Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston was as soon as an up-and-coming star. However he is struggled via three years of ache and unhealthy golf…till not too long ago.
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It’s laborious holding observe of everybody in professional golf. 100 and fifty-six gamers within the discipline, 250-ish with PGA Tour playing cards, hundreds of others on this planet rating. Focus an excessive amount of on the 30 gamers within the Tour Championship and you may lose observe of some names. You possibly can neglect a number of faces.
However that Andrew Johnston was a particular lad. The nickname was unforgettable: Beef. And the face — coated largely in a rugged beard, with imperfect enamel the staple of a everlasting smile — you’d always remember it. Eight years in the past, Beef Johnston was probably the most infectious persona within the recreation. He bounded onto everybody’s radar with a victory on the 2016 Spanish Open after which contended at Wentworth earlier than drawing huge crowds and ending eighth on the Open at Royal Troon.
“The very best week of my {golfing} profession,” Johnston mentioned in an interview with Nick Lozito this summer time. Followers flocked to get near him on the subsequent main, the PGA Championship only a few weeks later at Baltusrol. At simply 27 years previous then, it felt like a lovable star was simply beginning to shine. Arby’s actually thought so, making a fantastically on-brand endorsement of the golfer with a meaty nickname. However anybody who fell for Beef that summer time possible is aware of how merciless this sport will be. It provides and it takes, and never at all times equitably. Which is why we haven’t been speaking about Beef a lot the previous few years.
There was his first yr on the PGA Tour, outlined by a brand new thumb damage that made golf painful. When he got here again, there was a again damage. And when that was settled, that very same thumb subject reared its ugly head once more. 2022 and 2023 have been misplaced to surgical procedures, permitting him to play only one event in a two-year span. His world rating plummeted.
Johnston returned to top-level competitors late in 2023, the start of the 2024 DP World Tour season. His earlier standing awarded him spots within the discipline by way of a “membership extension,” akin to a significant medical exemption on the PGA Tour, however none of them have been particular. He missed 5 cuts, withdrew as soon as, however on June 25 of this yr, his world rating was 2,055.
As a substitute of being in Troon for the eight-year reunion of the most effective golf of his life, he was lacking the reduce in California on the Barracuda Championship.
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A four-week break adopted the Open throughout this Olympics yr, and it was throughout that break that one thing modified for Johnston. It’s not clear what — largely as a result of he hasn’t been tasked with explaining his descent to the media fairly but. However the deadline on that interplay is operating out, as a result of Johnston is constructing a little bit of a heater. Not the sort that warms the entire home — extra of an area heater that warms up one room at a time.
There was his T23 on the Czech Masters, the place he shot a course document. He adopted it up every week later by making the reduce and tying for forty second in Denmark. Per week after that was the Betfred British Masters, overshadowed by the Tour Championship in Atlanta, the place Beef completed T18, his first high 20 in almost three years. It was quiet, that end, with un-flashy scorecards of 72-73-70-69. Nevertheless it was ok for him to tie Tyrrell Hatton, among the finest gamers on this planet.
Absolutely that felt good. A constructing block of types on the street again. However it should wrestle to check to what would possibly come from Johnston this weekend. The person from London is carving his ball via the mountains in Switzerland on the Omega European Masters, making 10 birdies and an eagle within the opening two rounds. Have been it not for fellow Englishman Matt Wallace taking part in excellent golf, Beef can be simply two pictures again of the lead. As a substitute, he’s two again of second, and 6 again of first. (Kudos, Matt.)
All of which brings you to the doorstep of the primary full weekend of September. The NFL kicked off final evening. There’s no PGA Tour available. No LPGA Tour both. Faculty soccer is off and operating, and on Sunday afternoon there’ll be an excessive amount of NFL motion to fret about golf, proper? That’s what the weekend mornings are for. As a result of there’s one main tour with golf on this weekend, and it’s the one that includes Beef Johnston. It’ll be on once you get up. Espresso golf. Eggs and toast golf. The type happening seven time zones forward, with a narrative all of us have struggled to maintain observe of.
