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LOS ANGELES – Dustin Johnson has tracked down his next burrow. Bounce back, though this also means:
He bounced. And that’s what he did.
On Friday at Los Angeles Country Club, during the second round of the US Open, the two-time major winner of the Grade 4 started second at six short of the overall, two points off the lead. The hole finished, much worse. Johnson had eight putts, and no one took more in a hole all week.
As expected, it came with a stink potpourri. CD player? I fell into the left lane dugout. Notably, the day before, during a first-round 64, Johnson hit only fairways. He was 13 vs. 13 in that class. On Friday, he missed his first two.
two stroke in 2? He barely escaped, going only 95 yards, and sinking deep into the rough left. He was in more trouble. “Oh, this could be really problematic,” analyst Aaron Oberholser said on Peacock Radio.
Analyst Morgan Pressel said, “We’ve talked about it all the time — compounding your mistakes. You can’t do that at the US Open. Everyone’s going to make mistakes. But you have to recover.”
Stroke three in No. 2? At first, Johnson had trouble finding his ball. Then it only passed 60 yards, and it fell to Barranca with the red penalty kicks. scowl. Said Brissel on broadcast: “He spoke yesterday after his round about his key to good play which is leadership. He was driving the ball in play. And he found himself in trouble on those first two holes. lurking.”
four stroke in 4? It was a penalty kick, and Johnson took it behind the Barranca.
stroke 5? Green circled, from 57 yards. DJ slouching. This was also bad. “Oh no,” Oberholser said on the broadcast. “Uh-oh,” said announcer Steve Sands. Oberholser said: “Oh no. This is dead.”
“It’s very rare to see a talented player make that many mistakes in a row,” said Pressell. “It’s almost speechless to see him misjudge that. That’s the one place you can’t be too long.”
stroke 6? From 37 feet away, DJ started, but didn’t have much he could do. Green is diagonal from left to right. It was sensitive, and Johnson broke to the edge, but rolled 28 feet from the hole. In frustration, he raised his hand. “Just trying to drip something from the sidelines,” Pressel said in the broadcast. “That was as good as he could do there. Just seeing the movement of his hand—that’s all I could do; that’s what I got. But that’s where the error lies—multiplying yours.” When you’re in a high-pressure environment, you mentally lose it for a moment and make these bad decisions.”
Stroke 7 and 8? Those were his bullets. He’s a four-way daredevil. That’s eight. snowman. As Pressell first pointed out in the broadcast, only the players on Thursday had more than a double bogey; Amateur Branden Valdez also scored a quadruple, but came in at number 3, and Aldrich Potgieter tripled 4-16. At that point, Johnson was down to two under and six shots out of the lead. “These were DJ mental errors that led to a snowman,” said Presell.
But he bounced.
In his next hole, par-4 3rd, DJ bird.