Dustin Johnson took control of the U.S. Open like Tiger used to

The crowds that came to watch Tiger ended up getting the best in the world playing like it at one of the best major tests in years.

They came to watch Tiger Woods, and what they got was a Tiger Woods performance. It just came from the No. 1 player in the world going for his second win in two weeks and trying to put the drama of the 118th U.S. Open to rest before the weekend.

The presence of Tiger has so often elevated names into the golf legend. Without Tiger, we never know, or we forget by now, the likes of Bob May and Rocco Mediate and Y.E. Yang. Because of Tiger’s involvement, those names will go down in golf history and are instantly cited whenever we discuss some of the great major championship moments of the past two decades.

Dustin Johnson is not May, or Rocco, or Yang. He’s not close. He’s a hall-of-famer, the world No. 1, and will go down as a legend on his own. But the presence of Tiger through the first 36 holes elevated him and allowed so many to see up close what has been evident for so long: he is one of the greatest natural talents the game has ever seen. He’s running away with the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills and those who came here to follow Tiger ended up watching the most complete package in golf race out at the 36-hole mark in the same way Woods did for so many of his majors.

Tiger is going home early, finishing Friday afternoon at 10-over. DJ is cruising toward what could be his second national championship in three years. He was a bad bounce away from having it be a potentially three-in-four scenario this weekend.

It makes sense that the “ultimate test” (that’s how the USGA is promoting this thing now) would be the major where DJ excelled most. His game travels everywhere and in any major setting, as we’ve seen through every club in the bag this week. It’s not just a bombing style. But at the U.S. Open, the most stressful and infuriating week these players face on the course, DJ just glides around in the way that he always does. You wouldn’t know it’s a major. The others at the top of the world rankings slam their clubs in the ground, throw their arms up incredulously, or tuck their head into their chest and sigh at another bogey. It’s happened all week to the very best, the DJ contemporaries. Johnson is just kind of hanging out, striding from hole-to-hole looking totally unbothered. He’d look the same if he weren’t in the lead, too.

While all the other players gesticulate about, DJ looks like he’s in a constant resting state. The only time he deviated on Friday was for that repeated knee-buckle move as multiple putts burned the edge or came up a revolution short. He was all over the hole coming into the clubhouse and could have added two or three more birdies to his 36-hole cushion. His second-round 67 could have been that much better.

Woods just marveled at the 33-year-old doing what he used to do every single week and over a much more extended period, a sustained run that no one will ever touch. “Dustin was in complete control of what he’s doing,” said his playing partner, Tiger. “Every putt looked like it was going to go in. Even though it didn’t, just had that look and that pace.”

The biggest putt of the day came at the 7th, that Redan that’s supposed to be so difficult to birdie. The hole is playing much easier this year, but this kind of birdie is a longshot and a bonus that had Tiger smirking in amusement and Justin Thomas, the third played in the group, shaking his head. It’s the gravy you need when it feels like you’re on the way to winning a major championship.

DJ is now older than Tiger was when he won his last major in 2008, which is mind-blowing to consider for both parties. It still feels like he’s in the early stages of a multiple-major-winning run. He will never draw the crowd like Tiger, or whip them up like Tiger with intense celebrations. But he’s conquering this championship with the full game and in a way that makes it feel decided before we get to Sunday. Tiger was best front runner and closer the game has ever seen. DJ is not that. There’s a rules mishap or a Shinnecock implosion hole that could happen. But that all feels so improbable, or just a speed bump on the way to an eventual win. Golf is much more fickle and unpredictable, but it feels like an NBA hypothetical we heard a lot this spring, “Well two of the Warriors superstars could get hurt so don’t give them the title just yet.”

The leader is always going to be a focus of the coverage and will draw some extra attention. DJ deserves it all. But most of the crowd hype is still because they think he’s the guy that hits it 350 yards every time. In the last few months, Johnson has been reluctant to indulge the awe around his driving ability. When he takes questions prefaced with praise for his driving, he’ll often say he doesn’t it hit that far or just straight out rebut the notion he can hit it 350 (he can). He did it this week and he did it to me back in February.

For the first 36 holes at the U.S. Open, that driving distance was supposed to be the sideshow to everyone coming to watch Tiger in his first national championship in three years. By Friday afternoon, shouts for “Go DJ!” started to close some ground on all the “Go Tiger!” you hear at every step. Those crowds got to watch Dustin’s game in full under the toughest examination that left so many of the those in the world rankings around him in shambles. There was a recognition or a realization that the Tiger nostalgia was the side dish to watching the best player in the world dominate at the ideal U.S. Open course.