Dustin Johnson sets hot Open pace

Will the DJ finally be calling the majors tune at St Andrews this week?

Well, the awesome-hitting American Dustin Johnson has certainly made the best possible start after opening his account with a blistering 65 (-7).

But we’ve been here before haven’t we? Several times in fact. DJ could be a multi-major winner by now but his inability to seen it through and get the job done has cost Johnson dearly.

In recent years, he has started off in majors like an express train only to peter out like a clapped out moped.

He let this year’s US Open at Chambers Bay slip through his grasp and similarly previously had but blew opportunities to win his country’s Open at Pebble Beach, the 2011 Open at Royal St George’s and most famously he presented Martin Kaymer with the US PGA after grounding his club in a bunker.

It’s been one sorry majors tale after another but maybe this week he can finally right those painful wrongs?

He, more than anybody, knows there is a long way to go. This is only the start, albeit a darned good one. As I say, finishing and holding his nerve at the death is his Achilles heel and clearing those demons from his head is going to be critical to his hopes and dreams of being crowned a major champion at last.

Johnson is confident and bullish and reckons he’s able to lay those past ghosts to rest. “Yeah, I mean, it was a little disappointing not to get in the US Open playoff at least, but I don’t really dwell in the past too much. You can’t really change it, so there’s no reason to worry about it.

“I’m not one to linger on things more than a couple days anyway and I fully expect to do well in every tournament I play in.”

Johnson has been accused of lacking ‘bottle’ when it matters most (coming down the stretch on Sunday), but there is the saying that if you keep knocking on the door long enough, it will eventually open. The DJ is hoping that will be case and he’ll be dancing with the Claret Jug on Sunday night….