Dustin Johnson finally broke his silence about the leave of absence from the PGA Tour he has taken since last August, and he echoed his management team’s contention — backed up by the PGA Tour — that he was not suspended because of cocaine use.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, he admitted that he has issues, but insisted that is not one of them.
“It’s just something I’m not going to get into,” DJ said in the interview. “I have issues, but that’s not the issue.”
Other than that, he refused to get into why he suddenly walked away from the game before the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
Johnson said tat he will return to the PGA Tour for either the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in two weeks, or the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am the week after.
Paulina Gretzky, his fiancee, gave birth to their first child — a boy –on Monday, which might mean that DJ will be back sooner rather than later.
“Over these past four or five months, I’ve really grown up,” said Johnson, who has won in each of his seven seasons on the PGA Tour, longest active streak on the circuit.
“I am starting to become the person I want my kids to look up to.”
DJ also said that he has lost 20 pounds of fat and replaced it with 13 pounds of muscle.
It has been reported that he broke Tiger Woods’ course record of 10-under-62 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks late last year, but it turns out he actually went 61-63-61 in a three-day stretch on the course, so his game might be sharp when he returns.
