JOHNSON HAS CONFIDENCE, DEFENDS TITLE By John Craig

VERONA – In his Columbia, South Carolina laid-back tone, the defending champion of the Turning Stone Resort Championship summed up the early part of his final round in 2008. “We were kind of moseying along not thinking we were going to win,” Dustin Johnson said of the round with Robert Allenby.
 Johnson, 25, will defend a title for the first time. Four and a half months after winning Turning Stone, Johnson won the rain-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am that was finally called after 54-holes on Monday, February 16th.

“Seeing how the two coldest and the two wettest tournaments I’ve played so far, I’ve won both of them, so I don’t mind it at all,” Johnson said about the weather.

Strange from a guy who went to Coastal Carolina University and now makes his home in Myrtle Beach, SC. But when the hail rolled in on the second day of the tournament last year, he remembers standing on the 18th green, halfway through his second round. Two days later he stood on 18 the leader in the clubhouse.

“Once I won there, I got a lot of confidence and worked hard in the off season and I played pretty well this year,” Johnson said recently in a conference call with reporters.
UNLUCKY 13

In 2008, Johnson was “moseying” and on the 13th hole, a par-4, 416-yard dogleg right, put his drive in the pond. That hole, nicknamed Spotted Sandpiper at the Atunyote Golf Club, ranked the 24th most difficult hole in 2008, averaging 4.369. Last year at 13, there 113 bogeys, 27 double bogeys and three triple bogeys along with 240 pars and 26 birdies. That was the second fewest birdies for a hole (#11 had 25, #2 had 26) and only the par-4 2nd hole had more bogeys, 115. No hole had more triples.

Somehow, he regrouped from his bogey and won by a stroke over Allenby with birdies on the final two holes – the par-4, 467-yard 17th and the par-5, 603-yard 18th. Not surprisingly, he likes the 18th.
FAVORITE 18

 
“I hit a drive about as far as I could hit one,” Johnson said of his drive on the 18th, which traveled some 360-yards.
 
He grabbed a two-iron for his second shot and slammed it over the green. He claims the wind took it. How does he hit it so far?

“A lot of it has to do with flexibility and lower body strength and, I don’t know, swing hard,” he said. Johnson got down in two to lead in the clubhouse and when Charles Howell III and Davis Love III faltered, Johnson was hoisting the trophy.

“The greens are perfect and that’s what makes a golf course good is when you have good greens to putt on,” Johnson said.

“It’s a challenge and fun course to play.”
PRESIDENT’S CUP PASS

 
Johnson was passed over for this year’s U.S. President’s Cup team. He says team captain Fred Couples was texting back and forth with him before finalizing the team.

“I played well this year but fell a little bit short,” Johnson said, who is 29th on the PGA Tour’s money list. “I’m a lot more comfortable out here,” Johnson said. “Last year was my first year and I didn’t quite understand so I scheduled a lot better this year, a little more organized.”
 
Last year, he had three weeks off before the Turning Stone tournament. This year, he was in the thick of things for the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Being better prepared each week has meant a better year. He’s had this week circled on his calendar all year, pointing toward the hospitality as a real draw for the players.

“You’ve got a casino, so it’s a lot of fun,” he said.
TOURNAMENT TIME

 
“We really don’t like to focus on bodies,” said Ann Spencer, tournament director, not wanting to address the attendance estimated at around 35,000 for the week. “We measure success in different ways. “We really don’t want to focus on that one number as the measure of our success.” The Turning Stone Resort Championship boasts the largest purse of the PGA Tour’s Fall Series at $6M. The winner takes home $1.08M.

For the past several weeks, she and other resort representatives have been visiting the FedEx Cup playoffs to get commitments from players. They don’t want to call it recruiting, they call it talking to players.

“The buzz was definitely there,” she said after Tiger Woods had played in the Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge in late August. Spencer said by that time, many players heard of the event that also drew Masters Champion Mike Weir and young star Camilo Villegas.

“(Players) raised an eyebrow at how it went,” she said. “It definitely raises the golf course and the level of competition a little bit.”
 
The big draw this year is Australian Adam Scott, picked for the International President’s Cup Team. He says he watched the Turning Stone tournament on TV last year and will play Atunyote for the first time this week.

“All the guys said how good the hospitality is and also throughout the year we get constant reminders week after week,” Scott said while taking shelter near the clubhouse as the rain fell Tuesday. “They do a really nice job and get as many guys here as they can.”
 
Scott didn’t pack any long underwear and says he’ll have to improvise on and off the course.
“Unfortunately it’s wet and long and it’s going to be a grind,” Scott said.
TICKETS AND LONG DAYS

Anyone who bought a day package or overnight package got tickets to the Turning Stone Championship.

“Our goal is for the players to come out here and rave about the property, the golf course, the resort,” said Superintendent Matt Falvo.
 
If you do come out, check out the ninth hole. It’s Falvo’s favorite, the “best looking hole.” During tournament week, the hospitality may be good for the players, but there will be more than 1000 volunteers and a grounds crew that reports each day at 4:00AM and leaves late at night.
 
“Not a whole lot of sleep that week,” Falvo said. “Maybe the week after.”

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