Dustin Johnson has fired a strong warning to his rivals at the PGA Championship, as the American star heads into the second major of the season on the back of a victory.
Johnson secured his second individual LIV Golf title on Sunday, after seeing off Open champion Cam Smith and Branden Grace in a tense play-off. In securing the title in Tulsa, Johnson came away with an eye-watering £3.2 million in individual prize money, as well as a £300,000 bonus after his 4Aces side came second in the team event.
The victory has come at the perfect time for the 2020 Masters winner, with the second major of the campaign, the PGA Championship, taking place this week.
Johnson is one of 17 LIV Golf players heading to Oak Hill, with the rebel roster looking to mirror their showing at last month's Masters at Augusta. When in form, Johnson is undoubtedly one of the best golfers on the planet, and it seems his game is trending in that direction ahead of major No. 2.
Whilst also finding his a-game Johnson has enjoyed past success on the Oak Hill setup, securing a top ten finish the last time the PGA Championship was held at the New York course in 2013. This leaves the two-time major winner in a strong position heading into Thursday's opening round, and Johnson himself was keen to make this point on Sunday.
Speaking after his Tulsa victory he said: "Yeah, I think I did pretty well there [Oak Hill] in '13. Obviously that's a long time ago, but yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Obviously it's a really good golf course. It's going to be tough. I like tough golf courses. It's going to play tough, and from what I hear the rough is really deep.
"Yeah, looking forward to it. I feel like the game is in really good form going into next week, so we'll see what happens." If he is to get over the line at Oak Hill, Johnson will be hoping it is slightly simpler that his nail-biting win at Cedar Ridge on Sunday.
Johnson headed into the final round the man at the top of the LIV leaderboard, but a catastrophic triple bogey seven at the par four 10th saw him slip from top spot in tough conditions. The two-time major champion recomposed though, picking up a birdie at 18 to force his way into the play-off, before emulating this on the sudden-death hole to clinch the title ahead of Grace and Smith.
