Dustin Johnson and his power game become the main attraction at the U.S. Open

OAKMONT, Pa. – As is always the case with Dustin Johnson, Friday’s march around Oakmont left you in awe at the power and ability to navigate the “toughest test in golf ”... and also wanting so much more for the weekend.

Because weather postponed his planned first round on Thursday, Johnson played the first 36 holes of his U.S. Open on Saturday. On the 16th of those holes, a 231-yard par-3 at Oakmont, Johnson stuck a decent tee shot on the left edge of the green. He had not made a bogey all day when he left his 67-foot birdie putt well short, still 10 feet away from his par at the bottom of a slope that ran hard away from him.

Johnson sighed and muttered at himself. He was 3-under and just a shot back of surprise leader Andrew Landry, but he’d left himself pretty good odds of a three-putt. Johnson has an uncomfortable history with U.S. Open three-putts.

He’s also struggled in majors often before, owning a reputation for starting tournaments well but not finishing them. But on Friday, Johnson wasn’t in a narrative mood. So after waiting his turn, he crept around the green, stared down a devilish-looking putt and then knocked it right into the hole. No three-putt, and Johnson still one back.

“All I’m focusing on is starting it on the line I want to with the right speed,” Johnson said in his usual monotone matter-of-fact way between rounds. “If it goes in, it goes in.”

On Johnson’s 22nd hole of the day – another par 3, this one the 184-yard 13th – he dropped an iron in 8 feet from the hole, then drained his birdie. He was even with Andrew Landry at 4-under, the two of them now alone atop a 156-man field. *They went to bed tied for first place with the same score, though Landry had played one fewer round.)

There was nothing out of the ordinary about either of these sequences. (Breaking: World’s No. 6 Golfer Shoots Par and Birdie on Two Holes at Major.) But they were illustrative of Johnson’s great first day of play on one the world’s most vexing golf courses: Johnson capitalized whenever he could, and he made sure his mistakes were of minimal impact.

Case in point: DJ tried to drive the green on his second time through a par-4, 313-yard 17th hole, but it bounced off the fringe and into a deep green-side bunker. Shame, so he wasn’t putting for eagle. Then he dug out of that bunker and saw a 10-footer for birdie lip out. Shame, so he had to settle for par. (A similar sequence unfolded when Johnson missed a 7-foot birdie look later on at the 4th green.)

In total, Johnson wound up playing 27 straight holes without a bogey, a remarkable streak at an event like the U.S. Open where bogeys and worse lurk on every hole. The streak ended when he missed a 16-foot putt on his 28th hole of the day, Oakmont’s 1st.

Of course, Johnson’s miscues on the 18th green last summer at Chambers Bay didn’t result in bogey, either, but rather a tournament-losing par that delivered the championship to Jordan Spieth. It could yet turn out that the sub-15-foot birdie putts Johnson didn’t sink on Friday come back to bite him in a narrow defeat at the end of the weekend.

But what feels almost certain is that Johnson will be at or near the top this year all the way through, because he’s playing such a consistent brand of golf that the chances of him falling far from the top of the leaderboard seem slight.

Through his two rounds, DJ has hit 71 percent of his fairways and 86 percent of his greens in regulation, compared to field averages of 57 percent for each . With numbers like that, Johnson’s departures from par should continue to be birdies, not bogies, even if the course dries out and makes things harder.

As Johnson moved about Oakmont with playing partners Sergio Garcia and Hideki Matsuyama, galleries swelled everywhere they went. A USGA scheduling decision left Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler off the course for all but the opening hour of the morning, while Jason Day and Phil Mickelson couldn’t mount a charge. So Johnson was the main attraction thanks to the confluence of his big name and driver, his quality play and the lack of competition.

Day and McIlroy are so far off the lead that it’s tough to see either making championship noise over the weekend. Spieth will certainly be around, and so will Scott, Bubba Watson and Lee Westwood, who has been perched near the top of the leaderboard ever since he finished his own first round early Friday.

It’s not as if there’s zero star power, because there’s quite a bit of it. But Johnson was Friday’s lead dog, and now he’s yet again back in position for his first major. Now comes the hard part.