In 2024, Dustin Johnson revealed that he abstains from smoking regularly. But the recent scenes from the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock reveal his more casual choice.

Dustin Johnson was caught on film with a vape pen during his second round. Monday Q Info posted the clip on X. Even Brooks Koepka was spotted smoking on the first day of the competition.

Here is the thing, though: nobody is actually breaking any rules. There is no PGA Tour or LPGA Tour rule that says you cannot smoke or vape during a round. It is just not something that comes up often enough to matter until a camera catches it at a U.S. Open, and it ends up everywhere online.

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Johnson told Cigar Aficionado in 2024 that he smokes cigars occasionally. “I like ’em, but it’s not a regular thing,” he said.

But when he lights up, it’s a Montecristo No. 2. So the occasional smoke is certainly nothing new to him. It was just the vape that landed differently based on the location where it happened. Surprisingly, DJ is not alone in smoking while competing.

In May 2025, Si Woo Kim was spotted lighting a cigarette before teeing off at Quail Hollow. When someone asked him about it, he kept it simple: “Getting old and stressed.”

And then, in May of 2026, while playing the PGA Championship, Daniel Brown paused mid-round to pose for a photo with two spectators. All three of them were puffing away on cigarettes on the 12th hole.

A fan posted it online and wrote on X, “Nothing quite like a mid-round moving day dart with Downtown Dan Brown after his 12th hole. There may be no bigger legend on the tour.”

More golfers have been spotted smoking.

Golfers Who Have Been Spotted Smoking on the Course

Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer were pictured with cigarettes at the 1962 PGA Championship. John Daly has been photographed smoking so many times at so many tournaments that it stopped being news years ago. Charley Hull was caught smoking during a practice round at the 2024 US Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club.

Miguel Angel Jimenez has never tried to hide it. The Spaniard was seen with a cigar at the 2021 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and famously smoked one while holding the trophy after winning the 2014 Open de España.

The pattern is pretty clear. Nothing new and scandalous about smoking on a golf course. It’s been happening at the highest level of the sport for decades, at majors and regular tour events alike, and no one’s handing out penalties for it.