PITTSBURGH — Dustin Johnson’s prominence in the golf world was a lot different the last time he was at the U.S. Open at Oakmont.

At the time, he was the No. 6-ranked player in the world who finished no worse than seventh in five of his previous seven major starts.

He had never won a major championship, despite any number of near misses, some more calamitous than others. That included 2015, when he three-putted from 12 feet to hand the U.S. Open trophy to Jordan Spieth at Erin Hills.

But on June 19, 2016, three days before his 32nd birthday, Johnson won the U.S. Open at Oakmont that started his rise to the No. 1 player in the world. After that, he finished third in the U.S. Open in 2018, had a pair of runnerup finishes at the Masters and PGA Championship in 2019, and won his second major at the 2020 Masters.

For 135 weeks, Johnson was atop the world rankings as golf’s top player. Only Tiger Woods (683), Greg Norman (331) and Scottie Scheffler (143) have held that spot longer.

“Obviously, it was a long time ago,” Johnson said.

Since joining LIV Golf in June 2022, Johnson has all but disappeared from golf’s landscape. He has just two top-10 finishes in his past 11 major appearances and has missed the cut five times. That includes the 2024 U.S. Open and the first two majors already this season.

Unlike other LIV competitors such as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, who have remained relevant in major championships, Johnson is all but forgotten.

And this is a player who had at least one victory in 15 of his 16 seasons on the PGA Tour.

“Golf is a strange sport,” Johnson said Monday, the first official day of practice rounds for the 125th U.S. Open. “I don't feel like I've slipped any. My scores haven't reflected, but it is a really fine line.

“I remember a few years ago, I missed two cuts in a row, I think I shot 80-80, and then I won the next week. For me, it's always really close to being good, but it’s just getting back there and keeping it consistent, which over the last couple months I'm starting to see a lot of patterns. The game feels like it's coming back into good form.”

Maybe a return to Oakmont, where he posted a three-shot victory with a score of 4-under 276 nine years ago, will provide some good vibes. Johnson said Oakmont is the toughest course he’s ever played and thinks “it’s a little tougher this time around” with the added length.

“I drove it really straight, I hit a lot of fairways. That was the only reason I shot that well,” Johnson said. “But somehow I figured out a way to get it under par. It was mostly the driving. Even driving it in the fairway here, it's still really difficult. But I hit a lot of good drives and a lot of good iron shots.”

Maybe none better than the 5-iron to within 5 feet at the 72nd hole to finish off his first major championship.

That was Johnson at the apex of his game, and it started a run in which he became golf’s dominant player.

But that has all changed since he defected to the LIV Tour. He won a couple events in the Saudi-backed league, most recently in 2024 in Las Vegas, and was the leader in the individual standings the first year of the series.

This year, he has three top-10 finishes in his past five starts and is hopeful his three sub-70 rounds at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club last week are a harbinger of better things to come.

“I feel like my game's been really close,” Johnson said. “I haven't really got a lot out of it. So it was definitely nice to have a nice finish last week. I played good every day. I didn't ... you know, I’m still kind of giving away some shots. I need to clean that up a little bit.

“But I played really solid every day, hit it nice, gave myself a lot of opportunities. It was nice to finally see the game progress a little bit. I know my score didn't reflect it at the PGA, but I actually played way better than the score. I just struggled a little bit on the greens. Well, maybe that's an understatement. I struggled really bad on the greens.”

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