Sam Torrance: Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler lay down their markers for Major sprint
Major season feels like something of a sprint this year, with all four taking place within a 15-week spell and finished by 21 July, which means that early form carries a bit of extra significance.
With Justin Rose and Bryson DeChambeau already off the mark, Dustin Johnson became the latest player from the world’s top five to enter the winner’s circle in 2019 on Sunday when he won the inaugural Saudi International.
Johnson hit the front on Friday with a blistering third round of 61 and held on to the end with a 67 despite pressure from Li Haotong, who ultimately finished two shots behind the American.
DJ is so chilled no matter what that his demeanour tells you very little about what sort of form he is in. Here he was superb.
When you consider that it was his first look at this course, too, his 19 under par score was magnificent.
Lift for Lewis
England’s Tom Lewis caught the eye with a great final round of 65 that began with five consecutive birdies.
Although he wasn’t quite able to turn that into a challenge for the title, it got him third place and will have done the 28-year-old from Hertfordshire a lot of good.
Lewis won his second European Tour event last autumn, some seven years after winning his first – at the same tournament, the Portugal Masters – and seems to be on the way back up.
He really is a very talented golfer and competing at the top end of a high-quality field like this will give him the confidence to continue his improvement.
Fowler's ill fortune
Another of the world’s top players, Rickie Fowler, put down a marker on the PGA Tour at the weekend when the American won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in extraordinary circumstances.
Having led by four overnight and stretched that lead to five on Sunday, Fowler must have been wondering what on earth was going on when he found himself trailing Branden Grace by one shot after 12 holes.
The turnaround came at 11, where Fowler’s third shot skipped through the green, somehow missing a bunker, and found the water.
Having taken a drop, he went to size up his next move only for the ball to roll back into the water – meaning another drop.
He salvaged a triple bogey seven, though, and with birdies at 15 and 17 regained the lead from Grace to win by two. In doing so he became the first player to win a PGA Tour title having had double and triple bogeys in his last round.
Rickie silences the doubters
Fowler would have run through lots of scenarios before his final round, but he couldn’t have foreseen that. He couldn’t have known it would be so cold and wet in Arizona, and he couldn’t have guessed what would happen at the 11th hole.
For a player who has acquired a reputation for failing to convert 54-hole leads, Fowler showed enormous heart to come through and win this one.
In my view he’s always been a great player and winning The Players Championship in 2015 is the next best thing to the Major that he has come so close to on several occasions, yet some have still doubted him. This performance ought to silence some of those doubters.
Fowler has long been talked about as a Major contender. This victory will do wonders for him and only strengthens his credentials ahead of this unusually hectic summer.