{"id":615738,"date":"2026-06-01T19:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/615738\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T19:26:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:26:12","slug":"finally-liv-golfs-dustin-johnson-fires-warning-to-rivals-ahead-of-u-s-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/615738\/","title":{"rendered":"“Finally” – LIV Golf’s Dustin Johnson fires warning to rivals ahead of U.S. Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dustin Johnson believes he is finally starting to drive<\/a> the ball “like I normally do” ahead of the third men’s major of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The former world number one was among the first players to be recruited by the rival LIV Golf League<\/a> in 2022 and his form, especially in the majors, has been the subject of intense scrutiny ever since.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some have suggested Johnson’s decline in the big four have been sharper than other stars, with the American only registering two top-10 finishes in the majors since his reported $120m move (2022 Open, 2023 U.S. Open).\u00a0<\/p>\n

But he will head to Shinnecock Hills next month for the U.S Open with renewed optimism after finishing fourth at LIV’s stop in Korea.<\/p>\n

\"Dustin <\/p>\n

Dustin Johnson believes he is finding some form<\/p>\n

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“It’s been a couple years,” Johnson<\/a> said. “It’s felt close, but it’s like, finally I feel like it’s consistent, like I’m finally driving it like I normally do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“So it obviously takes a lot of pressure off the rest of your game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Now I can focus more on my wedges and my irons and chipping and putting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I was driving it so poorly, all I was focusing on was driving it because that’s one of the strengths of my game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“But it’s nice to see the game is coming around, and it’s really good.”<\/p>\n

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Johnson said he felt like he turned a corner during the PGA Championship at Aronimink three weeks ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before the tournament even got underway, he declared that he still believes he is among the best players in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johnson ranked 291st in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR<\/a>), though DataGolf has him 109th.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old finished 44th in Pennsylvania, but he believes that he did well just to play 72 holes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I just got sick, and I barely made it through Thursday and Friday,” Johnson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“It was everything I could do just to finish the rounds Thursday and Friday.”<\/p>\n

Dustin Johnson results 2026<\/p>\n

Tournament<\/p>\n

Position<\/p>\n

LIV Golf Riyadh<\/p>\n

T17<\/p>\n

LIV Golf Adelaide<\/p>\n

T17<\/p>\n

LIV Golf Hong Kong<\/p>\n

T24<\/p>\n

LIV Golf Singapore<\/p>\n

T10<\/p>\n

LIV Golf South Africa<\/p>\n

T31<\/p>\n

LIV Golf Mexico City<\/p>\n

T17<\/p>\n

LIV Golf Virginia<\/p>\n

T18<\/p>\n

LIV Golf Korea<\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Masters Tournament<\/p>\n

T33<\/p>\n

PGA Championship<\/p>\n

T44<\/p>\n

Johnson said he still felt the lingering effects of the illness in Korea. A 66 in the final round saw him finish two strokes behind Joaquin Niemann and Talor Gooch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“But I’ve been really swinging really nicely and rolling the putter good,” Johnson added.<\/p>\n

The 2026 U.S Open will represent Johnson’s 70th major championship start in a row.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Johnson didn’t actually qualify for the PGA Championship but received a special invitation by the PGA of America.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Dustin <\/p>\n

Dustin Johnson’s 10-year exemption into the U.S. Open expires this year<\/p>\n

His 10-year exemption into the U.S. Open runs out this year so the two-time major winner will need a good finish if he wants to play at Pebble Beach next year for the 127th edition of the tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johnson won’t be the only LIV Golf player in the field at the 2026 U.S. Open.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former champion Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeu will join him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Tyrrell Hatton, Carlos Ortiz, Cameron Smith, Laurie Canter, David Puig, Lucas Herbert, Peter Uihlein, Graeme McDowell, Caleb Surratt and the aforementioned Niemann are all in the 156-man field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scottie Scheffler is the favourite to win the U.S. Open, followed by Rory McIlroy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Should Scheffler win, he would join McIlroy, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Gary Player in the grand slam club.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dustin Johnson believes he is finally starting to drive the ball “like I normally do” ahead of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[18784,5904,11769,8693,101,56,54,55,6545],"class_list":["post-615738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-dustin-johnson","tag-golf","tag-liv-golf","tag-pga-tour","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-us-open"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}