Why Dustin Johnson once caused Jack Nicklaus to have a ‘big argument’ with the USGA

Dustin Johnson is one of the most laid back golfers in the game, but he has definitely been pushed to the limit mentally at times throughout his career.

Johnson has won 24 PGA Tour titles, three LIV Golf events and, of course, two major championships during his career to date.

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And Jack Nicklaus, who is widely considered to be the greatest golfer of all time, is a huge admirer of the 42-year-old LIV Golf star.

Dustin Johnson experienced plenty of heartache before he finally got over the line and won his first major championship at the US Open in 2016.

His biggest disappointment came at the PGA Championship in 2010 when he was handed a two-stroke penalty after being adjudged to have grounded his club in what was deemed as a bunker on the right side of the 18th fairway at Whistling Straits.

He ended up missing out on the playoff by two shots.

Then, in 2015, Johnson three-putted the final green at Chambers Bay to miss out on the US Open as Jordan Spieth pipped him to the title by one stroke.

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And before he finally got over the line at the US Open in 2016, there was a moment in time when it seemed like Johnson was about to be dealt an extremely unlucky hand once again.

Why Dustin Johnson caused Jack Nicklaus to have an argument with the USGA

Jack Nicklaus ended up having an argument with the USGA about their treatment of Johnson at Oakmont back in 2016.

A year after the US Open, Golf Digest ran quotes from Nicklaus about the situation.

The Golden Bear sought out USGA chief Mike Davis at Royal Troon, a few months after the Oakmont fiasco.

And Nicklaus made it very clear that they handled the Johnson situation terribly.

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“If you’re going to penalize someone, penalize them,” Nicklaus said.

“At least let them know and that’s when they have the ability to be able to correct it, or try to do the best they can.

“I had a big argument with [the USGA’s] Mike Davis about that at [British] Open. I said, ‘You can’t do that to the guy.’ He says, ‘Oh we did it throughout.’ I said, ‘Mike, I don’t think so. That was not the right way to do it.’ ”

It was then claimed by Golf Digest that Mike Davis later contacted Nicklaus and told him he was right.

So at least he owned the mistake that the USGA made.

What happened to Dustin Johnson at the 2016 US Open

On the fifth hole of his final round at Oakmont, Johnson stepped away from a putt and his ball moved, ever so slightly.

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He called in a rules official who told him that as he had not caused his ball to move, all was fine.

However, the USGA’s Craig Winter was running his eyes over video footage of the incident behind the scenes, and he believed there was, in fact, a violation of the rules.

Johnson, who held a one-stroke lead over Shane Lowry at the time, was approached on the 12th hole of his final round of the US Open and told that he may face a penalty.

However, he wasn’t told of the decision until he finished his round.

Johnson finished on five-under par, four clear of Shane Lowry, Scott Piercy and Jim Furyk, but he was handed a one-stroke penalty in the scorers’ tent.

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That dropped him back to four-under par, so he still won comfortably in the end. However, the way that the USGA dealt with the situation was ridiculous and numerous high-profile players weighed in with their opinions.

Jordan Spieth said: “Lemme get this straight. DJ doesn’t address it. It’s ruled that he didn’t cause it to move. Now you tell him he may have? Now? This a joke?”

While Rory McIlroy vented: “This is ridiculous. No penalty whatsoever for DJ. Let the guy play without this c––p in his head. Amateur hour from the USGA.”