Dustin Johnson has trouble getting out of his own way again at the U.S. Open

OAKMONT, Pa. -- The three-putt on the 72nd green is the expedient way to illustrate Dustin Johnson’s failings at golf’s major championships. But it’s impossible and unfair to call that a choke. There’s a strong argument that he caught an extremely unlucky bounce on the unpredictable and poor Chambers Bay greens. The three-putt par was also the end to one of the best tee-to-green performances in the history of the U.S. Open. He was brilliant there.

The more concerning failure came just a month later at St. Andrews, a course that seemed almost too easy for DJ to pick apart and run away by five or six shots. The setup was perfect and Johnson was too talented to not contend. So there he was shooting back to the top of the leaderboard at the 36-hole mark with what should have been overwhelming odds to close it out. Then came the weekend and the final 36 holes in which Johnson inexplicably crumbled with back-to-back 75s, a totally inexcusable number given his talent and the course that was facing him. There was no one moment, no singular blow-up at the very end with Joe Buck yelling into a microphone, but it made it way harder to trust DJ going forward than anything he did at Chambers Bay.

As the “Big Three” faded over the opening two disjointed rounds here at Oakmont, Dustin Johnson, a player almost everyone would agree has the talent and ability of those three, became the man of this 116th U.S. Open. Again, he was putting on one of the great tee-to-green performances that the U.S. Open has ever seen and on a course that’s generally regarded as the toughest venue for the national championship. The leaderboard was also ... thin? That Big Three was in the background, other major winners weren’t really around, and the few other world-class players near him were the kind of names who have just as much or more majors baggage than DJ, such as Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood.

But there were still 36 more holes to play and the retreat started on Saturday afternoon after Dustin waited around all day for the second round to conclude. Johnson never emotes -- you never really know what he’s feeling or thinking, if anything. There are no Spieth, Day, or Rory type reactions to either a big break or a bad shot. There’s just sloppiness and curious decisions and shots thrown away and a player with nonpareil talent and a majors resume that’s not commensurate with it. He and his caddie brother Austin just glide down the fairway, from one green to the next tee. It was, quite honestly, entertaining just to watch his gait on these Oakmont slopes.

The second round, however, was the same kind of St. Andrews slow burn with a few inexcusable misses that left him 2-over through 13 holes and now three shots off the pace set by Shane Lowry. Oakmont will beat you up in a way that St. Andrews probably could not, but Johnson got sloppy again.

His round began with a birdie and we thought we might be off to the start of an evening where Dustin only extended a lead. But then he plunked a volunteer, made a double bogey, and slowly started giving them back to Oakmont. The stretch from about 6 p.m. until the horn blew at 8:49 was particularly deflating and torpid.

He made the unforgivable mistake of putting it in the short side bunker next to the pin at the par-3 6th, leading to a predictable bogey. At the next par-3, the 8th hole, listed at 247 yards, Johnson stuffed it close on what was one of the best shots of the entire week there.

At the 10th, he smoked a fairway metal down the hill, leaving just a little wedge to a tougher pin location on the front of a green that slopes dramatically from front to back.

His playing partner, Andrew Landry, also left it short but he managed to get up and down for par. Johnson could not do the same as that 624th ranked playing partner and dropped another shot to settle at 2-under. A dude with Dustin’s ability should not be falling a shot behind Andrew F. Landry when they start a weekend round in a major together.

As darkness closed in, Johnson’s stall continued, his putter blowing a prime birdie chance on the par-5 12th. At the 13th, he hit one of the worst tee shots of the round at the hole, dunking it in a bunker. His sand wedge saved him there beautifully and that would be it for the day.

After he was pulled off the course, Johnson would tell us that he’d have preferred to finish tonight than have to be back in place at 7 a.m. on Sunday. But with the way things were going, it might have been best to slow down and re-group, try to stop giving them back and start taking advantage of some of the opportunities he was getting up on the greens.

Johnson is the best possible story on the leaderboard, given what happened last year. He said the simple problem on Saturday was that he just couldn’t get the putts to drop, but there was definitely a lethargy that had fallen over the round. Now he’ll get a chance to come back and take a few rips over the final six holes on Sunday morning. It’s so easy to watch him hit balls and pick him to win without a thought. But as Dustin demonstrated before darkness on Saturday, it’s never really easy with him.