Dustin Johnson in 2013 season
Dustin Johnson has always been a name to reckon with. When he says he is in serious contention to the top slot of the Official World Golf Ranking held numerous times by a selected prestigious few, he means business.
Watch out Tiger Woods, current world no. 3, Luke Donald, current world no. 2 and Rory McIlroy, world no. 1.
Johnson means business alright. More so, considering the long absence. Yes, folks, he had not taken the field for a full three months. Apparently, he had ended up spraining his back while helping a friend move a jet ski. You cannot play much golf with
a broken back now can you?
His recovery following the event has been quick. For the competitive Dustin Johnson of course, the three-month wait was like purgatory.
Players like him, with the highly competitive streak in them, cannot stand (or in his case lie down) idly and do nothing while others out there putt and drive their way to glory.
"Obviously you get bored. I wanted to play golf and at times I couldn't move. The competitive side in me drove me crazy because I wanted to be out there and compete and I just couldn't do it," Johnson said.
For a golfer, each year is carefully cloven in tournaments that have been chosen based on a judgment (the player’s own usually) to best suit the needs to further the player’s career at that point in time.
Missing out on cuts (or in Dustin Johnson’s case, entire tournaments) is torture at its agonizing best.
Besides the back slip, there is another reason that has come to fore that explains the golfer’s long absence from the golfing stage (which are the various tournaments spread throughout the year).
It was disappointing to lose the latest Ryder Cup to Jose Maria Olazabal and the lads of Team Europe.
The last season’s Ryder Cup witnessed the most spectacular of all turnarounds in the history of the biennial meet. Recovering from the loss has been slow for Johnson, who remained the only American player to take the field in Medina to go undefeated
in all his matches.
"Hopefully after the New Year starts it won't be on my mind as much. But yeah, it pops into the head now and then. So many things you remember. But that's golf".
Recovering from the injury and the psychological blow of the defeat at Medina, Johnson is working harder on his short game, particularly the wedge, he says. How will season ’13 turn out for the American? He seems optimistic alright.
"I think the year went really well considering I missed basically the first part of it," Johnson said. "I played real. Hopefully it will lead into having a good (2013) season," he said.
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