01dustin;Johnson: moving;on

it was one of the most painful final rounds in a major witnessed in a long time. rory mcilroy’s implosion at the masters? nick watney’s 2010 pga championship fumble? dustin Johnson’s meltdown in the 2010 u.s. open? yes, yes, and yes. men holding the 54- hole lead in recent major championships have failed spectacularly, but perspective tells us that it’s not out of the ordinary to see a sunday blow-up. stats agree. in the last 10 years, 15 leaders or co-leaders going into the final round of a major have closed with a 75 or higher. “it’s not a good spot to be in. for that day it’s definitely not fun,” says Johnson, the first of the trio to return to the major he gave away after he skied to a closing 82 and ended up t- 8 at pebble beach. “it’s a learning process that i think everybody is going to go through at least once in their career. you can’t look at it as a bad thing. you’ve got to learn from it and move on.” Johnson, 26, seemed to move on swimmingly when he shook off pebble and put himself in position to win the pga until a rules violation on the final hole at whistling straits left him out of a playoff. now he’s back at the open, on a long congressional cc layout that should favor his power game. what has he learned? the answer is tied up in one storyline definitely worth following. —Dave Shedloski