LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Dustin Johnson’s U.S. Open hopes took a hit when he racked up a disastrous quadruple-bogey early in his second round on Friday but the unflappable former champion recovered brilliantly to remain in the hunt going into the weekend.
Johnson, who began the day two shots off the lead, ran into trouble at the par-four second where his tee shot landed in the fairway bunker that guarded the left side of the fairway.
That is when things quickly went from bad to worse for the twice major champion who is one of 15 LIV Golf members in the 156-player field this week.
In a bid to avoid the treacherous barranca guarding the green, Johnson ended up leaving his recovery shot in the thick Bermuda rough. He then found the barranca and, due to a bad lie, was forced to take a penalty drop.
Johnson’s fifth shot sailed over the green from where he failed to get up and down. By the time he walked off the second green Johnson had plummeted down the leaderboard, going from two shots back off the lead to six.
“Everything that you could do wrong I did wrong,” said Johnson. “It happens sometimes, but just battled back and played a really good round of golf.”
Johnson refused to let the third quadruple-bogey of his majors career define his day and so responded immediately with a 14-foot birdie at the third hole.
The former world number one then bogeyed the fourth hole but carded another birdie before the turn and another three over his closing seven holes for an even-par 70 that will keep him in the mix going into the third round.
“To battle back and get it back to even par for the day and six-under for the tournament, so still right in the mix going into the weekend, so yeah, definitely proud of the way I came back and finished off the round,” said Johnson.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
