No DJ? No problem. Players aim to start their own winning streak in Houston

HUMBLE, Texas – A storm cancelled the Wednesday pro-am at the Shell Houston Open, sending a succession of players into the media room early. Among the main topics of conversation: Dustin Johnson, who completed his World Golf Championships slam at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin last week. Johnson withdrew from this week’s SHO for fear of being over-golfed for next week’s Masters, but he’s still here, in a manner of speaking. Henrik Stenson had just finished answering a question about him when a thunderclap boomed over the Golf Club of Houston. “I think he’s on top of us,” Stenson deadpanned. Even under normal circumstances players are like a hammerhead shark this week, with one eye on the Shell Houston Open and one eye on the Masters. But Johnson, who is enjoying a three tournament win streak, generated at least as much discussion as either on Wednesday. The thunderclap and Stenson’s quip spoke to the current state of the PGA TOUR, where even the stars are marveling at Johnson’s winning streak and wondering aloud how long it might last. “Not the slightest bit,” Jordan Spieth said, when asked if he was surprised at how quickly Johnson had begun to distance himself at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking. In fact, Spieth said, he predicted this would happen.  “I believe you guys can all attest I called this,” said Spieth, who lost a three-man sudden-death playoff to J.B. Holmes at the 2015 Shell Houston Open. “Am I wrong? I mentioned this going back years: Dustin Johnson is probably the most talented player and it’s a matter of time. Once he gets that click. Whether it was the U.S. Open [victory at Oakmont last summer] or it was—it probably was the U.S. Open, looking back on it now. He just got over that hurdle. And whatever free-up he needed that we didn’t need him to have, he got.” Not long ago Rory McIlroy appeared to be the natural heir to Tiger Woods at the top of the OWGR. Then came Spieth’s banner 2015, when he won five times and rose to No. 1. Jason Day’s awakening started late that year, followed by Johnson’s ascendance and McIlroy winning the 2016 FedExCup out of nowhere. The four seemed destined to play hot potato with No. 1. Not anymore. Unlike his three challengers, Johnson’s response to claiming the top spot earlier this year has been to simply keep on winning—even in fickle match play. Stenson even mentioned Woods’ heyday, and the gaping chasm between No. 1 and everyone else. “It could be awhile before someone catches him,” Stenson, the runner-up to surprise winner Jim Herman at the Golf Club of Houston last year, said of Johnson. “It’s going to be very difficult [to reel in Johnson] at this point,” Spieth said, “considering he was No. 1 and he’s won two World Golf Championships in two starts.” One of Johnson’s most unusual qualities, other than his moonshot drives, is the fact that he appears to be immune to the normal ups and downs of golf. Is he, though? Adam Scott, who won the 2007 Shell Houston Open but is making his first start here since 2010, allows that the D.J. show has been impressive to watch, but reminded that McIlroy once looked unbeatable, as did Spieth and Day and even Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Thomas earlier this season. “You know, the game changes so quickly with this stuff,” said Scott, who at 36 has seen his share of hot streaks—his own and others’—on the PGA TOUR. “Back in January everyone would have had Hideki and Justin Thomas win the tournament. Now clearly Dustin is playing better. There’s this group of players, I don’t know the number we’ll put on it—10, 15 guys who if they play really well can control the golf tournament.” Scott was talking about the Masters, but he could just as easily have been handicapping the field in Houston, where 29 players will try to climb the FedExCup points table and/or pick up a PGA TOUR victory while fine-tuning for the season’s first major. The Masters is next week and Johnson is not here, but 144 players are present and accounted for. Perhaps one of them will decimate this rain-softened course, making us forget all about the thunderclap over our heads.

Click here to read the full article…