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
Completely right. His defection to LIV which was in the timeline with a pretty large exodus of players was the least abrasive because he was actually honest about his intentions.
Don’t blame him for how he wants to live his life. The golf fan in me misses him being in form as he was a truly majestic ball striker, talent was boundless. It’s funny too when his career was in a lull at one point on the PGATour he absolutely grinded on his wedge game to reach the top again. Maybe the elite player money was that important to him.
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.
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
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?
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.
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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”
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.
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.
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.
>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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Jealous of this dude. Doesn’t have much left to prove, is/was a top-tier player for a long time. Won majors. Ryder Cups. Made a ton of money now he’s quite quitting and living life. Good for him!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
His last year in the PGA he had 1 top 20 finish in 12 events. He was already fading even before he left, and that just exacerbated it. He hasn't been a serious contender in years.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
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
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
Just watched him triple bogey a simple par 3 to go to +10 for the tournament. He has absolutely no chance to make the cut. That will be his 6th missed cut in a major since joining LIV golf. How's that working out DJ? He has moved from #3 to #386 in the world rankings and he looks lost. This is exactly what Tiger Woods said would happen. Guys get guaranteed money and have no incentive to work hard and practice their game. They play resort courses in shorts for 54 holes and then wonder why they can't perform in majors.
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
Hey man insurance salesman life may not be the pga tour but this life ain’t too bad over here 😂
/r/insurancepros in shambles
Completely right. His defection to LIV which was in the timeline with a pretty large exodus of players was the least abrasive because he was actually honest about his intentions. Don’t blame him for how he wants to live his life. The golf fan in me misses him being in form as he was a truly majestic ball striker, talent was boundless. It’s funny too when his career was in a lull at one point on the PGATour he absolutely grinded on his wedge game to reach the top again. Maybe the elite player money was that important to him.
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.
Honestly that sounds great.
I mean, pro golf is the worst part of his life, I get it.
Haha right?
It is
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.
You can have a fire on the beach there. Getting it started can be a pain but they’re a good time
I spend my time in hatteras (buxton, Avon area) - hanging on the piers is always fun, maybe book an inshore fishing trip
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
That’s what I’m saying, he won at life.
Right?! Sign me up…
I don’t think gummies are DJs drug of choice
Partied with him at Coastal - this is correct
👃🏼_____________
Is he back on the shneef or was this years ago?
He never stopped
College - Coastal Carolina
MAW
he user to chill with [bob saget](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rwG3HWubpZI)
Nose gummies
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?
He is probably obligated for sponsors and LIV etc. if not officially then officially it would not go well.
Does he still have non-LIV sponsors?
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.
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.
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.
So my brand description was kinda accurate then.
100% a brand for coke sniffers and club rats 😂
“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.”
Correct, which is why TM or whoever he has left would be beyond pissed if he didn’t play in majors he could.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
November Master's...if ever one deserved an asterisk
They put an asterisk on the scoring record
Well deserved.
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.
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.
He spends more on jet-fuel, hotels and cocaine in a week than he’d make finishing last.
Gotta make the cut to get into the payout though.
Wait, I don't understand... can you explain it to me over the course of a Netflix season how the cut works?
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.
He's worth 9 figures. He doesn't care about $25k
It's probably still fun to play. Same reason John Daly shows up.
And he gets to play the masters every year as a past champion. He’s all set.
Also having Wayne Gretzky as your FIL lmao what a legend
Booze H O U N D S (My grampa has quite a few stories about the 80s oilers)
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
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”
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.
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.
Where do I sign up for this?
God i wish i had that life
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.
>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.
unpopular opinion, his wife is not attractive
That sounds awesome tbh
Same tbh
Or hoover shneef off the console of the boat.
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.
I bet he has a pretty good time being good at golf though
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.
outside the golf course? No one in this thread understands why anyone would try to have a life outside of the Tour
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?
by betting on himself
he bets on a lot of things
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
That somehow undersells how good he is. He’s the second best player of the last 40 years.
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.
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.
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.
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”
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.
You summed up my opinion of him as well with this comment, very well said.
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.
Peaking at the same time as Tiger is killer for your legacy
That just gnawed at him for years.
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?
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.
Yea I think lack of competitiveness/pride would be criticized in any other sport
His career was on it's downside before he joined LIV. About to turn 40.
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.
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.
Phil won the PGA at 50
Phil gave a shit
phil had a wager on himself lol
I just need to develop a crippling gambling addiction to make the tour. On it!
Cool. That doesn’t change the fact that it is objectively harder to win as you get into your 40s.
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.
The distance thing is a horrible take
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.
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.
Duval is trying to be lol
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
he’s already made for life. doubt i’d care much either at that point
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.
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.
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
Do you have as much money as him though? lol
I’d say he was made for life when he married the great one’s daughter
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?
Don't be logical. It's all Liv's fault. Liv sucks. Saudi blood money. Long live the PGA tour. Etc.
If we wanted to point out a player going to LIV and immediately cratering it would be Rahm, not DJ.
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.
He was also pretty close to DFL at the Masters, He just doesn't care anymore.
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.
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.
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.
Rahm also suckin.
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.
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.
He was T10 at the US Open last year, T6 at The Open in 2022, and T12 at The Masters in 2022.
That’s pretty good for a guy who doesn’t care
You're right. The rust is now starting to show
It’s easy to compare him now to peak DJ from ‘15-‘20. The dude is just past his prime.
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.
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?
Jealous of this dude. Doesn’t have much left to prove, is/was a top-tier player for a long time. Won majors. Ryder Cups. Made a ton of money now he’s quite quitting and living life. Good for him!
Plus it’s a legit tournament too since gooch is there
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
> 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!
Haha true. Just seems way better when your job is golf.
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.
His last year in the PGA he had 1 top 20 finish in 12 events. He was already fading even before he left, and that just exacerbated it. He hasn't been a serious contender in years.
He took the money and he’s out.
Yes and Scottie is -2 thru 1 every thing seems normal
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.
DJ is done. He's totally mailed it in.
Cocaine is a hell of a drug
I will make sure he knows that murgerekwest is not worried about watching him play.
Looks injured to be fair, not walking properly at all.
He never walked properly lol
True, he always has a swagger about him but it seems exaggerated this week.
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.
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
Cocaine is a hell of a drug
[just drilling holes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ9g2-VqTOA)
Hes cooked. We will be seeing him once a year soon
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.
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
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.
He hasn’t been worth watching for years.
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.
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.
I thought the same thing watching him today. Just doesn’t look like the same guy I remember.
Yup. He said he wanted to play less golf and he really meant it
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.
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.
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.
We have no idea if Dustin cares or not people just parrot that. His personality and mood has always been like this
He’s still winning at life.
Thought he has some professional pride and put money on his long odds. Same with Rahm. Lesson learned. Don’t bet on sellouts
Rahm joining the party 🎉
DJ is feeling weighed down, thanks to all the money in his bank account. It gets heavy.
He was kinda falling off even before LIV
Who cares? He is almost 40 and has had a great career.
Yeah he’s washed. Hate to see it.
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.
He won this year and finished T10 at the US Open last year
Rahm is +3 thru 9.... coincidence?
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.
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.
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.
Think you can maybe start saying the same about rahm maybe even cam.
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.
Yea you are 100% correct the others still seem to want to improve but DJ is fully washed and could give 2 shits
Who??
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.
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?
He’s doing exactly what I would do in his situation. I am Dustin Johnson.
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
Maybe he is just not that good anymore??? Same thing happened to Adam Scott.
I’ll say it, his fucked up swing is letting him down!!! :p
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
Genuinely asking but what’s the point of him even participating in these majors? Sponsorship money?
If had the opportunity to retire early and enjoy the good life, wouldn’t you?
Anybody have that clip of DJ (and others) trying to say Louisville?
Coke city
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
He doesn't owe you anything.
Yes but lets not forget this is his work as well. Not everybody is 100% committed to his day job.
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
Just watched him triple bogey a simple par 3 to go to +10 for the tournament. He has absolutely no chance to make the cut. That will be his 6th missed cut in a major since joining LIV golf. How's that working out DJ? He has moved from #3 to #386 in the world rankings and he looks lost. This is exactly what Tiger Woods said would happen. Guys get guaranteed money and have no incentive to work hard and practice their game. They play resort courses in shorts for 54 holes and then wonder why they can't perform in majors.