.

Lest we forget the greatest gaffe of all time, Van de Velde at Carnoustie in '99. Still the standard by which all others are measured. To answer the OP, though, yep. Right or wrong, we'll be seeing those 2 putts for a long time.

[newtogolf]

Those two putts and grounding his club in the bunker have potentially cost him 2 majors.  With the high level of competition that exists within golf today he can't afford to waste many more opportunities.  I like DJ but I do think he choked a little on the birdie putt, statistics say he has over an 85% chance of making that putt for birdie.  I know the greens were less than ideal, but his putting stats say he makes that putt 8.6 times out of 10.

Quote:

However, putting has not been Johnson’s strong suit this year. He has cost himself almost two strokes (1.975) over 30 measured rounds of golf, or minus-.066 per round on average, which ranks him 121st on the PGA Tour . Still, golfers make a putt from 10 to 15 feet 30.1 percent of the time, with Johnson slightly above average at 31.4 percent.

Johnson missed the eagle chance, and would need to putt from four feet to force a playoff. No worries though, right? Johnson has an 85.6 percent accuracy rate on putts from three to five feet.

[Mr. Desmond]

Lest we forget the greatest gaffe of all time, Van de Velde at Carnoustie in '99. Still the standard by which all others are measured.

To answer the OP, though, yep. Right or wrong, we'll be seeing those 2 putts for a long time.

Agree. My only issue with Van de Velde's meltdown is that he is not as talented as Phil, DJ and a thousand other Touring Pros. It was more comical than tragic, although it was tragic.

[atb5079]

It really is crazy to think what DJ could have now.

-2010 US Open

-2010 PGA

-2015 US Open

-2013 Open Championship

Obviously a bunch of hypotheticals, but he really should have at the very least 2 of those. We would be talking about future HOFer Dustin Johnson then. We would be talking about a trio rivalry of Rory, Spieth and DJ.

Just crazy.

[ChrisP]

As bad as it was, none of those will ever equate to what happened to Van de Velde in '99. When SportsCenter does their top-10 lists, Van de Velde's will still likely be #1 all through our lifetime. Gonna be hard to top that.

[Golfingdad]

Nah, I don't think it was very "historic."  It was just a 3 putt after all.  There were no dumb decisions, or memorable quotes, or crazy bounces or anything ... just an "every day" run of the mill 3 putt.  I don't think this will be remembered much other than when specifically talking about DJ's career.  And speaking of that ...

It really is crazy to think what DJ could have now.

-2010 US Open

-2010 PGA

-2015 US Open

-2013 Open Championship

It's funny how since these belong to a guy who has no majors yet they qualify as "failures," yet when they belong to a guy who has won many majors, they get cited by many in his resume of successes.

That's odd.

[ChrisP]

It really is crazy to think what DJ could have now.

-2010 US Open

-2010 PGA

-2015 US Open

-2013 Open Championship

Obviously a bunch of hypotheticals, but he really should have at the very least 2 of those. We would be talking about future HOFer Dustin Johnson then. We would be talking about a trio rivalry of Rory, Spieth and DJ.

Just crazy.

"Could" is a big word. Even in 2010 PGA and 2015 US Open, he would have to win those in playoffs (unless he sunk the eagle putt on Sunday). There's no guarantee he would walk away with Ws. The British Open would have been tough the way Clarke was playing. Even if that shot doesn't go out of bounds and he plays the rest of the round the same, he still loses. The 2010 US Open was the only one where he just totally self-destructed the entire round, not just one hole.

[phan52]

Dustin Johnson:

- Second career runner-up finish in majors (2011 Open Championship)

- Ninth career top-10 finish in majors (0 wins)

- 18 birdies this week, tied for most in field (with Spieth)

-  0-for-2 converting 54-hole leads in majors (2010 U.S. Open)

-  Fourth time in final pairing in a major (0 wins)

Kinda like what Phil was going through before he broke through at the Masters in 2004. I expect Dustin will have that breakthrough win sometime soon.

[MrDC]

I don't know, the short putt was only to tie and get into a playoff, not win, so I don't see this as that bad, his putt to win was long and difficult.

[ccotenj]

ed sneed puking up the 79 masters by bogeying the last 3, (which on 18 included a bad short iron from the middle of the fairway and a pulled 6 footer for par, as well as 3 jacking 16 and 17) always comes to mind, but doesn't seem to get brought up often...

[Joe from MD]

Dustin made two mistakes, missing the putts, and not going to the awards ceremony. Maybe he didn't want to be berated by Joe Buck.

[turtleback]

It really is crazy to think what DJ could have now.

-2010 US Open

-2010 PGA

-2015 US Open

-2013 Open Championship

Obviously a bunch of hypotheticals, but he really should have at the very least 2 of those. We would be talking about future HOFer Dustin Johnson then. We would be talking about a trio rivalry of Rory, Spieth and DJ.

Just crazy.

But hardly unprecedented.  Cf., Colin, Sergio, Weiskopf, Norman, Kite, etc, for players who massively underperformed in majors relative to their talent level and performance in non-majors.

Of all of them Dj seems to me to be shaping up into a Weiskopf.  Wonderful talent but something always got in the way (alcohol, drugs, women, hunting).  Like the last three in my list I suspect he will get  major somewhere along the line, but I do not see him winning more than one or two.

[Mulligan Jeff]

1989 Masters Scott Hoch misses 2 foot putt to win in playoff - has to go down as one of the worst in history.

[turtleback]

1989 Masters Scott Hoch misses 2 foot putt to win in playoff - has to go down as one of the worst in history.

For me the biggest short putt choke has to be Sam Snead missing a 30 inch putt to lose to Lew Worsham to lose a US Open playoff on the 18th green.  What makes it particularly significant is that it was his best opportunity to win the US Open and thereby complete a career grand slam, something he was never able to achieve.  I think if you give Snead a career grand slam to go along with the rest of his records and he vaults into the GOAT discussion (assuming it hasn't been artificially narrowed down to Tiger and Jack).