Dustin Johnson almost took out the camera guy on top of the tower today at the WGC event in Doral. If that guy wasn’t paying attention before, he is now.
Dustin Johnson
After failing to crack the 60′s for four days at the Tour Championship this past weekend, Dustin Johnson was told by his caddy, Joe LaCava that he was quitting in order to loop for none other than El Tigre himself.
Some might question the wisdom of leaving the bag of an up and coming young player for the #49 ranked Woods, but rumors are that LaCava was not a huge fan of Dustin Johnson’s relaxed attitude and practice regimen. Could this be what Tiger needs in order to get kickstarted back up the rankings?
At least Dustin Johnson has a sense of humor about last year’s PGA Championship. He’s now selling “What Bunker?” T-shirts on his website for a mere $30.
Late yesterday, Ian Poulter sprinted from the 17th tee all the way to the green, putted out, and then teed off on 18 while his playing partner Dustin Johnson was still on the green and Phil Mickelson’s group was just walking off the 18th tee. Why the rush?
By putting a ball in play on the 18th, Poulter and Johnson were able to finish their round even though the horn sounded to end play. If the horn had sounded while they were still playing the 17th, they would have had to show up for a 7:30ish tee time this morning, play one hole, and then hang around for a few hours to start their 4th round.
I think DJ owes Poulter a drink for getting him a few extra hours of sleep this morning.
It’s official. People that bet on golf are idiots. Tiger Woods is currently 10-1 to win the Masters this week. He was the odds on favorite to win this week until Phil Mickelson won in Houston over the weekend. He dropped from 8-1 to 10-1 while Phil did the reverse.
Seriously, what the hell are people thinking? I’m not saying that Tiger should be 100-1, but 10-1? That’s nuts. Tiger hasn’t done anything recently that would warrant those odds. If he had finished well at the Bob Hope, I could see it. But a T24 performance doesn’t bode well for his chances at Augusta.
Yesterday, the South Carolina Dept of Public Safety released the dashcam footage of Dustin Johnson’s DUI arrest in 2009. Last week, Johnson’s DUI charge was dropped and he instead plead guilty to Reckless Driving.
When Johnson was arrested, his bail was set at $2247 which is the amount recommended for people arrested with a BAC higher than .16 (the legal limit is .08). It’s pretty clear from the video that he shouldn’t have been driving.
On a side note, how do you get released from jail 22 minutes after being booked for DUI?
The Golf Channel has announced that they’ve removed obnoxious reporter extraordinaire Jim Gray from Northern Trust Open coverage this week. Apparently Gray decided that it would be a good idea to ask Dustin Johnson about being late to his tee time yesterday morning in the middle of his round.
Johnson’s caddy, Bobby Brown, rightfully took issue with Gray’s actions and ultimately ended up “profanely” complaining to reporters about the interruption after the round. Playing partners Steve Stricker and DA Points were also agitated by the interruption from Gray.
With six seconds to spare before being disqualified, Dustin Johnson arrived on the first tee of the Northern Trust Open yesterday for his 7:32 AM tee time. Players have 5 minutes to arrive for their tee time before being DQ’d. Johnson’s caddie had told him that the tee time 8:12, which was actually the tee time for the previous day’s pro-am.
Well this one is getting wierder. Dustin Johnson is denying that he’s dating Natalie Gulbis and says that rumors he withdrew from the Sony Open because his girlfriend found out about the relationship with Gulbis on TV are false.
In fact Johnson states that he broke up with Amanda Caulder several months ago and has not been dating anybody since then. Maybe he should tell that to Natalie?
Assuming that Johnson isn’t going home to deal with his domestic situation, it begs the question of what actually caused the last minute withdrawal from the Sony Open?
[Image Flickr/Keith Allison]
[Update - Johnson is denying that he's dating Natalie Gulbis and says he broke up with Amanda Caulder several months ago]
Yesterday afternoon Golf.com reported that Dustin Johnson was pulling out of this week’s Sony Open. He didn’t provide a specific explanation of the reason for the last-minute withdrawal:
I’ve got to go take care of some things at home. Something came up.
Now, ProGolfTalk (and Tim Rosaforte on the Golf Channel) is speculating that the “something” is Johnson going home to tell his long term live-in girlfriend Amanda Caulder that she’s getting the boot for Natalie Gulbis. It does seem to add up since this was the first time that Gulbis has made the Golf Channel’s telecast and Johnson refused to confirm or deny the relationship even after Gulbis confirmed it.
[Image flickr/thegordons]
