‘I’d have two green jackets’: Dustin Johnson on freak injury that kept him out of 2017 Masters

LIV Golf and the PGA Tour will collide this year for the first time in two weeks at the Masters, one of four events where all elite golfers come together since the industry fractured when LIV started raiding the PGA Tour.

And although Dustin Johnson clearly views the Masters as a special tournament, just because he took the generational money offered by Saudi Arabia to join LIV, doesn’t mean he does not see those golfers who remain on the PGA Tour.

“Living down in Jupiter, Florida, I think half the world a golf lives here,” Johnson said Wednesday on a Zoom call. “So I see the guys all the time.”

Johnson was sitting in a golf cart when he spoke about his game, the Masters and the next LIV event, April 5-7, at Trump National Doral. Like the 12 other LIV golfers in the Masters, he’s hoping to peak the week he arrives at Augusta National.

The former world No. 1 (he has held the spot for 135 weeks, third most in history) had one of his worst years when it comes to majors in 2023. Johnson’s best finish was T10 at the U.S. Open. Otherwise, he tied for 48th at the Masters, tied for 55th at the PGA Championship and missed the cut at the British Open.

Johnson’s score (8 over) and finish last year at Augusta was the worst of his career, part of the reason the 39-year-old is ramping up his work this year.

“Just wasn’t pleased with my results,” Johnson said. “Putting in the effort, I think is the biggest thing. I just wasn’t happy with the way I played.”

Just how much that is paying off will be determined, although he does have one LIV victory on the season, winning the event in Las Vegas in February.

Johnson’s lone Masters victory, and one of his two major championships, was when he destroyed Augusta National in 2020, when the event was moved to the fall because of COVID. Johnson shot a record 20-under. The lowest Masters score when the azaleas are in bloom is 18-under held by Jordan Spieth (2015) and Tiger Woods (1997).

That also marks Johnson’s last win on the PGA Tour – he joined LIV 21 months ago. Johnson was asked if his game is approaching that level today.

“I feel like the game is trending in that direction,” he said. “Am I exactly there? I think it’d be hard to get back to as good as I played that week. But, am I playing good enough now where I can have a week like that? Absolutely.”

Johnson still “looks back” at 2017, when during the peak of his career a freak injury in which he injured his lower back during a fall at his rental home the day before the Masters started forced him to withdraw.

Johnson had won his last three starts that year entering the Masters.

“I’d have two Green Jackets,” Johnson said when asked what could have been.

Johnson is one of 12 LIV golfers who continue to remain exempt for the Masters and one of six exempt for all majors.

A 13th LIV golfer was added to the Masters field this year when Joaquin Niemann was invited after playing events in Australia and Dubai.

Instead of complaining about LIV golfers getting shafted in the world rankings, Niemann did something about it and played with the intention of earning that invitation. He won the Australian Open was T4 at the Dubai Desert Classic and got the invite he deserved.

“He’s played events to try to get his world ranking up other than LIV events,” Johnson said. “He’s done all the right things. And he’s played well on those events.”

All 13 LIV golfers headed to the Masters will be tuning up their game on the Blue Monster next weekend.

“It’s a big week for us,” Johnson said. “You’re gonna see a lot of guys out there grinding and working hard especially the guys that you know are playing the next week at Augusta.”