Dustin the wind

KAPALUA, Maui » Wire to windy wire, Dustin Johnson dominated the wild opening week of the 2013 PGA Tour season.

The latest glimpse at Johnson’s greatness came the past two days, when he overwhelmed Kapalua Plantation and an elite field of 30 to win the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Johnson closed with a 5-under-par 68 Tuesday to beat defending champ Steve Stricker (69—207) by four and finish off his victory in a tournament that looked as if it would never start.

Delayed three days because of wet and wild winds, Hyundai became the first tour event in seven years to end on a Tuesday. Golfers finally got on the Plantation for 36 holes Monday. They were 43 over par in suspended starts Friday and Sunday and never teed off Saturday.

They were greeted by the normally tough Kapalua tradewinds (15-25 mph) and Johnson at his overpowering best. He had a couple of hiccups with his driver Tuesday, but bounced back both times, following a double-bogey with an eagle on the back nine to clinch his seventh win.

He collected $1.14 million. Kyle Stanley finished last and got $61,000.

Johnson shared the lead with Mark Wilson and Nick Watney on Monday morning after a first-round 69. Johnson seized it for good with a 66 that afternoon. He had 11 birdies and an eagle Monday. Not one of those putts was more than five feet.

He led Stricker by three going into Tuesday’s final round. An early charge from Brandt Snedeker was forgotten when Johnson’s third birdie put him four up through seven.

As Snedeker backed off, it came down to Stricker and Johnson in the final group.

Stricker, 45, is the only golfer here who actually played this tournament before it moved to Kapalua in 1999. He never blinked — or made bogey — despite an undiagnosed issue with shooting pain on his left side that has been going on for a month.

His deficit was five after Johnson’s third birdie on the seventh. But when Stricker drained a birdie on the next hole and Johnson lost it in the hazard at No. 9, Stricker trailed by just two at the turn.

Johnson padded his advantage on the 12th, blasting his drive more than 400 yards and sinking a 12-foot birdie putt. He made just two putts that were longer all week, aside from a 25-footer from the fringe Tuesday that counted as a chip-in.

His next chip-in was the most decisive shot of the long week.

Johnson hit into another hazard on the 13th, found his ball but hit it just four feet, leading to double-bogey. Stricker missed a 25-foot birdie putt that could have tied it there, but Johnson’s advantage was down to one with five holes left.

"I really expected him to make it," Johnson said. "When Steve is standing over a putt, you kind of always expect it to go in. He hit a lot of great putts today that didn’t go in and could have made it a lot closer. But obviously I hit a couple of drives that if I had driven it in the fairway, it’s really not going to be that close."

After the unlucky 13th, Johnson went all "DJ" on everybody again, clinching a win for the sixth straight year.

Johnson grabbed his driver again on the next hole, blasted the ball 267 yards through the wind about 50 feet short of the hole and nearly knocked over the weather-whipped pin for an eagle.

"Walking up 15 I was like, ‘Why don’t you take iron out, make me have to make birdies instead of you hitting it in the trees and opening it up for me?’ " Stricker recalled. "And he’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I know.’

"But he’s got a lot of talent, and it looks like very little fear in him, because he’ll hit one a little crooked, but he’ll pull out that driver again and try it again. And he pulled it off. Especially at 14 — that was the deciding shot and chip for the tournament."

Johnson grinned, exhaled and agreed.

"The chip on 14 was definitely the biggest shot," he said. "Maybe the drive; the drive set it all up. I hit a great drive right at the flag, which came up just short, and I had a really easy pitch. Fortunate to hit a great pitch and it went right in the middle."

It transformed the final four holes from dramatic to symbolic. At 28, Johnson ranks 12th in the world and is now being mentioned in the same breath as Woods and Phil Mickelson, the only guy whose streak of wins goes back more years (nine).

"He’s very athletic and he’s just going to continue to get better," said Stricker, ranked 18th in the world. "That’s going to be the fun part watching is what he’s going to do from here on out, because he looks unflappable out there. He hit a couple wayward drives and opened the door for me a little bit, and then he stepped up there with a driver again, and I’m like, OK. But then he piped it and chips it in."

Tough to beat, and apparently impossible in weather-wracked events that are cut to three rounds. Johnson has won the last three 54-hole tour events, dating back to the 2009 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Someone suggested he was ready for the senior tour.

"I’ve got a long way to go," Johnson grinned, "but I will be ready for the Champions Tour."

Clearly, he is ready for anything. Johnson’s touch was as wondrous as his vaunted long game this week. He was unflappable. He accomplished things no one else even thought of, but he is not getting ahead of himself.

"I don’t really look ahead that far," he said. "I kind of go week-to-week. I’m looking at next week, where I want to go in and play three good rounds and then contend on Sunday for another victory. That’s my goal."

That would be at the Sony Open in Hawaii, which tees off Thursday. Johnson is now the favorite to overwhelm Waialae Country Club. He was that good in conditions that were that bad, and he already has top-20 finishes in his first two Sony starts.

"It’s fun to watch," said Stricker, who is 90 under par in his last 20 rounds at Kapalua. "You never know what he’s going to do and he’s got a lot of talent, a lot of ability."

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