Dustin Johnson hits unwanted career milestone

Dustin Johnson was arguably LIV Golf’s biggest coup at the breakaway league’s inaugural event 18 months ago.

Phil Mickelson was very much the face of the Saudi-funded circuit, but Johnson was also a serial winner who, crucially, was still performing at the very top of his game.

Johnson was a former world No.1 who had won two major championships and established himself as one of the greatest PGA Tour players ever with 24 career victories on the US circuit.

When teeing it up at LIV’s opening Centurion event in June 2022, the American was still number 13 in the world rankings.

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Yet despite being crowned LIV’s inaugural champion and finishing fifth in the individual standings last year, Johnson now finds himself at his lowest world ranking since 2008.

The 39-year-old has plummeted 189 places to 202nd, a dramatic fall that will only continue after LIV chiefs failed to secure Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) accreditation last year.

In October, OWGR chief Peter Dawson outlined that concerns relating to LIV’s format meant they could not be recognised as an Eligible Golf Tour in the OWGR system.

Former European Ryder Cup players Sergio Garcia and Paul Casey have both dropped over 500 places, while five-time PGA Tour winner Kevin Na has had the biggest fall from his pre-LIV ranking, falling from 33rd to 756th.

Brooks Koepka, meanwhile, has fallen just three spots from 19 to 22, owing to his fine performances in the majors.

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New LIV signing Jon Rahm is currently world No.3 and is eligible for all the majors for the next five seasons after his Masters triumph, but his ranking will start to drop with points still unattainable in the league’s 14-event 2024 season.

Johnson is exempt for all four majors for another two seasons after his Masters win back in 2020.

And if his latest comments on the OWGR system are anything to go by, he certainly won’t spend much time worrying about this unwanted career milestone.

“I feel like you can’t really use the world ranking system anymore,” he said in October.

“Hard to use the world ranking system if you’re excluding 48 guys that are good players. The rankings are skewed. It doesn’t really affect me as it does some of the other guys. I want the points for the other guys.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.