It’s Not Dustin Johnson’s Fault

For anyone that watched the PGA Championship, the last golf major of the year, you already know what this post is about…kind of. For those who need a recap, see below:

Dustin Johnson came into the final hole of the PGA Championship with a one stroke lead. With a par, he would be a twenty-six year old Major Champion. With a bogey, he would be in a three-man playoff with Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson, both waiting and watching Johnson finish his round. With the nerves taking control, Johnson missed the fairway about forty-five yards right, into the gallery. His ball ended up sitting on a patch of sand and dirt that the gallery had been walking/sitting/spilling food on for days. He hits out of the patch of sand and dirt over the green into thick rough. With what looked like a tough shot, Johnson hit a brilliant pitch to eight feet from the cup; eight feet from his first major championship. After Johnson missed his putt, he knew he still had a chance to win in a playoff…or did he?

As he was shaking his hands with his caddy and opponent, he was approached by a rules official who had some awful news for Johnson; he had been disqualified from the playoff for grounding his club in the bunker. This fiasco lasted over twenty minutes before it was official, the playoff would take place with two golfers, neither of which was named “Dustin Johnson.”

At first, I thought Johnson was just screwed over. I could not believe the rules official would just take away his one chance at glory because of a technicality in an unmarked bunker. But then, I started thinking about the situation as a whole. Each players is given a sheet of rules before the tournament which talks specifically about the current course and anything that might be considered “different.” In this rules sheet, it specifically mentioned the amount of bunkers on the course and that they were all playing as the same hazard (which means that no club can be grounded without a penalty).

With all of this being said, who is to blame for the grounding the club incident? Clearly it was Dustin Johnson that grounded his club in the bunker, but I do not blame him. He is twenty-six years old and was three shots away from the biggest win of his life. Clearly, he had a lot on his mind. My question in this case is ‘where the hell was his caddy?’ Most people believe that a caddie is used to carry clubs and calculate distances. While this is true, this is not why pros use caddies. A caddy is there to stop the player from making dumb mental mistakes. They are paid to, at times, be the mind of the player when the player cannot think for himself. Clearly Dustin Johnson needed someone in this case to say, “Hey Dusty, don’t forget all sand is played as a hazard.” That one sentence could have been the difference in Dustin Johnson being the PGA Champion and him being talked about as the man the rules will haunt forever.

To make my point more clear, I want to show what Dustin Johnson’s caddy lost. First, it must be clear how a caddy is paid. Caddies are paid a flat rate per tournament (which is not too much) then they are paid a percentage of the player’s winnings (usually 5%). So, what did Johnson make in the tournament? He made $270,833.34. That is the prize money that he was awarded for his tied for 5th place finish. If his caddy was given 5% of the winnings, he would have walked away with $13,541.67. That sounds like a lot of money for a weekend of work. Now let’s see what would have happened if Johnson had won the tournament. The winner, Martin Kaymer, went home with $1,350,000.00. His caddy (assuming the 5% rule for each caddy, which can go higher per player) earned $67,500. That is quite a payday for a weekend worth of carry clubs, calculating distances and mental babysitting. While Johnson’s caddy cost himself just under $54,000 by staying silent, he cost Johnson over a million dollars! Over $1,000,000 was lost because his caddy forgot to do his job. I don’t know why no one else is talking about his caddy, but Dustin Johnson should be in the market for a new bagman.

I want to congratulate Johnson on his great run at the 2010 PGA Championship. Also, if anyone hears that Johnson is hiring a new caddy, please tell him that I have caddy experience and would love the work. I guarantee him that I will not personally lose him over $1,000,000 in a single tournament.

Until Next time…