{"id":1933,"date":"2018-06-12T21:16:11","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T21:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thebureaugh.com\/addons\/thegolferonline.com\/golfer\/?p=1933"},"modified":"2018-06-12T21:16:11","modified_gmt":"2018-06-12T21:16:11","slug":"confident-johnson-eyes-second-major-at-us-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegolferonline.com\/golf\/blog\/2018\/06\/12\/confident-johnson-eyes-second-major-at-us-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Confident Johnson eyes second major at US Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Southampton (United States) (AFP) – Dustin Johnson<\/a> likes the view from the top, and the long-hitting American says there’s no downside to arriving at the 118th US Open as the number one ranked player in the world.<\/p>\n

“If anything, it takes pressure off me just because I played well last week,” Johnson said Tuesday at Shinnecock Hills, where the year’s second major tees off on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Johnson, toppled from the number one spot last month by Justin Thomas<\/a>, regained the summit on Sunday with a storming six-shot victory in the US PGA Tour FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old sealed his win in emphatic style, holing out for an eagle at the 72nd hole.<\/p>\n

“I had a lot on the line on Sunday,” Johnson said. “I knew it. I knew if I go out and win the golf tournament, I go back to number one.<\/p>\n

“To go out and play the way I did, especially on the back nine, was definitely a big confidence boost for me coming into this week.”<\/p>\n

Johnson, who won the 2016 US Open at Oakmont in a long-awaited major breakthrough, had reached number one in February of 2017 and stayed there for 64 weeks before he was supplanted by Thomas.<\/p>\n

He’s not shy in saying the number one ranking is a motivator for him.<\/p>\n

“Absolutely,” Johnson said. “I think it’s a spot where all golfers want to be. It’s definitely a spot where I want to be. So it’s motivation to keep me working hard and keep doing the things I’m doing.”<\/p>\n

Johnson opened 2018 with an impressive victory in the Tournament of Champions in January.<\/p>\n

He scattered four top-10 finishes among his next eight starts before his win in Memphis, a tournament he added to his schedule in a bid to sharpen up his putting, which he felt had been letting him down.<\/p>\n

“It was definitely getting frustrating, because I felt like I was hitting a lot of good putts that weren’t going in the hole. And I was also hitting a lot of bad putts that had no chance of going in the hole,” Johnson said. “Frustrating — very frustrating.”<\/p>\n

With a solid win behind him — Johnson posted four rounds in the 60s at TPC Southwind — he’s confident he has the game to become the first player to win the US Open the week after capturing a PGA Tour title.<\/p>\n

“I feel like right now, my game’s in very good shape,” he said. “It definitely would be awesome to get my second major.”<\/p>\n

Johnson will launch that quest on Thursday playing alongside Thomas and 14-time major champion Tiger Woods<\/a> in a blockbuster group.<\/p>\n

He’s got no reservations about playing the first two rounds in a group that will draw a massive and no doubt raucous gallery.<\/p>\n

“I like it,” he said. “I like playing with J.T. I like playing with Tiger. We’ll have a big gallery out there. It will be a lot of fun.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n