Rory McIlroy: We all have bad days

Johnson closed with five consecutive pars to maintain his good standing and avoid trouble, something he hasn’t always done in major championships.

He might not even be the biggest draw among players named Johnson.

RORY McILROY feared he had broken his ankle when he heard a snap while playing football last month.

Jordan Spieth could have ended his season after winning the US Open – having done likewise at the Masters – and been perfectly content. That is not the approach which has catapulted the young Texan to No2 in the world, however; the failure to lift the Claret Jug at St Andrews in July still rankles with the 22-year-old.

“I would say, ‘I want to do this, this, and this”.

“The ligament that I ruptured, I don’t have that any more”.

What Johnson is trying to accomplish this week is rare.

Partly because of that, Spieth included making the cut at all four majors this year as one of the prime targets for his 2015 campaign. Barring a turnaround, this likely will be his last event of the season. All the fluid came out of the joint capsule so it just filled up. “I’m excited about Thursday and Friday. I get to play with two good friends”.

The joke and response underlines just how far the 14-time major victor has fallen in the wake of his sex scandal, marriage break-up and battling form, which now has him ranked 278 in the world.

Sabbatini dropped another shot on the sixth to fall back to one under, two shots off the lead now held by Paul Casey, Matsuyama, Robert Streb and Ryan Moore.

It’s just one of Johnson’s major near misses. They had neighboring lockers.

Who’s the best player in the world? Now it’s different. You think, ‘OK, you just have to say whatever. He was upset, clearly, as he should be. When he finished his round, he was tied for 117.

The 7051-yard course would appear to favour bombers like Johnson and Bubba Watson who lost the play-off here in 2010 to Martin Kaymer. His game makes him a contender at Whistling Straits. “That was a bombers’ course, and he drove it well and putted well”.

He said: “I mean I’m not surprised at all that the narrative has went from me to Jordan and to both of us being here”.

Dustin Johnson shook off any bitter memories of Whistling Straits on Thursday, firing a six-under par 66 to seize the clubhouse lead in the first round of the US PGA Championship.

British Open victor ready to tackle Whistling Straits.

Much was made of a possible “rivalry” between the pair following Spieth’s first major victory in the Masters a month earlier, but their meeting at Sawgrass turned into something of a damp squib.

Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke insists the current American dominance is not a cause for concern ahead of the 2016 contest at Hazeltine but said: “If you ask me the same question at this time next year, then I may be a little more concerned”.