Northern Trust Open: King of bunkers survives disqualification
Dustin Johnson narrowly avoided disqualification when he arrived late for his tee time in the first round of the Northern Trust Open.
The world number 14 arrived at 8:12 am on the driving range when he should have reached at 7:32 am. The player ran over the hill to reach the tee box and barely managed to avoid disqualification. He arrived six seconds before the danger time, which saved
him from major trouble, but earned him a two-stroke penalty on the first hole.
Dustin accepted the penalty and continued with the play. Later in the day, he told the press that the confusion arose because of a text received by his caddie. In the text, the pro-am timings were mentioned and the duo confused it for the first-round tee
time.
He also told about a minor injury that he suffered in his race through the hill to reach the tee box. The troubled star injured his hip muscle during the run and had to play while in pain. He said the pain had taken an entire round to go off.
Dustin talked lightly of the injury, saying, “Just one of those things. I'll get over it.”
Due to the injury and the early penalty, Johnson lost focus on the game and encountered two more bogeys in the front. Though he managed to earn two points to counter it off, the initial blow was enough to jeopardise his scorecard. The 26-year-old golfer
birdied the 15th and the 18th hole to wrap the round in darkness at two-over-par.
The American golfer later told the press that he had taken five holes to refocus on his game and to forget the incident.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time the player was drooling in the middle of trouble. In the 2010 PGA Championship, Johnson had stepped into the final round as a leader, but was thrown aback when the camera caught him grounding his club in a sand bunker.
The player was charged with a two-stroke penalty, which ultimately pulled him out of contention from the play-off between Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson. Once again, the player got himself stuck in trouble, owing to negligence and deprived himself from glory.
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