Dustin Johnson will play the weekend at the PGA Championship after making the 36-hole cut, a small but meaningful step for a former world No. 1 whose place in the game has looked less certain in recent months. Johnson, who received one of the PGA of America’s special invitations for this year’s championship, shot a par 70 on Friday in difficult conditions to keep his week alive.
The result mattered because Johnson entered the field as one of the lowest-ranked players in it, outside the 20 PGA of America club pros and 48-year-old Luke Donald. The 41-year-old is now 471st in the world, a long fall for a two-time major champion who was once the game’s top-ranked player and later became one of LIV Golf’s biggest early signings.
Johnson’s place in the field was secured before the championship through one of 33 special invitations handed out by the PGA of America. He had little margin for error after Thursday, but Friday’s round gave him a way through and a chance to stay in the mix through the weekend.
His game, he said, is not the problem. Johnson said he is happy overall, even if he is “not very thrilled” with his driver. “I’m rolling it well, short game is good and obviously it’s difficult around these greens,” he said. “Everything else feels really good.”
That leaves the bigger question off the scorecard. Johnson said he does not know what happens next year with LIV Golf, and the uncertainty hangs over a league whose financial future has already been narrowed. The Public Investment Fund said it will no longer subsidize the LIV Golf League beyond 2026, which adds another layer of doubt to the road ahead for one of its most recognizable players.
Johnson, who has a 12–9 record across five Ryder Cups and is exempt for next month’s U.S. Open, also pointed to the leadership around him when asked about the current state of the league. “I think Scott’s doing a good job,” he said, before adding, “I think your guess is as good as mine with what happens next year.”
For now, the cut means Johnson gets two more rounds at a major championship, and maybe a better read on where his game stands after a year in which his ranking has fallen and the future around him has become harder to map. He is still here. The rest is less clear.
