Dustin Johnson’s Oakmont return could help rescue his now-invisible career

OAKMONT, Pa. — Dustin Johnson’s U.S. Open victory in 2016, the last time it was played at Oakmont before its return this week, feels like a lot more than nine years ago.

It seems like Johnson, 40 now and a member of LIV Golf, has been playing his golf in Witness Protection.

His last victory on the PGA Tour was at the 2020 Masters, his second career major championship and a part of his 24 career wins on the PGA Tour.

Though he’s won three times on LIV since joining it in 2022, Johnson, whose world ranking has plummeted to 884th, hasn’t won on the Saudi circuit this year, though he enters this week coming off a tie for 10th at last week’s tournament in Virginia.

This week, he’ll be trying to recreate the mojo he had in 2016, when he won in 4-under par.

“Obviously, a lot of good memories from that year here,’’ Johnson said Monday after playing the front nine in a practice round. “Obviously, it was a long time ago. I like coming back here. I love the golf course.

“I was back here one other time when I got my honorary membership here, for that ceremony, which was really nice. [I’m] a proud member of Oakmont. I’m probably their favorite member because I never come.”

Johnson’s form in recent majors has been suspect.

Since he finished tied for sixth in the 2022 British Open, he has only one top 10 finish in the past 10 majors, with five missed cuts.

He missed the cut at the Masters in April, finishing his second round with a bogey on 17 and a double on 18 to miss the cut by one shot.

Then came the PGA Championship last month in Charlotte, N.C., where he missed the cut by a mile at 12-over.

“I know my score didn’t reflect it at the PGA, but I actually played way better than the score,’’ he said. “I just struggled a little bit on the greens. Well, maybe that’s an understatement. I struggled really bad on the greens.

“Golf is a strange sport,’’ Johnson went on. “I don’t feel like I’ve slipped any. My scores haven’t reflected [that], but it is a really fine line. Over the last couple months, I’m starting to see a lot of patterns and the game feels like it’s coming back into good form.

“I feel like my game’s been really close. I haven’t really gotten a lot out of it. It was definitely nice to have a nice finish last week [in Virginia]. I played really solid every day, hit it nice, gave myself a lot of opportunities, [but I] still kind of gave some shots away each round that you can’t afford to do at a golf course like this.

“It was nice to finally see the game progress a little bit.’’

Asked what he recalls from his 2016 victory, Johnson said, “I drove it really straight [and] I hit a lot of fairways.’’

He also hit a lot of greens, ranking No. 1 in the field that week in greens in regulation.

He ranked 18th in driving.

“That was the only reason I shot that well,’’ he said. “Somehow, I figured out a way to get it under par. It was mostly the driving. Obviously, even driving it in the fairway here, it’s still really difficult, but I hit a lot of good drives and a lot of good iron shots.”

He believes that performance, even if it took place nine years ago, might help him this week.

“I have confidence on this golf course because I know I played well,’’ he said. “Obviously, this week puts a lot of pressure on the driver. I feel like I’m driving the ball really good right now. Even from there, though, it doesn’t get much easier. You definitely have to hit it in the fairway if you want a chance to win around here.’’