The most treasured correspondence Johnson has received came in the wake of the PGA Championship fiasco. It was from Byron Nelson's widow, Peggy. "You handled the situation at the PGA in such a wonderfully gentlemanly, sportsmanlike way," she wrote. "Byron would have been proud of you. I'm still seething with righteous indignation." She also included a $300 check, passing on a debt of gratitude that extends back to the 1939 Hershey Open. As Peggy explained in the letter, Byron was leading that tournament when he piped a seemingly perfect drive to the blind 15th fairway. Inexplicably the ball could not be found, even after a long search by the gallery. Nelson was forced to declare the ball lost and re-tee, eating the two strokes that ultimately sent him skidding to fourth place. Weeks later an anonymous letter arrived, in which a remorseful fan said that his lady friend had cluelessly picked up the ball and put it in her purse, which the letter writer didn't discover until the train ride home. Included was a check for $300, the difference between first- and fourth-place money. "It's a pretty cool story," says Johnson, with typical understatement.
I have been following Johnson since witnessing him give back the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits last August. I spent most of the day near the 17th Green with my buddy Mike (@BigSnakeMan). When Johnson and the final group came through we watched Johnson lingering for what seemed like an hour on the 18th tee. The article doesn't portray him as a tense guy, but he certainly looked tight as he waited. And the drive he pushed badly right seemed to support that theory. The tough penalty he took while hitting from the "hazard" made him a sympathetic figure to me. The right call was made, but I never thought it was just.
Mike makes the point that Johnson comes off as a slacker in the article and I can't disagree. But to me he also comes off a bit like a young Fred Couples -- digs sports, seems cool, likes chillin'. Those traits attracted me to Freddie, and the same applies to Johnson. However, like Couples, Dustin doesn't seem to work his game and might ultimately wear the "underachiever" tag like Fred has. That would be a shame, but I will likely follow him down that road. linked as we are by those few minutes at the Straits last summer.
Don't know that I've ever heard slacker label applied to Couples, unless in code as 'easygoing'. Same charge sometimes aimed at Mickelson but just 'cause a golfer has outside interests doesn't preclude them from working on their game or taking their craft seriously. Not every person can have focus of Tiger Woods. Hell, even Woods doesn't have that anymore.
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