Dustin Johnson’s Whistling Straits bunker not in play at PGA Championship
Good news for Dustin Johnson: The bunker that cost him a major breakthrough at the 2010 PGA Championship won’t be in play.
Graeme McDowell, who recently played Whistling Straits, which again hosts the PGA next week, said the bunker is covered.
“There’s a big stand over Dustin’s bunker, though,” McDowell said Thursday at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. “There’s a big corporate hospitality unit on Dustin’s bunker. So you’re in good shape if you whip it through that fairway.”
On the 72nd hole of the Wisconsin course five years ago, Johnson hit his tee shot some 70 yards right and found his way into a dirt patch. Fans had been standing in it, unaware that it was a bunker. Johnson wasn’t clear on the ground’s status as a hazard, either. Despite the PGA of America posting signs to tell the players that all patches of dirt and sand should be considered bunkers, Johnson illegally grounded his club.
After making what Johnson thought was a bogey that got him into a playoff with Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson, Johnson was informed that he would be penalized two shots for grounding his club in the bunker. He finished in a tie for fifth place, with Kaymer winning his first major title in the three-hole playoff.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
