In 2016, as Dustin Johnson entered Oakmont, he had one thought running across his mind– “It’s just me and the course.” Nine years later, the LIV Golfer can certainly use his own pep talk once again. Back then, Johnson was on a 15-month winless streak. Despite playing great, entering the final day, he would realize how complicated the win could become at the grounds ruthless to many. Suddenly, his loss at the 2010 P.G.A. Championship where he grounded his club in a bunker on the 72nd hole and incurred a penalty that kept him out of a playoff came rushing back. 

That Sunday, it all began on the fifth hole, where DJ missed a short birdie putt. He was left with a knee-knocker for par on one of Oakmont’s slickest putting surfaces. He took two practice strokes, then went to address his ball and noticed it was slightly moving. To be on the cautious side, he called a rules official to determine that no infraction had occurred. He got no penalty under Rule 18.2. But earlier that year, that rule was tweaked to add an automatic penalty if it was “more likely than not” that the player caused it to move. On the 12th, the USGA officials halted the game to penalize Johnson. Despite his 0-of-28 Major streak, Johnson did not lose focus, and the one-stroke penalty had nothing on the then-31-year-old. With the crowd lining the final hole to chant “DJ! DJ!,” Johnson hit two of his best shots of the week and made the five-foot putt for birdie to finish with a 69. That too with the penalty.

As the now-40-year-old returns to Western Pennsylvania to re-ignite the old DJ flame, his words after his first-ever Major win will echo strong– “I’ve had a lot of opportunities that I didn’t quite get it done. So this one definitely feels good.” This time around, Johnson is again on one of his longest winless streak of 16 months. His game? It’s been up and down while he believes it’s “close.” And just a few hours ahead of the 2025 US Open, he revealed what part of his game he thinks needs more polishing.

Garrett Johnston of Beyond The Clubhouse Podcast questioned Dustin Johnson, “How do you feel, the player that you are right now, versus 9 years ago when you won at Oakmont? How do you look at that?” The LIV Golf pro immediately replied, “Oh, that was a long time ago. The game feels pretty good. It’s not, obviously, where I want it to be. It’s trending in the right direction. But, yeah, it was a long time ago.

“I’ve seen a lot of good things. Obviously, in the PGA (Championship), my score didn’t reflect the way that I played. It was all the putter. Even on the back 9, on the first round, I played, actually, pretty well. Just putted horrendously bad. Yeah, I’ve been spending a lot of time working on the putting. Just trying to get it back to where it should be.”

DJ’s 2016 was the one for the books. Truly. The 1-stroke penalty in didn’t even matter. It just took this winning score from 5-under to 4-under. Johnson isn’t that Johnson anymore. Things have changed.

Looking back at the stats, we can see that he was quite consistent in other parts of the course, but his stats on the green were truly abysmal. The 2-time major winner lost 7.378 strokes due to bad putting. Although that still wouldn’t have been enough for him to make the +1 cut. But we can assume that he would have been far more motivated to push for it if he hadn’t been 9 strokes away from the cutline. At the Masters, too, he had missed the cut.

Having said that, Dustin Johnson did admit that he has been working on his putting. And we have seen him make another appearance since the 2025 PGA Championship in Virginia, wherein he was a tad bit better.

Dustin Johnson: Finding his way back to his best

Fans had already seen signs of Dustin Johnson’s abysmal form on the greens before the 2025 PGA Championship. In the three rounds in LIV Golf Korea, he had managed to score 3 double bogeys and 9 bogeys in a 54-hole contest. Fortunately, he had also managed to score 16 birdies to end with a 1-under par.

But the horrid performance pushed him down to T34, 18 strokes away from Bryson DeChambeau. Johnson’s performance was relatively far better at LIV Golf Virginia. His 9-under par included 1 double bogey, 5 bogeys, and 16 birdies. That helped him propel up to T10, only 6 strokes off the eventual winner, Joaquin Niemann.

Just goes to show how much his putting has improved over the last few weeks. With another mammoth challenge at Oakmont Country Club, Dustin Johnson’s fans would be hoping that he has found his form on the green back as they would love to see him become the first golfer in history to win the U.S. Open twice on the iconic course.