Gorman: Johnson sticks it to USGA in style

Dustin Johnson had a major monkey on his back, a U.S. Open debacle on his mind and another USGA ruling hanging over his head.

When Johnson approached the 18th tee at Oakmont Country Club, his score at the 116th U.S. Open was in question. His shot went right down the middle of the fairway, setting up a dramatic ending.

Johnson pulled out a 6-iron and crushed a shot to 3 feet above the pin, setting up a birdie that put to rest any damage a USGA penalty could do to his final round.

“Finish in style, right?” Johnson said. “I hit it absolutely perfect. I was definitely very happy to see it that close when I walked up.”

It was an exclamation point on the first major championship for Johnson, better known for his debacles and devastation on championship Sundays.

Not only did Johnson hit a perfect shot, he stuck it to the USGA in the process. For the final 13 holes, he played under the pressure of a possible penalty looming.

The USGA delayed Johnson's tee shot on No. 12, informing him that it believed he had moved the ball when he put his putter next to it on the fifth green.

The USGA official at the hole had ruled that Johnson hadn't. Johnson believed he hadn't. But he played knowing that it would be reviewed after his round.

“They said we were going to look at it when we got done,” Johnson said. “I felt like I wasn't going to be penalized, so I just went about my business. I just focused on the drive on 12 ... and deal with it when we got done. It doesn't matter now. I'm glad it didn't matter because that would have been bad. It worked out.”

That's not the point.

Johnson has been haunted by the two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in a bunker, which cost him the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.

Three of the top players on the PGA Tour, two of whom missed the cut at the U.S. Open, took to his defense on Twitter and called out the USGA for its timing.

Rory McIlroy called it “ridiculous,” saying Johnson should have been allowed to “play without this crap in his head” and called it “amateur hour from USGA.”

Jordan Spieth, who won the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay last year after Johnson missed a 12-foot eagle putt and a 4-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole, wrote: “DJ doesn't address it. It's ruled that he didn't cause it to move. Now you tell him he may have? Now? This a joke?”

Rickie Fowler said “the fact that the (USGA) thinks that DJ caused the ball to move is completely ridiculous! Laughable!”

What's no laughing matter is how the USGA handled this whole tournament since storms washed out the first round. Paying customers were shortchanged Thursday, when only nine golfers finished their round, and again Friday when the same groups played 36 holes. The leaders didn't finish the third round Saturday, so they had to play early Sunday morning.

Where Oakmont and its groundskeepers deserve cheers for turning their quagmire back into a championship course, the USGA made a mess of its premier event.

And it took Dustin Johnson, of all people, to bail the USGA out and save Sunday by shooting a 2-under 68 before receiving a one-stroke penalty.

Johnson started the final round four strokes behind leader Shane Lowry, the burly Irishman who was 7-under. None of the top eight had won a major, although Johnson had come excruciatingly close.

With hometown favorite Jim Furyk, the 2007 U.S. Open runnerup, ahead of him and Lowry behind him, Johnson rose to the occasion to win over the galleries.

Furyk had exorcised his demons by sinking a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 17 — the same hole he bogeyed in '07 to fall out of first place — to drop to 2-under. He received a standing ovation at the 18th tee, a rousing roar on his walk to the green.

Just then, those seated in the top row of the grandstands at No. 18 turned around to watch Johnson birdie No. 9. In that moment, both the momentum and the crowd turned toward Johnson's favor.

“I heard the big roar,” Furyk said. “When I saw them walking over to 10 tee, I assumed Dustin birdied.”

When Furyk bogeyed, posting a 1-under as the clubhouse leader, it gave Johnson the cushion he needed. He shined on the back nine, shooting even-par 35 with his only true bogey on No. 14 and then the emphatic birdie to win the tournament.

“It couldn't be any better,” Johnson said. “I think it's well-deserved. For everything I've been through in the majors — I've knocked on the door a bunch of times — to finally get that major win is huge.”

Now, Johnson's name goes alongside those of Tommy Armour, Sam Parks Jr., Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Larry Nelson, Ernie Els and Angel Cabrera as U.S. Open champions at Oakmont.

It was a finish that made him a golf hero, not just that he stuck it to the USGA but because he did so in style.

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.