The big South African Ernie Els is as chill as they come, but even Ernie couldn’t stand by and let the USGA mess with Dustin Johnson’s head as he played his back nine in doubt. In a farcical episode, the USGA warned Johnson, then in hot pursuit of his first major title, that they disagreed — after reviewing film — with the golfer’s opinion that he hadn’t made the ball move on the putting surface. The USGA therefore made Johnson finish his round in limbo, not knowing whether he’d be assessed a penalty at the end. A who’s who of golf took to Twitter to say it was b*llshit — what the USGA was doing to Johnson. (Johnson triumphed anyway, becoming the 2016 US Open Champion.)
Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth fired off multiple tweets, as did Ricky Fowler, Luke Donald, Webb Simpson and more saying, basically, leave DJ alone — he didn’t cause the ball to move. Els, with 93K followers, is a little less active than McIlroy with his 2.9 million, but the Big Easy was shocked and wanted it known.
@USGA treatment of @DJohnsonPGA absolutely shocking. No way he made the ball move.
— Ernie Els (@TheBig_Easy) June 19, 2016
