Equipment
The clubs Dustin Johnson used to win the RBC Canadian Open
Minas Panagiotakis
Dustin Johnson finally figured out the back nine at Glen Abbey Golf Club, and he used a superior tee-to-green game to win the RBC Canadian Open in comfortable fashion.
Although pushed, Johnson was never caught over the final nine as he put up four birdies against a lone bogey to win by three over Whee Kim and Byeong Hun An. The win was his third on the season, making it three straight years Johnson has had at least three wins.
Johnson, who switched back to the Fujikura Speeder 661 Evolution 2.0 Tour Spec shaft he has favored in recent years but briefly went away from, used his TaylorMade M4 driver to rank first in strokes gained/off the tee, picking up nearly seven strokes on the field. That propelled him to topping the field in strokes gained/tee-to-green with more than 13 shots above the field average. His 323.6-yard distance average ranked third, and he was sixth in driving accuracy.
The driver (as well as its sister M3 model) features the company's Twist Face technology, where the face curves more open as it moves toward the toe and curves more closed as it moves toward the heel. Although it isn’t really detectable at address, the idea is to help off-center hits fly straighter than they would with conventional bulge and roll.
The tee-to-green game was epitomized by his birdie at the par-5 16th hole, where a tee shot in the left rough left him with an approach of 169 yards, but without much room to work with. Taking a pitching wedge, Johnson landed the ball on the front of the screen and watched it scoot just over, leaving a relatively easy up-and-down for a crucial birdie.
Not to be overlooked are the 47 of 54 greens in regulation over his final three rounds, lessening the stress to keep his rounds going. Though he missed the cut at the Open Championship, Johnson now has two wins and a third in his past four events, solidifying his hold as the No. 1-ranked player in the world.
What Dustin Johnson had in the bag at the RBC Canadian Open:
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
Driver: TaylorMade M4 (Fujikura Speeder 661 Evolution 2.0 Tour Spec), 10.5 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade M4, 16.5 degrees
Irons (3-PW): TaylorMade DJ Proto P730
Wedges: TaylorMade Milled Grind (52, 60 degrees); TaylorMade Milled Grind Hi-Toe (64 degrees)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Black