Dustin Johnson consistently goes against the grain

4:57 PM ET

DUBLIN, Ohio — Dustin Johnson posted an 8-under 64 in the opening round of the Memorial Tournament on Thursday to claim an early lead. He made 10 birdies, drove the ball an average of 309 yards and appeared afterward as if he’d never even broken a sweat.

Each of these sounds conspicuously like the Johnson maneuvers to which we’ve become so accustomed. Call it caveman golf or bomb-and-gouge or whatever other cutesy name works. He basically swings hard, finds it and swings hard again. As far as strategies go, there are plenty of less successful ones.

It’s partially because of this propensity to bash the ball that he doesn’t get enough credit for what he has accomplished. Then there are the multiple close calls at major championships, none of which he has won yet. Not to mention the fact that even his peers consider him amongst the most talented at their craft.

Dustin Johnson has won at least one PGA Tour event in every year since 2008. That’s the longest current streak on tour. Ryan Young/PGA TOUR

“Dustin Johnson is arguably the most talented player on the PGA Tour,” Jordan Spieth said this week. “I think he’s not only a freak athlete, but a freak golf athlete — like, he has great hands, great club face control. I mean, he hits some shots where you won’t see anybody else trying to.”

All of it clouds a difficult realization which has become a simple fact: Johnson has turned himself into one of the game’s most consistent players.

It’s an abstract proposition because we usually associate consistency with dullness. Consistent players, we collectively surmise, are boring players. Plodders. Jim Furyk, that’s a consistent guy. Matt Kuchar. Zach Johnson. Players who don’t fascinate you with their skills, but “know how to get the ball in the hole,” as the old cliché goes.

During his prime years, Tiger Woods was consistently dominant, but it was the dominance which was always a bigger focus than the …

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