Johnson vs Johnson

With The Open due to start next week, there will be two players sharing a name and a goal of winning the tournament, Zach and Dustin Johnson. But which Johnson has the best chance of winning, and which Johnson has performed better in Majors over the last twelve months?

2015 The Open
The 2015 Open was won by Zach, with the then 39 winning the second Major of his career, eight years after the first. Zach finished the tournament 15-under-par and won a play-off against Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen, after carding a final round 66. Dustin finished tied for 49th, finishing the tournament on 4-under-par after struggling in his last two rounds.

2015 PGA Championship
Despite winning the previous Major, Zach couldn’t repeat his success and missed the cut at the 2015 PGA Championship. Dustin fared better, finishing tied for seventh on twelve-under-par. He finished eight shots behind eventual winner Jason Day.

2016 Masters
Zach made it back to back missed cuts in Majors after he failed to make it into the third day of The Masters, a competition which he previously won in 2007. Again it was Dustin, at the time aged 31, who had the better tournament, finishing with a score of one-under-par and a placing of tied fourth.

2016 US Open
After missing back to back cuts, Zach returned to somewhere near his best, finishing in eighth place in the US Open, with a score of two-over-par. However, it was Dustin who stole the show, winning the first Major of his career. Despite a controversial incident where it looked as though Dustin may face a penalty (he was later cleared of any wrong doing), he finished the tournament on four-under-par, three shots clear of the field.

The Verdict
While it was Zach who was victorious at the tournament last year, Dustin has been in excellent form in recent Majors and he will be expecting to finish the tournament near, if not at the top of, the leaderboard. That said, don’t rule out the defending champion, who will be hoping to continue his impressive record at the tournament. Both players will be hopeful of winning the tournament, and few would bet against at least one Johnson being come Sunday.