Jordan Spieth reveals why he misses LIV Golf's Dustin Johnson a lot on PGA Tour

Jordan Spieth on Dustin Johnson: "He was never really controversial."

02 Feb 2023

Jordan Spieth reveals why he misses LIV Golf's Dustin Johnson a lot on PGA Tour

Jordan Spieth has revealed the reasons why he misses LIV Golf's Dustin Johnson the most on the PGA Tour following his press conference at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this week.

Spieth gave a number of reasons why he would love DJ back on the PGA Tour but one of them was being absent from this week's tournament as he used to always play alongside him and his father-in-law, Wayne Gretzky, father of Paulina Gretzky.

NEW: Dustin Johnson forced out of Saudi International

They were paired together for eight straight years, with Spieth more often than not partnering country music singer Jake Owen in the pro-am format.

Here's the full list of celebrities competing in this week's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, including football legend Gareth Bale who is making his PGA Tour debut.

Spieth, who is one of our golf betting tips for victory this week, won the individual prize in 2017 while Johnson won it in back-to-back years in 2009 and 2010.

After accepting an apparent $150 million to join LIV Golf last year and tearing up his PGA Tour membership in the process, Johnson will no longer get to play in the most iconic pro-am tournament on the PGA Tour.

That saddens Spieth, who said:

"Well, I think he had, what does he have 20, 21 or 22 wins (it's actually 24 PGA Tour wins)? Yeah, he’s a Hall of Fame player.

"Somebody who guys, people and the celebrities here really enjoyed being around.

"He’s a freak athlete that plays golf. He really loved this event. Loved playing with Wayne. We had a blast."

But it's not just his exit from Pebble Beach that upsets Spieth.

His peers miss him at large on the PGA Tour.

Spieth added:

"If you’re talking about in general and not just this event, you know, I think there’s a number of guys that are missed.

"But I think DJ being maybe the first one to go over there [LIV Golf] and somebody who never was really controversial over here and more so just kind of worked his butt off, it paid off, got his breakthrough at the US Open, then went and won The Masters.

"Just a Hall of Fame player that didn’t create controversy with any other players and played on a bunch of Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams. Represented ’em really well.

"He was a friend of mine. He is a friend of mine. I just haven’t seen him.

"But I always really enjoyed playing with him and being around him.

"He plays fast. Easy to play with. Fun to watch. Smooth. I don’t know what else to say."

Spieth and Johnson will get to meet again in competition from April 6-9 when the world's best golfers on both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf re-unite for golf's first major of the season at The Masters at Augusta National.

DJ won The Masters in 2020 while Spieth won it in 2015.

Johnson was supposed to compete in this week's LIV Golf-backed Saudi International on the Asian Tour, but he was forced out of the tournament.

DJ will once again captain the 4 Aces when the new LIV Golf League starts in Mexico in two weeks time.

The 4 Aces were the hottest team in town last year, winning five of the eight tournaments highlighted with victory in the season-ending Team Championship in Miami.

Johnson has already axed one player.

Here's the full LIV Golf League schedule.