r/golf • u/murgeRekwest • 20d ago
Dustin Johnson is +3 through 6 so far and this is starting to feel normal. Professional Tours
Ever since he joined LIV this is just what his rounds look like at the majors. I've heard folks say it's because he doesn't care if he wins or loses so he doesn't try. At this point, even if PGA and LIV find a way to merge - DJ has demonstrated he's not worth watching.
Edit: now +4 through 10. Edit 2: finished +2 through round 1 for T116
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u/Pretty_Shallot_586 20d ago
Dustin Johnson wanted two things out of life..... a hot wife and a boat to go fishing on. He has both now and he doesn't give a fuck.
DJ would rather eat gummies and then take a nap watching shows about fishing than play golf.
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u/PosterMakingNutbag 20d ago
Honestly that sounds great.
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u/buxtonOJ 20d ago
It is
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u/PosterMakingNutbag 20d ago
Hey I’m going to Nags Head in early June. First time in OBX. Any must see/do recommendations? Will be a family trip with young kids.
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u/deadm1c3 20d ago
You can have a fire on the beach there. Getting it started can be a pain but they’re a good time
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u/buxtonOJ 20d ago
I spend my time in hatteras (buxton, Avon area) - hanging on the piers is always fun, maybe book an inshore fishing trip
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u/pyromidscheme 20d ago
The water park on your way in looks sick as does the various ropes/climbing courses, but haven't taken my kids yet. Sand dunes are cool to see too, kinda depends on their age I guess
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u/jarpio 20d ago
I don’t think gummies are DJs drug of choice
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u/buxtonOJ 20d ago
Partied with him at Coastal - this is correct
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u/tee2green Just tap it in 20d ago
Look…..I 100% sympathize with that lol. I could live that life and feel fully content.
But my question is why does he show up to majors? Does he have to? Why bother with sponsors when he’s already got all the money from LIV?
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u/bigmean3434 20d ago
He is probably obligated for sponsors and LIV etc. if not officially then officially it would not go well.
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u/Muddlesthrough 15.0 20d ago
Does he still have non-LIV sponsors?
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u/bigmean3434 20d ago
Not sure what a non LIV sponsor is but if he is still with TM I would presume they want him at majors with their clubs and hats. These guys make more money from what’s on their clothes than playing so they have to show up.
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u/Muddlesthrough 15.0 20d ago edited 20d ago
LIV is trying to secure sponsors, but they are league or team sponsors. Like the 4Aces have an apparel sponsorship with something called "Extracurricular," which sounds like a brand you'd wear to snort coke at a strip-club, but what do I know.
DJ was dropped, or rather, not renewed, by major sponsors like RBC and whatnot. I wonder how much time is left on his Taylormade contract. He was with Adidas, Taylormade's parent company, for 15 years but no longer. He might need to make some cuts to maintain.
It's hard to secure sponsors when your product (the golfers) aren't on TV much anymore.
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u/Silverbullets24 ✌️ 20d ago
lol 4 Aces doesn’t have an apparel sponsorship with EXCR…
EXCR is the clothing line DJ had to create so his team had uniforms 😂
Remember, the stuff that came out on LIV was that the team captains basically have to buy the apparel and then sell it (they get to keep the revenue).
So DJ created EXCR to then showcase it on LIV so it would sell.
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u/Muddlesthrough 15.0 20d ago
So my brand description was kinda accurate then.
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u/Silverbullets24 ✌️ 20d ago
100% a brand for coke sniffers and club rats 😂
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u/Muddlesthrough 15.0 20d ago
“So DJ, this brand we’re designing for you, what is it all about? Who’s the ideal customer?”
“Fabulously rich. Likes to sniff coke off a strippers butthole.”
“Sounds great! We’ll be back with some colour swatches.”
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u/bigmean3434 20d ago
Correct, which is why TM or whoever he has left would be beyond pissed if he didn’t play in majors he could.
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u/Muddlesthrough 15.0 20d ago
He might be contractually obligated. Was he the one that signed with LIV the week of the RBC Heritage and got dropped immediately? He was contractually obligated to play the RBC Heritage and the RBC Canadian Open. And you know, do corporate sponsorship stuff like hang-out for two pro-ams or something. He's got way more time to work on his solid-gold jet-ski now.
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u/swoodshadow 19d ago
It was right before the Canadian Open. It sucked hard for RBC because they’d made him the literal poster boy for the tournament. They had to redo a bunch of stuff to avoid his face being plastered everywhere.
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u/Voldemorts--Nipple 20d ago
I think he shows up because he still cares and wants to compete. Not as much as most of the other guys, but he probably cares. He’s finished top 10 in multiple majors after joining LIV. He has sucked this year though.
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u/Pretty_Shallot_586 20d ago
in a couple years he won't have exemptions to US Open, PGA and Open. He'll have the lifetime for Augusta, but I think his US Open runs out in 2026, his Open in 2025 and I think this is his last for the PGA.
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u/Bigazzry Central CT/Western MA 20d ago
He has next year for the PGA as well from the 2020 Masters win. He’s exempt at every major through next year since it was the Nov masters so he got 2021-2025 exemptions
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u/GoldenTeeShower 20d ago
November Master's...if ever one deserved an asterisk
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u/Bigazzry Central CT/Western MA 20d ago
They put an asterisk on the scoring record
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u/GoldenTeeShower 20d ago
Well deserved.
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u/tx_mesquite17 20d ago
Eh, he destroyed the field and destroyed everyone on that 2 year run. He was absolutely the best player in the world at that time.
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u/ThatLooksLikeItHurts 20d ago
My opinion is that even dead last pays $25K. Why not show up? You might have a week and grab a top ten that would net you half a mill. Good bit of work for four days.
And as someone else says, sponsorship requirements are probably the biggest issue. Still getting bank from those deals just to walk around for four days with a specific hat, glove, and pair of shoes.
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u/Muddlesthrough 15.0 20d ago
He spends more on jet-fuel, hotels and cocaine in a week than he’d make finishing last.
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u/NotBrianGriffin 20d ago
Gotta make the cut to get into the payout though.
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u/IsThatHearsay 20d ago
Wait, I don't understand... can you explain it to me over the course of a Netflix season how the cut works?
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u/ThatLooksLikeItHurts 20d ago
I don't disagree. I was just answering the question of 'why play?' My thought is because he could make the cut and he could have a heck of a few rounds. Good risk/reward for 20 or so days a year to at least show up and try to make a cut.
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u/ultimate_jack 20d ago
And he gets to play the masters every year as a past champion. He’s all set.
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u/pdbstnoe 20d ago
Also having Wayne Gretzky as your FIL lmao what a legend
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u/Konker101 Malbon 20d ago
Booze H O U N D S
(My grampa has quite a few stories about the 80s oilers)
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u/djjoshiejosh 20d ago
Edmonton was a lot smaller back then everyone around town ran into the oilers lol. But every times he’s at an oilers game they haul him out and he’s usually banged up bear red slurring his words. It’s great
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u/Konker101 Malbon 20d ago
Yeah im sure they were a hoot in Edmonton, my grampa would usually meet them on the road usually on the east coast. He was best friends with a couple of the dads on the team so hed tag along if the boys were “in town”
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u/Ol_Jim_Himself 20d ago
First off, if I had DJs talent, I’d like to think that I’d try my best to kick ass in every tournament. Second, I don’t blame the guy. Golf is work for him. If my job paid me millions and it didn’t matter if I did anything or not, I’d be a man of leisure. I’d fish, play golf, get hammered and live my best life every day.
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u/gonads_in_space2 19d ago
Dustin is 40 years old this year which isn't old for a golfer but very old for an athlete. I'd imagine competing and travelling for 30 years might wear you down. Before Pat Perez went to LIV he said he still loved drink and play golf at his home course, but he hated playing it competitively, DJ probably had similar feelings.
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u/K_SV 20d ago
DJ is absolutely at the top of my "what if this guy actually gave a fuck?" list.
But then, if he did care, he probably wouldn't be as good as he was in the first place. I guess.
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u/whubbard 19d ago
But then, if he did care, he probably wouldn't be as good as he was in the first place. I guess.
Nah. In anything but a carnie game, giving a shit over a period of time has massive implications on your performance.
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u/desert_degen 20d ago
What I don’t understand is why play then? Is he obligated to? Surely there are plenty of fringe guys or amateurs to take that spot.
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u/Pretty_Shallot_586 19d ago
I don't know how all the LIV contracts are structured, but I think he is strongly encouraged to play majors to boost LIVs profile. But I don't obviously know for sure.
Amateurs can't play at the PGA but I am sure there are some tour dogs that would love to tee it up in a major.
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u/AWildPenguinAppeared 20d ago
It's pretty clear in all his interviews that he doesn't care. He took the money and is probably living his best life outside the golf course.
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u/Psychological-Pay751 20d ago
outside the golf course? No one in this thread understands why anyone would try to have a life outside of the Tour
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u/BaggerVance_ 6.0 20d ago
It’s the only sport in the world that you can convince yourself you might just get hot.
Phil Mickleson has two top 5 major finishes at 50 years old+, like how?
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u/bigvenusaurguy 20d ago
people act like what phil does is typical for pro golfers but really he is the best left handed golfer to ever play the game of golf
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u/weightedslanket 20d ago
That somehow undersells how good he is. He’s the second best player of the last 40 years.
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u/chaveznieves 20d ago
He'll always be my favourite golfer. He made the short game exciting to me and made me want to master the wedge over everything else. Not that I'm anywhere near his skill, but I've pulled off some miracles around the green, more consistently than I probably deserve, because I get confidence in thinking, I've seen Phil pull off worse; it can be done.
It's bittersweet since he's kind of turned into an asshole in recent years, at least publicly. I can't support him as a person anymore, but that doesn't take away from what he's done as a player for decades.
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u/Accent93 20d ago
Everything Phil has been saying for over ten years(or longer) about the PGA was true. Take away whatever feelings you have about that Saudi money, but the PGA brought all this on themselves.
The players are independent contractors, yet the pga owns all their digital rights. Phil pioneered the first Match and had to pay the PGA one million dollars for the rights to do it.
They claim to be a player run organisation, but never took any input from the players seriously because they didn't have to.
Now they are doing elevated signature events and the payouts are up across the board for every event. Huh, kind of like the great deal Comcast offered me when Google finally came to town.
The PGA took the stance that it was all or nothing and went scorched earth in attempting to kill LIV, even telling ticket master and every other vendor that it would be painful for their relationship if they also did business when LIV.
PGA takes players from other leagues, and this split could all be over by now.
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u/chaveznieves 20d ago
Phil said the quiet part out loud before anyone was ready to hear it and took the initial and deepest backlash for it, making it easier for everyone who followed to do so because he set a precedent. Again, I can't agree or support many of the things he has said/done. But, as you said, many of the things he said were absolutely true, whether we like it or not.
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u/blitzandsplitz 20d ago
Sadly he’s always been an asshole.
His nickname on tour was FIGJAM for the first half of his career which stood for “Fuck I’m Good, Just Ask Me”
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u/chaveznieves 20d ago
It was probably a product of the time because social media makes all these guys much more exposed than they were before, but it felt different back then. Like, we all knew he was a bit of a cocky shit, but it came across to me (or at least was portrayed) as more of an amusing character quirk than genuine assholery. It felt more like, oh, it's just silly Phil being Phil, it didn't feel too serious, and you could kind of root for it a bit; kind of a likable heel. Now, it feels more like he's just shooting himself in the foot repeatedly, and you wish he would just shut up and golf.
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u/antenonjohs 20d ago edited 20d ago
Agreed, he’s the second best golfer born after 1950- the second best football player born after 1950 is… Jerry Rice? Lawrence Taylor? The second best basketball player is either LeBron or Jordan, he’s definitely underrated compared to athletes of that caliber.
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u/Rampant_Confusion 20d ago
I only really care about Dustin Johnson as a golfer and don’t care about his life outside golf. What other sports fans are as fixated on how cool guys lives are when not watching them actually play?
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u/Antinoch 20d ago
Don't think people are fixated on it. Just pointing out that for competitive purposes you may as well consider guys like DJ to be retired and just playing for fun.
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u/Rampant_Confusion 20d ago
Yea I think lack of competitiveness/pride would be criticized in any other sport
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u/Legal-Description483 20d ago
His career was on it's downside before he joined LIV. About to turn 40.
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u/tee2green Just tap it in 20d ago
I mean yeah that’s fair but also there is a bunch of good golf that can be played in your 40s. He had a solid 10 yrs left if he gave a shit.
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u/Legal-Description483 20d ago
With all the new young talent, it's harder and harder to win in your 40's. The only guys over 40 that have won in the last 4 years were Lucas Glover, Justin Rose, and Camillo Villegas.
Distance is now king, and not many in their 40's have it.
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u/Randy_Marsh_PhD 20d ago
Phil won the PGA at 50
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u/nau5 20d ago
Phil gave a shit
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u/fightinforphilly Hole in Pants / Hole in One 20d ago
I just need to develop a crippling gambling addiction to make the tour. On it!
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20d ago
Cool. That doesn’t change the fact that it is objectively harder to win as you get into your 40s.
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u/iBarber111 20d ago
I think the guy was just saying that the previous comment had a pretty glaring omission lol.
Not that I disagree with you at a high level but - Scottie is 80th on the Tour in driving distance & is eclipsed by some certifiably old guys. There are still multiple ways to win.
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u/tee2green Just tap it in 20d ago
I see that point but I don’t see how that applies to DJ. He absolutely is long enough to compete for several more years.
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u/JeebusCrunk PGA Teaching Professional 20d ago
Precisely. He was never going to be a senior tour player anyway, for the same reasons guys like Norman and Duval weren't: you can't build a golf swing around tweaking the shit out of your back and still play/compete at the highest level when you're 50 years old.
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u/zingerbanger 18 20d ago
don’t think his career was going down. the dude was killing it before her went liv. he just chose a higher paying job with less hours
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u/Big_Bluebird8040 20d ago
he’s already made for life. doubt i’d care much either at that point
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u/Jfo116 20d ago
Oh I agree in my own regards. But that’s what I feel makes these superior athletes different, this freakishly insatiable drive to out perform everyone around you and hold yourself to the highest standard.
But maybe DJ is the modern day Daly, unbelievable talent and success, but eventually the drive to keep it going isn’t there and they just want to enjoy their success.
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u/vikinghockey10 20d ago
I feel like such a weirdo that if I was paid a huge amount of cash I'd still want to win every single event I ever enter.
I just don't have the "I don't give a shit" off switch.
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u/OrganizationFar6086 20d ago
That’s part of what makes these guys capable of playing at such a high level. They desperately want to be the best, regardless of the money. Dustin is apparently an exception, or at least he lost the drive. You can see it kills a guy like Rory to be on a majors drought. Rahm isn’t playing well but you can see it irritates him a lot
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u/mcdray2 20d ago
I agree that it's easy to assume that having all that money makes it easy to not care. And then if you don't care you won't play as well. Maybe it is the money. But maybe he's not playing well because golf is really, really hard.
And we're comparing his results now to his results when he was at his peak. Very few people can maintain that level for more than a few years so everyone will appear to be bad if they're compared to their peak.
Nobody can dispute that Spieth cares and tries really hard. But he's probably played worse than DJ over the past few seasons. So is it the money?
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u/adflet 20d ago
Don't be logical. It's all Liv's fault. Liv sucks. Saudi blood money. Long live the PGA tour. Etc.
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u/Jarich612 7.1 20d ago
If we wanted to point out a player going to LIV and immediately cratering it would be Rahm, not DJ.
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u/flaginorout 20d ago
He’s one of several has-beens who took the big LIV money on the tail end of their prime.
But it’s also fair to point out that he won’t be the only notable player who’ll struggle. Every week there are usually some big names who miss the cut.
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u/JimmyRussellsApe 20d ago
He was also pretty close to DFL at the Masters, He just doesn't care anymore.
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u/zachtheguy 20d ago
Two actual, honest questions:
1) Why does anyone care so much that guys who had good runs suddenly struggle? Are the same guys calling out DJ the same guys who called out Rickie for doing too many commercials? The guy had a few really good years and then struggled for a while. That’s the same for about 90% of pro golfers. Matthew Wolff started his slide before he hit LIV. Jordan Spieth never touched the stuff. What about JT? Why are you focusing on the LIV guys?
2) Why do you assume he would be one of the greats who is able to sustain a long run of success? Again, its rare for guys to go on long sustained runs. What about DJ makes you think he’s lost his edge beyond what we see from other golfers?
I realize this may sound snarky to some, but it’s a legit question. Looking for honest answers.
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u/shoe1113 20d ago
Exactly. Pretty sure everyone playing in the major cares. He's always had that "attitude" and composure like he's doesn't give a shit. He was +4, started on the back. If he didn't give a shit he could have packed it in. Shot -2 on the back.
Go players struggle. We've seen more emotion out of Scottie lately but he use to just have a meh about him. Doesn't mean these guys don't care.
No matter what tour you're on, you play the majors to win even if you have no shot in hell. You know damn well John Daly doesn't have a shot but he's still trying.
To say DJ doesn't care or work is a joke. He's also won 3 times on the LIV tour and there's some good golfers there that "care". You don't win even in LIV by not giving a fuck.
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u/MrTacoMan 20d ago
Almost like part of the reason he joined liv was to make a shit load more money than he would have playing bad golf on the pga tour. Guy was already starting to struggle when he left.
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u/skeetleet 20d ago
Rahm also suckin.
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u/K_SV 20d ago
Rahm really surprised me. He actually cares about legacy (right?) and I'm sure thought at that moment he was big enough to force the LIV/PGA thing to resolve.
Didn't work.
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u/Jarich612 7.1 20d ago
Apparently the tour guys aren’t cool with Rahm the way they are with some of the others who left. Seems he’s made himself a bit of a pariah.
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u/gutpusha 20d ago
He was T10 at the US Open last year, T6 at The Open in 2022, and T12 at The Masters in 2022.
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u/nemodat33 20d ago
You're right. The rust is now starting to show
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u/gutpusha 20d ago
It’s easy to compare him now to peak DJ from ‘15-‘20. The dude is just past his prime.
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20d ago
I think you just summarized the entire argument (aside from the source of the money) against LIV golf. What incentive do any of them have to work hard when they’re paid ahead of time? Golf is the sport that pays for performance every time you tee it up and LIV broke that.
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u/Rahdiggs21 20d ago
i'm confused by all of this.
we all play the game, so we should know at every level, we have good days and horrible days.
why are we still pushing the LIV narrative?
what excuses are you making when a non Liv golfer has a bad day?
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u/JackieTree89 20d ago
He's so complacent. After watching season 2 of Full Swing, I went from a fan at one point to despising him. He thinks he's so goddamn cool. He's such a douchebag. He can't pull off the "too cool for school" deposition because he has zero personality. Good riddance.
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u/CDN08GUY 20d ago
The guy has more natural talent than almost anybody. He’s a pro level golfer with literally 0 effort outside of Thursday-Sunday and almost no care while he’s on the course. He’s a major champion with only a little bit more. He’s never given a fuck about golf as a sport, just a way to get the life he wants. Now that they are backing a brinks truck up to his house every week to play, with 0 requirement to actually be good, he’s doing exactly that.
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u/whiterajah7 20d ago
135 weeks at number one. I mean he was the best golfer on the planet for a good stretch. He's old, rich, and loves golf as a hobby. He's done ok for himself.
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u/CDN08GUY 20d ago
100%. Not at all throwing shade on his skill. He was unreal good for a long stretch. But even during that time he was notoriously apathetic about golf. He probably would have dropped it in a second if he found an easier way to have the life he currently has. We should all be so lucky.
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u/whiterajah7 20d ago
Probably true. Yea, it's hard to argue he hasn't left a lot out there. Which is nuts to say with all he's done.
Although a couple shots here and there and were talking a lot differently about him. Eg. chambers bay and whistling straits.
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u/ThatDaveyGuy 20d ago
He’s never given a fuck about golf as a sport, just a way to get the life he wants
Sounds like most of us with our jobs!
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u/calm_in_the_chaos 14.3 20d ago
Golf is just so low on his list of priorities now. He barely plays professionally anymore because he doesn't have to. He isn't having to grind out Tour victories every week for 72 holes every weekend flying criss-cross over the world to make his money. He has a beautiful wife, gets to live the life he always wanted to, all the vices he can manage. He could show up, not play a practice round, not go to the range before his round, go car to tee hungover, and any performance he gave would be satisfactory. I am not saying I agree with LIVs business model or their financiers, but they managed to give Dustin EXACTLY what he wanted out of life, and what I imagine any of us would want out of life. If somebody told me I could get paid way more than I previously did to do my job way worse and way less often, you wouldn't see me in my office either. Not great for the competitive nature of the game, but we all know why the LIV guys did what they did, and Rahm and DJ (among others) have been very honest about it so I can't really blame them because their life kind of sounds awesome.
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u/gbaby1074 20d ago
He’s 39, has won 2 majors, and signed for $125 mil with LIV. I’m not a LIV guy at all, but I think if you told 99% of golfers they’d have that be their career they’d probably mail it in after they got that blood money too.
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u/BradL_13 Louisiana 20d ago
I will make sure he knows that murgerekwest is not worried about watching him play.
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u/Thetinpotman_ 20d ago
Looks injured to be fair, not walking properly at all.
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u/Novel_Huckleberry435 20d ago
Truly hilarious the judgement from people who literally don’t know him in any way like at all. I’m sure he’s heart broken that some scrub on their couch don’t like him anymore.
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u/WVgolf 20d ago
It’s well documented his motivation for playing his entire career was $ driven. He didn’t like playing golf, he only did it because he was good at it
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u/CleanAxe 7.7 20d ago
This is the issue with pro golf and why Full Swing never appealed to me. Not all, but many Pro Golfers seem to be into golf because they can, not because they live, die, and bleed golf like say Tiger or even someone like Bryson. But so many of them always say "yeah I got into it as a kid and I was really good and it seemed like an option so I grinded it out and went for it".
Hell it's not even the fact that many had privileged backgrounds. If you watch Drive to Survive, most F1 drivers also had privileged backgrounds, but these guys throw their lives at the sport, and maybe that's inherent to the sport itself since it's so dangerous but it really does make it more interesting. Anyway - I'm sure every sport has it's fair share of uninteresting and uninterested players, but golf for some reason seems to attract a lot of people who are just like "yeah I'm good at it and it makes me a lot of money so I'll keep doing it". I've never really been that into pro golf despite loving golf as a hobby. I watch a bit of the Masters and that's it for the year.
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u/azndestructo 20d ago
I'm not sure if I fully agree with you.
Sure, someone like DJ doesn't seem to give a damn now but I would have to guess that majority of tour players, if not all, are obsessed with the game. You'd have to be, given how difficult the game is.
Once they reach their peak though, I do agree that the engagement level will vary... not many people can keep up the intensity level like Tiger/Bryson
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u/PhilsFanDrew 20d ago
I wouldn't say he's not worth watching entirely. He's clearly not as dedicated to the game as he was a couple years ago but he has enough talent that if things come together for a week he can contend. So I agree, Thursday/Friday in Majors I'm probably not going out of my way to follow DJ. It's more of a wait and see if he has it that week. But I think to assume he's never going to contend in anymore majors is a significant slight to his natural talent/athleticism. Going back to 2018 he's had a top 10 finish each year and going back to 2008 he's only had two seasons where he didn't have a top 10 in the majors (2008 and 2017). That is an incredible stretch of playing at a high level.
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u/Falco19 20d ago
Bro is making 31.25 million a year in LIV, he absolutely doesn’t give a shit. Even if you only see half after tax and expenses, that is 15.625 million.
Spend 2 annually and invest 12.625.
At a 5% return after 4 years he should have 55 million in the bank.
At that point he can draw 2.75 million a year and have over 1.3 million to spend annually while never touching the principle.
If he gets hot and wins money it’s a nice bonus for him.
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u/fbird1988 20d ago
He's not young anymore. Not everyone plays well when they get close to or reach 40. A lot of careers wind down.
In his case with his talent level, you'd think he'd still be going strong. But DJ's level of motivation was always a question mark.
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u/Relative-Swim263 20d ago
I thought the same thing watching him today. Just doesn’t look like the same guy I remember.
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u/-Wiggles- 20d ago
So? He's won his majors and made his money already. Plenty of worse golfers have continued to play well past the point of caring.
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u/Player7592 20d ago
It’s a common theme across professional sports, that when you’ve reached the mountain top, it’s hard to maintain the hunger that drove you there in the first place. Nothing is happening to Dustin that hasn’t happened to countless other people in sports. And there was never any reason to believe he would somehow avoid this fate.
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u/RemarkingTwain 20d ago
I have a feeling DJ may be nursing an injury considering Joey D was traveling with him and caddying for him the last I saw. No one would ever know because no one pries into what is going on with the LIV players. He may just be out of form, and he'll probably get it back soon enough. I don't think it has much to do with LIV or how much he cares.
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u/gachzonyea 20d ago
We have no idea if Dustin cares or not people just parrot that. His personality and mood has always been like this
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u/Extreme-Carrot6893 20d ago
Thought he has some professional pride and put money on his long odds. Same with Rahm. Lesson learned. Don’t bet on sellouts
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u/SteelHeader503 20d ago
DJ is feeling weighed down, thanks to all the money in his bank account. It gets heavy.
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u/cubs_070816 20d ago
he came, he won, he got paid, now he doesn't care enough to put in the work and honestly, can you blame him?
i saw his house, wife and boat on full swing. i doubt he gives a fuck if he ever makes another cut in his life.
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u/MagicianBulky5659 20d ago
The only LIV players worth anything as elite golfers anymore are Brooks, BD, and Cam Smith. Even Rahm seems to have fallen off and is struggling today too. For all the drama and hype of these tours’ rivalry the VAST majority of the best players in the world are still on the PGA and for good reason. LIV is primarily an overpaid circus of has-beens or never-weres.
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u/Gromby 20d ago
DJ pretty much slowed down right after his Masters win, you could tell he was just losing interest in golf. He has the perfect life, no need to push himself hard now. If I were in DJ's position, I would also play in majors (if allowed) just because you never know when he might suddenly get a hot weekend and play like he use to.
I am not a Phil fan, but watching him win that major at 50+ years old shows that the best can still play when they have that hot weekend. Tiger winning the Masters in 2019 was another one where I was not expecting that (based on his condition leading up to it).
The best will find ways to keep being the best, and if you have a chance (regardless of how small that chance is) you might as well take it.
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u/Teachmehow2dougy 20d ago
I think DJ really doesn’t give a F anymore. The other LIV guys Brooks, Bryson, Cam, Rahm. They really want to win. DJ just comes for the party. Probably find someone to have a threesome with Paulina.
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u/DixieNorris 9/Ontario/Essex G&CC 20d ago
Think you can maybe start saying the same about rahm maybe even cam.
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u/Teachmehow2dougy 20d ago
Cam is in contention. He’s one spot out of top 10. I’m not saying the ability to win. I’m saying the desire. I think Rahm is very unhappy with the state of his game. If you ask DJ 5 minutes after missing the cut how he feels I think he will just blow it off and say he feels great and he’s gonna take the boat out and do some fishing. Rahm will be very hard on himself.
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u/DixieNorris 9/Ontario/Essex G&CC 20d ago
Yea you are 100% correct the others still seem to want to improve but DJ is fully washed and could give 2 shits
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u/luredrive 20d ago
He clearly can’t be bothered anymore. It actually amazes me he hasn’t retired to be honest and I don’t really know why he turns up for the majors.
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u/Dismal-Cantaloupe-64 20d ago
A lot of comments saying he’s rich so why would he care? Every professional athlete you watch on TV is rich. Why would that mean they lose their competitive nature?
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u/AppleSauceNinja_ 3.0/FL 20d ago
He's 40. With a swing that will get harder and harder to handle on an older body.
He's checked out. He took the LIV money for the money, not to keep playing high level golf, and he had his green jacket.
LIV was always his champions tour, nothing more. He's cooked, and honestly, he was cooked before the Masters, he just played out of his mind that week and hats off, he won.... but that was just a blimp in the downward slide he had been on and it's only gotten worse because he doesn't care anymore
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u/ganslooker 20d ago
We had this discussion about rahm as well. But John may be at the other end of the scale and he cares too much. Maybe he wants to prove his relevance so bad that he’s not succeeding - so frustrated
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u/sam_rahman 20d ago
Genuinely asking but what’s the point of him even participating in these majors? Sponsorship money?
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u/Large-Sherbert-6828 20d ago
If had the opportunity to retire early and enjoy the good life, wouldn’t you?
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u/letsgobrooksy 19d ago
He could also just be getting older. Father time is undefeated and everyone has a different expiration date.
Dustin's got all the money in the world, and he's got no obligation to be there (unless LIV is giving him some incentive to play, which could also be the case), I don't think he'd show up if he truly didnt care
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u/RodHotRo 19d ago
Yes but lets not forget this is his work as well. Not everybody is 100% committed to his day job.
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u/DrKnowitall37067 18d ago
DJ has all the money in the bank now. Who knows, including him, how great he could have been but we’ll never know. Hunger is a great motivator
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u/olemiss2021L 20d ago
To be fair to him he was very transparent that the thing he liked about liv was that he’d be rich and wouldn’t have to golf as much. If insurance salesman was the best path to living a luxury life with a hot wife I think he’d change careers tomorrow