Dustin Johnson says he's back from hiatus a stronger player, person

It didn’t take Dustin Johnson long to win on the PGA Tour after returning from what he calls a self-imposed break that lasted six months.

He returned Feb. 5 at the Farmers Insurance Classic. Exactly a month later, he teed it up in the WGC-Cadillac Championship and went on to win.

Johnson, who now has nine PGA Tour wins, didn’t play from late July until early February “to improve my mental health, physical well-being and emotional foundation” he said in a statement before dropping off the tour.

It must have worked.

The win at Doral came in just his fifth start back and moved him into the top 10 in the world ranking.

“It means a lot,” Johnson said. “Obviously it’s one of my biggest wins, and especially after a long layoff, to come back out and win. I’ve been working hard on my game and been working hard on me, and so it means a great deal to have some success right out of the gate. It gives me a lot of confidence, too.”

That bodes well for the long hitter’s chances at Augusta National, which is considered both a bomber’s paradise off the tee and shotmaker’s course from the fairways.

“My game is in good form right now,” he said. “I feel really confident in my golf swing. I feel like I’m swinging it really well. I need to do some work with the putter and short game, especially leading into Augusta.

“But I feel like the swing is really good, and at Augusta, you’ve really got to hit quality iron shots, control your ball, control the distance. And I like tough golf courses. I generally really play pretty well on tough courses.”

The WGC-Cadillac Championship was no birdie-fest. Johnson shot 9-under-par at the difficult Trump National Doral. The winning score in recent Masters has been in that same neighborhood – 10-under in 2012, 9-under in 2013 and 8-under in 2014.

“Going into Augusta, it’s just another tough course, and I feel like my game is definitely suited for there,” Johnson said. “It’s always fit my eye really well. Just haven’t played it that great. But this year, I’m looking forward to it. I feel comfortable and I love it, but I think I’ve only had one good tournament.”

Johnson was excited entering the 2014 Masters after tying for 13th the previous year. He got off to a great start in 2013 with an opening 5-under-par 67, but couldn’t recapture that magic in 2014, shooting 77 and 74 the first two days, respectively. He missed the cut by three shots.

Johnson only had three birdies in the two rounds, but doesn’t attribute that to pressing and being too aggressive.

“That’s one place you don’t want to push anything there,” he said. “You just kind of take it as it comes. You keep trying to hit greens and keep trying to hit uphill putts, which is hard. The par-5s are really important there because those are your best chances to make birdies or even eagles. You can get a couple of eagle looks.”

Johnson didn’t take advantage of the par-5s last year. He played them 2-over, with only one birdie to go with five pars, a bogey and a double bogey.

Johnson is hoping to put it all together this year.

“Augusta week is whoever is playing the best is going to win. We all hit the ball well,” he said. “Whoever is rolling it that week. … it’s all about putting. But you’ve got to hit great shots because you’ve got to hit the ball in the right spots to have putts that are makeable. If you’re hitting it on the wrong side, you’re going to have a rough day. That’s just how it goes around there.”

Just finding the correct spot on the fairway, based on the pin that day, can be an issue.

“It’s a tough golf course to figure out where you need to hit it,” Johnson said. “You learn something new around there every time you play it.”

In attacking pins, “you’ve got to pick and choose the spots to be aggressive,” he said. “You’re going to have to take some chances if you want to win. I think you choose them wisely.”

It wasn’t all just recreational golf and self-improvement that kept Johnson busy during his break.

He dropped 12 pounds, “put on muscle” and “is in better shape” than when he left, he said. And he and his fiancee, Paulina Gretzky, had a son, Tatum.

“I was in the gym every single day, every morning, and then the rest of the time either I would go practice a little bit or just hang out with Paulina,” he said of the break. “I got to spend a lot of time with Paulina and help her as much as I could through her pregnancy, and then the birth of our son. I really enjoyed being able to be home and not having to leave or do anything. So it was actually really nice.”