{"id":20203,"date":"2025-07-19T00:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T00:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/20203\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T00:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T00:13:09","slug":"onto-the-weekend-at-the-open-championship-dustin-johnson-ponders-his-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/20203\/","title":{"rendered":"Onto the weekend at the Open Championship, Dustin Johnson ponders his future"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland \u2014 Four summers ago, a 37-year-old and undefeated Dustin Johnson chugged champagne after leading the Americans to victory at the Whistling Straits Ryder Cup. The two-time major winner was on top of the world, firmly believed to be a mainstay at the highest levels of the game for years to come.<\/p>\n

Now, here at Royal Portrush, a 41-year-old Johnson is utilizing his last automatic exemption into the Open Championship, and he made his first major cut of the year with a 2-under 69 on Friday. Once world No. 1 and the face of the American game, Johnson has largely faded into obscurity, a LIV Golf contract that made him generationally wealthy perhaps softening the blow. The next Ryder Cup looms, just two months away, and Johnson is several miracles away from even being in consideration.<\/p>\n

So on Friday, when Johnson made the weekend with a storm of three birdies in his final four holes to finish at even par (and 34th in the tournament), it allowed him to take something resembling a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n

That could be why Johnson \u2014 a player who is still loved by galleries but doesn\u2019t win them over with his visibility these days \u2014 stopped to speak. For a few brief moments, he addressed the state of his game, his status with the breakaway tour he joined three years ago, and the event that brought him immense joy throughout his 18-year career.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve me, I would love to play on the Ryder Cup team,\u201d Johnson said to The Athletic. \u201cObviously, the Ryder Cup is one of my favorite events on the planet. So, yeah, it\u2019s going to suck watching it from home. I just haven\u2019t played well enough this year. If I had played better, then, I think I\u2019d have a serious consideration of being on the team, but you never know. A really good weekend could change things.\u201d<\/p>\n

To even make that statement about a come-from-behind victory that would solve Johnson\u2019s Ryder Cup stalemate, he first had to make the weekend here at Portrush. A lost ball on No. 18 and a closing double to post 73 on Thursday didn\u2019t help his cause. Neither did missing short-range putts on Nos. 12, 13 and 14 on Friday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Johnson shot 2 under on Friday to make the cut at the Open. (Glyn Kirk \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The two-time major champion showed signs of life in the final moments of his second round. Standing one shot outside the projected cut line on No. 15 after back-to-back bogeys, Johnson hammered a driver, 294 yards down the fairway. He converted for birdie. Then he sunk a seven-footer to save an important par at the always potentially calamitous 16th. Standing on the fairway on No. 17, Johnson and his caddie shooed a group of cameramen out of his sight line, only for him to hit his approach shot before they could fully scamper away. Johnson\u2019s wedge shot landed 11 feet from the pin, and he drained the putt.<\/p>\n

On No. 18, the Dustin Johnson of old flashed his might. From 175 yards, the American\u2019s ball never left its target. It caught the fabric of the flagstick, prompting a roar from the giant wraparound grandstand.<\/p>\n

Walking up to mark his ball, perched just 1 foot, 9 inches from the cup, Johnson turned to his brother and caddie, Austin. \u201cThat\u2019ll work,\u201d he said with a grin.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 12, 13 and 14, I hit some good shots and really good putts and just missed short ones there. I\u2019m playing well. I mean, I was playing well coming into here. I\u2019ve had good practice, just need to clean it up off the tee a little bit. I\u2019m hitting good iron shots, I\u2019ve just got to give myself chances,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Since announcing his defection to LIV in 2022, Johnson\u2019s slippage in the sport has been somewhat of an unspoken tragedy. Now and again, his vintage one-liners resurface on social media feeds and conjure memories of his star power. He has found form sporadically on the 54-hole tour, though there are only three top-10s on LIV this year. But on the biggest stages of the sport \u2014 the ones he looked like he could dominate for another decade back when he firmly held the world No. 1 spot \u2014 Johnson has been disappearing. This year was the first time he missed the cut in three majors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PGA \u2026 it was just the worst I\u2019ve ever putted in my whole career as a professional,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s LIV defection coincided with his major championship woes. Whether that\u2019s correlation or causation, he shut down the possibility of him playing his golf anywhere else on Friday: \u201cI\u2019ll be with them for a few more years. I\u2019m with them for a few more years, really pleased with how it\u2019s going. I think it\u2019s only getting better, and I\u2019m looking forward to what\u2019s to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dustin Johnson hits the flag on 18. He ends the day at even par. pic.twitter.com\/3CRa48ZaNL<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 The Open (@TheOpen) July 18, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s time as a staple in these major championship fields is ticking, and he knows it. LIV Golf does not currently earn world golf ranking points, so effectively, he needs current results, not past finishes, to solidify his standing in the majors. Johnson\u2019s last top-10 in a major came at the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll have an invitation to the Masters for life with his past champion status. But Johnson needed a special exemption for a tee time at this year\u2019s PGA Championship, and his 10-year exemption for winning the 2016 U.S. Open expires after next year. Johnson can still qualify his way into the U.S. Open and the Open Championship, both of which now offer one spot to the top LIV golfer not otherwise qualified. But if Johnson doesn\u2019t earn that, he can also do it the old-fashioned way \u2014 by playing in a one-off qualifier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to qualify through good play. I doubt I would do the qualifier. But you never know. I mean, if it works out in the schedule, and I\u2019m not in the Open, I want to play here, and I want to be here playing. So I would definitely think about it,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if I play well and I play how I should, I\u2019ll be in the Open next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Top photo: Christian Petersen \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n