Coming away from Whistling Straits the strong sentiment was that the United States had found their spine and not much was going to change in the next two years, particularly the result. This is how many of our minds work all through the game; someone wins a Major and we’re preparing ourselves for world domination and, a decade later on, we’re waiting for the next one.
Dustin Johnson came away from Whistling Straits with a perfect 5-0-0 record and, as the ‘old man’ of the team at 37, he appeared to have found his place in the team, racking up points with Collin Morikawa. If ever there was a foursomes team that could rely on one player to lace it 300-plus yards down the fairway and his partner to then knock it close it was these two.
It was as exhausting for the Europeans as it was predictable. He even left Wisconsin with the inaugural Nicklaus-Jacklin Award. The award ‘commemorates sportsmanship, teamwork and performance in the context of better decision-making’ which should be roughly translated as being the leading points scorer – Sergio Garcia was the European recipient.
Even for much of last season where Johnson dominated the LIV Golf scene many suspected that he would still get a pick. This year there was a play-off win in Tulsa but, if you did want to get your nose in Zach Johnson’s trough, then you probably had to do it in the Majors.
With the qualification set to conclude after the BMW Championship on August 20, and Captain Johnson set to round out his six picks after the Tour Championship, this week was a huge chance to stake a claim in some ways – not that Royal Liverpool in July bears much of a resemblance to Marco Simone in September. Johnson (D) finished this week at 13-over with only one player shooting worse than him on Friday after his 10-over 81. The Masters and PGA were both ordinary weeks, the US Open began with a 64 before tailing off.
With the wealth of talent at the skipper’s disposal Johnson now looks to be surplus to requirements – for the record there are two more LIV events before the naming of the wildcards after the Tour Championship on August 27.
Talor Gooch has three LIV wins this season which could…
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