JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The more things change, the more things stay the same for Dustin Johnson.
Last year, Johnson entered the FedEx Cup playoffs in 15th place and was mired in a stretch of uninspiring form that included back-to-back 80s at The Memorial and a withdrawal at the 3M Open.
This year, Johnson, 37, arrived at The Northern Trust, the first of three FedEx Cup playoff events, sitting in 17th place, having endured an extended stretch between February and July in which he failed to record a top-10 finish. Asked during his pre-tournament news conference what his reaction would have been if he’d been told in January that he still hadn’t won on the PGA Tour this year, he replied, “I would have said I was probably struggling.”
But Johnson picked a good time to find his game last year. He torched TPC Boston in 30-under par, including a Friday 60, to win The Northern Trust handily by 11 strokes.
“It was pretty flawless golf for the most part,” Johnson said. “Four days in a row, yeah, it’s kind of hard to beat that for me.”
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Johnson lost in a playoff the next week to Jon Rahm at the BMW Championship and then won the Tour Championship to clinch the FedEx Cup. He has six victories in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the most all-time in the 14 seasons of the playoffs.
After winning at East Lake a year ago, Johnson won the Masters in November and regained the World No. 1 ranking along the way. It was arguably the best run of golf in his career, and it came about on the back of some of his most inconsistent play.
“Definitely couldn’t have predicted that,” he said of his torrid victory pace, adding that, “Nothing really shocks me anymore.”
Could it be déjà vu all over again for Johnson, who’s fallen to World No. 2, at the FedEx Cup?
“It’s a lot closer to what it was last year,” he said of his current form.
Johnson can flip the switch with the best of them. He explained how he’s able to go from out of form to world beater like a Corvette going from 0 to 60 mph.
“No matter how bad I’m playing, it only takes one shot here or one shot there where I get a nice feel and it turns everything around,” he said.