If not for those danged erratic greens at Chambers Bay, Dustin Johnson believes he could have at least forced a playoff with U.S. Open winner Jordan Spieth.
Dustin Johnson wonders if a bad bounce on a bad green cost him the U.S. Open
After struggling all day Sunday to get the ball in the hole and missing a critical putt that cost him the U.S. Open, Dustin Johnson mused about the controversial greens at Chambers Bay.
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When Johnson, the hard-luck loser to two-time major winner Spieth, missed that four-foot comebacking second putt after he blew a 12-footer for eagle by the hole, it was all over but the clean up for par and a share of second place with Louis Oosthuizen.
Afterward, DJ tentatively threw his weight behind the scores of players blasting the splotchy, dicey greens that are a mixture of fescue and poa annua by wondering if the conditions had cost him the title.
“They do bounce and when they are fast and bumpy, it’s tough to get it in the hole,” Johnson told reporters after carding a final-round even-par 70 and ending up at 4-under for the week, a shot behind Spieth. “Whatever the putt did on the last hole, I don’t know. I might have pulled it a little bit. But still to me it looked like it bounced left. It’s tough. It’s very difficult.”
Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee backed up Johnson’s theory when he appeared on The Dan Patrick Show.
“Nobody can say for sure [Johnson] didn’t do all that was asked of him on that four-footer and hit three pieces of poa annua because it certainly bounced plenty,” Chamblee told Patrick.
The putt appeared to travel a predictable path on live TV, and Johnson noted in his post-round press conference that he was unable to get many putts to drop on Sunday.
“Disappointed. I played really well. I didn’t make any putts today, I really didn’t,” he said. “I had all the chances in the world. I’m really proud of the way I hit the ball. Proud of the way I handled myself all day. I gave myself chances all day long. If I rolled the putter halfway decent today, which I did roll it well, just any putts go in the hole, I win this thing by a few shots, it’s not even close. It’s just how it goes. I thought I played really well. I did everything that I could. I tried my damndest to get in the hole, I just couldn’t do it.”
And that blasted 18th hole.
“I got to see [playing partner] Jason [Day’s] putt. If I wouldn’t have saw his putt, I might have hit that thing ten feet by the hole,” Johnson explained. “I just touched it and it rolled. It was a tough putt. It was going to be a difficult putt to make. I would have thought it would have came down a little bit.
“I really struggled getting in the hole today. I didn’t think that I was hitting bad putts. I thought I was hitting them pretty good and they just weren’t going in.”
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