Dustin Johnson 's PGA career is poised to hit a 13-year low as the former world No. 1 prepares to drop outside the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking.
Johnson, 38, was one of LIV Golf 's headline recruits prior to its inaugural event at the Centurion Club in June 2022. The former world No. 1 resigned from the PGA Tour on the eve of the Hertfordshire contest and went on to become the first LIV Invitational Series winner, earning a little more than £30million in prize money.
However, the 2016 U.S. Open and 2020 Masters champion has played in just two OWGR event since transitioning to the Saudi-funded series last year. Johnson has boasted top-50 status since he first hit that benchmark in January 2010, and his imminent fall outside the elite—as projected by OWGR whiz @VC606—will mark the end of an era.
Johnson is closing in on a return for the 2023 LIV Golf League, with the 14-event series set to begin in Mayakoba, Mexico, on February 26. That's amid a five-day arbitration hearing between the DP World Tour and 13 LIV golfers named in a lawsuit against the European body, which got underway in London on Monday.
Incumbent world No. 1 Rory McIlroy —a staunch advocate for the PGA Tour and vocal critic against LIV—has been candid regarding his desire to see the best players in golf present in the rankings. However, he's also been clear that athletes can't expect to earn ranking points outside the agreed channels.
“I certainly would want the best players in the world ranked accordingly," said McIlroy in September 2022. "I think if Dustin Johnson is somewhere around 100th in the world it's not an accurate reflection of where he is in the game.
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"But at the same time, you can’t make up your own rules. There’s criteria there, everyone knows what they are and if they want to pivot to meet the criteria they can. I’ve no problem with them getting World Ranking points at all but you have to meet the criteria. If you don’t it’s hard to justify why you should have them.”
Johnson has won 24 times on the PGA Tour to date, clinching his maiden victory at the Turning Stone Resort Championship in 2008, less than a year after he earned his PGA Tour Card. His most recent success in the series came in the form of a Green Jacket at Augusta in November 2020, winning that year's Masters by five strokes.
'DJ' was once among the most liked figures in golf's limelight, not to mention a highly consistent performer in the sport's four major championships. However, his fall outside the upper crust of the OWGR may no longer be mourned as it might have been in the past, with him and the other LIV rebels considered by many to be much more divisive figures today.
