Ex-PGA Tour Pro Reveals Dustin Johnson’s ‘Freak’ Side Which Most Are Unaware Of

Dustin Johnson has always carried an air of contradiction. On one hand, he’s the laid-back superstar who made golf look absurdly easy. On the other hand, his career has been shadowed by late-night habits and personal battles that nearly derailed it all. Those who knew him before the green jackets and world rankings remember both sides clearly. And one of them, former PGA Tour pro Colt Knost, just shared a story from their amateur days that captures Johnson perfectly.

Knost, appearing on a Skratch podcast, remembers traveling the Northeast circuit with Dustin Johnson as a young amateur. “DJ was the best. Him and I room together a lot like at these big amateur events.” They would attend tournament after tournament together, and then stay with the same host family. That gave Knost plenty of opportunity to observe Jonshon.

Knost recalls the Jones Cup, where they were staying together, sharing a room. “I’ll tell you this, he made me hate Patron tequila. He was big on Patron. I mean, we’re back in college. Nobody has any money at the time. And he loved Patron tequila shots. And I mean, he’d get blasted,” Knsot shared. The story only gets wilder from here. Johnson would wake up the next morning, chug water from the bathroom sink for three straight minutes, and then casually walk out to shoot a 66. “This guy is a freak,” Knost laughed.

That mix of raw talent and wild nights wasn’t new to those who knew Johnson at Coastal Carolina. He was a three-time All-American, Big South Player of the Year three times running, and winner of seven collegiate tournaments. In 2007 alone, he took the Monroe Invitational and Northeast Amateur before helping win both the Walker Cup and Palmer Cup. Knost, who was with Johnson during his Walker Cup feat, got a chance to see Johnson’s talent up close.

By the time Johnson turned pro later that year, there was little doubt he would win quickly. And he did. His first PGA Tour victory came in 2008 at the Turning Stone Resort Championship. But as you know, coming events often cast their shadows long before. The same happened with Jonshon. Known for his  ‘freaky’ love for substance, his career suffered a setback soon after.

Between 2009 and 2014, Dustin Johnson failed three drug tests — first for marij—a, then twice for coc—e. Officially, the PGA Tour never announced a suspension, as one of its rules. It cites a policy of treating recreational drug cases as confidential “leaves of absence.” But back then, media reports painted a different picture: Johnson sat out major events, including the Masters, the PGA Championship, the FedEx Cup playoffs, and the Ryder Cup. Although Johnson and his management described the hiatus as a voluntary leave to address certain “personal challenges.”

A year later, Johnson spoke about his alleged drug abuse. He admitted that it wasn’t drugs that caused him issues, but alcohol. “(I) would drink and drink to excess,” he told in interviews to SI and ESPN. He often turned to alcohol whenever he faced stress, eventually finding better ways to deal with it. “My way of getting rid of it was drinking or partying. Yeah, that might work for that day or the next week, but eventually everything keeps piling up,” he admitted to SI in 2015.

That was also the time when people like John Daly came up to offer their help to Dustin Johnson. Daly texted Dustin several times, emphasizing the struggle of addiction. “It’s not something you ever fully get over … but it is something you can get control of.” Well, who would know this better than him?

John Daly’s struggle with the bottle

John Daly had a stellar career. A two-time major champion, he was famous for his prodigious drives. But his life had its own share of darkness. Daly’s battle with alcohol began in childhood, when he was around 8-10 years old. They further got worse in college, leading to multiple hospitalizations due to alcohol poisoning between 1989 and 1993. In 1992, he reportedly entered rehab and subsequently achieved what he called his first sober victory at the 1994 BellSouth Classic. A year later, he won the Open Championship.

However, he relapsed, with his ‘social drinking’ escalating in 1997. He had to withdraw from the Players Championship that year after a drinking binge. From there on, it kept spiraling with him eventually taken into protective custody. This, as per him, led to positive changes in his life. Currently, he has accepted the flaws in himself and has often talked about how abstinence may never stick. “It made me miserable,” he once admitted to trying to stay perfectly sober.