It happens all the time. A name finds his way to the top of the U.S. Open leaderboard, and we are all thinking the same thing; "No way this guy takes home the trophy."
Jason Gore did it to us. So did Aaron Baddeley. The problem was, with Dustin Johnson, that didn't seem to be the consensus. Everyone thought he might have a shot at this championship because he had such a large lead heading into Sunday (three) and had so much success on Pebble Beach before (two wins in the last two AT&Ts).
The problem is, we sometimes forget that yes, this is the U.S. Open, and when guys haven't been there before it is a whole different beast.
On Sunday, Johnson started with a nice par on the first hole. Sadly for Dustin, that was the only time in his opening few holes that someone will use the word "nice" with his round. A sloppy triple-bogey on the second hole (honestly, all triples are sloppy) was followed up by a double-bogey on the third, and then a short par putt missed on the fourth that dropped him six shots in four holes.
Dustin, meet nerves.
It was a moment that had everyone grabbing their sides, wondering what exactly just happened to the leader. He isn't going to win, and he showed once again that when the pressure mounts, no lead is actually safe.
(The only good thing? It lead to this epic Tweet from Scott Walker, who now jumps up my list as second favorite person at The Golf Channel, behind the person that accidentally trips over the cord that plays their station on the air.)
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