After a day of unusually low scoring on Thursday at the 2023 US Open, there have already been signs the USGA and Los Angeles Country Club are biting back. And the first player to really come unstuck was two-time Major winner Dustin Johnson.
DJ looked back to something near his best on day one as he mixed seven birdies with just a single dropped shot to sit on six-under and just two behind Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele after 18 holes.
Being on the opposite side of the draw, Johnson then had a chance to pass the leaders early on Friday but instead lost serious ground after having a nightmare on the long, 490-yard par-4 second.
The 2016 US Open champion found the bunker off the tee and then made a rookie error in hitting his recovery shot into the thick bermuda rough. Over his third, Sky Sports commentator Henni Koyack wisely warned of "compounding errors" with the treacherous barranca guarding the green short, but things just went from bad to worse for Johnson.
He found the barranca and had such a bad lie he was forced to take a penalty drop, before carelessly hitting his short fifth shot over the green and failing to get up-and-down. When all was said and done, it was a quadruple-bogey eight for the American that dropped him from six-under to two-under and seven behind Wyndham Clark.
Here's how it all played out:
WATCH: Johnson's nightmare quad
A NIGHTMARE hole for Dustin Johnson as he racked up a quadruple-bogey at the US Open! 👀 pic.twitter.com/jaaVISr5QDJune 16, 2023
It was a reminder, as if it was needed, that this game will never be mastered and that even the best players in the world can be made to look foolish. To his credit, Johnson recovered with a birdie at the par-5 eighth as he sets about repairing the damage and putting himself in position to land a third Major over the weekend in LA.
