Johnson gunning for win, first trip into world top 10

DORAL, Fla. -- Obviously, it's impossible to predict how Dustin Johnson will finish the Cadillac Championship.
But it's a safe assumption that the ending will be better than the beginning.
Emphasis on safe.

CA Championship

Thursday morning, the ball-bombing 26-year-old stood on the tee of the par-5 first hole and shoved his drive down the right side, where it landed squarely on the side of a spectator's head.
Not just any garden-variety schmoe, either. It was his grandfather, Art Whisnant, a former college basketball star at South Carolina in the 1960s.
"He said it hit him on the fly," Johnson said. "I walked up there and he was standing next to the ball and said, 'You hit me in the head.'"
Three days later, D.J.'s moved to the head of the class.

Dustin Johnson has four PGA Tour wins, with two of them coming last year. (Getty Images)

Johnson shot the best round of the day Saturday with a 7-under 65 to take a two-shot lead over four players into the final round of the star-strewn World Golf Championships event at Doral Golf Resort & Spa.
As though hitting a foul ball on his first swing and conking his maternal grandpop wasn't enough, the weather horn sounded moments later and he had to sit in the clubhouse and think about the stray shot for nearly three hours before play resumed.
"First we had to make sure he was OK," Johnson said.
Johnson, the only American player under age 30 with four PGA Tour wins to his credit, shook off the jarring beginning and delay fast enough -- he birdied the first two holes after play resumed and finished with an opening 69.
As Johnson related the story of whacking his grandfather, the question was raised as to whether the ball made a direct hit, or caromed off the grass before it conked Whisnant in the dome.
Being a golfer, he fielded the question in literal terms.
Did it bounce?
"Yeah," Johnson said. "[To the] right."
His round Saturday was his second-best of what has been an unusually uneven season. He finished in the top 10 in his first two starts, then finished outside the top 25 or missed the cut in his last four tournaments, including getting bounced in the first round at the Accenture Match Play Championship two weeks ago.
For a player who seemed poised for a breakout season after contending at two majors last year, it was a disappointing stretch. Moreover, he stepped in another embarrassing pothole in Los Angeles, where he was late for his opening tee time and docked two shots. He eventually missed the cut.
His swing coach, Butch Harmon, speaking on NBC Sports on Saturday, called the tee-time penalty a "debacle," although Johnson has a truly Teflon memory for bad news. Nothing much sticks, even when it burns to a crisp.
"He's a pretty resilient young man," Harmon said.
Harmon, working this week as an analyst for Sky Sports in Europe, was called a few moments before the round by Johnson's caddie, Bobby Brown, for some last-minute fine tuning on the range. They spent 20 or 30 minutes dialing in a few small things, Johnson said.
"Well, there wasn't anything going wrong," Johnson said. "I just wanted to get him out there just to take a look at some things. We worked on the driver a little bit this morning and then got that going really well."
By the end of the session, Johnson was pulverizing it.
"He started bombing it over Jim McLean's [golf academy] buildings down on the end of the range," Harmon said.
Harmon's last words on the range were, "There's a 65 out there. Go shoot it."
Maybe he should have asked for a 62. If only it were that simple.
"No, it's not that easy," Johnson laughed. "But I will take 65 every time."
Johnson won twice last year, at Pebble Beach and in a FedEx Cup event, but a victory on Sunday at Doral would represent his biggest to date and would launch him into the world top 10 for the first time. His highest ranking to date is No. 12. "It's a small field, but it's the best 70 or the best 50 in the world," Johnson said. "They all play this event, so any of the World Golf Championships are great events. They all happen on good venues, and you know, you want to play well and win these events."
Johnson and 21-year old Rory McIlroy, who is tied for fifth, are widely considered the best 20-somethings in the game. If Johnson can finish it off Sunday, it should provide a huge confidence boost, especially as some of the biggest names in the game have begun falling out of the top spots in the world ranking.
If that happens, here's some advice to both his foes, family and his fans -- duck.