OAKMONT, Pa. — Dustin Johnson won the 116th United States Open on Sunday, surviving a controversial and drawn-out discussion about a rules infraction to win his first major title.
The laconic Johnson tends to speak in sentences as short as his drives are long. But his 0-for-28 record in the majors rankled, as was made plain after he took the lead at the halfway point of the rain-plagued United States Open. Asked for the umpteenth time about last year’s tournament, which he delivered to Jordan Spieth with a three-putt on the 72nd hole, Johnson deadpanned, “What happened last year?”
Johnson’s past failures no longer will be paraded on the witness stand, bearing testimony to his crime of not being able to close out a major. Three days before his 32nd birthday, Johnson posted a final-round one-under 69 at Oakmont Country Club for a 72-hole score of four-under 276, which included a one-stroke penalty. He finished…