Who’s committed to play in this year’s Colonial so far? One name might surprise you.
Dustin Johnson is returning to Colonial for the first time in six years.
Johnson is currently the highest-ranked player in the field for the Charles Schwab Challenge, which is scheduled for June 11-14 at Fort Worth’s Colonial Country Club. It’ll be the PGA Tour’s first event back since shutting down in mid-March amid the coronavirus pandemic.
More big-name players are expected to commit next week.
Johnson, the 2016 U.S. Open champion who is ranked No. 5 in the world, last played Colonial in 2014. He finished T14 in 2014 with his only other appearance coming in 2008 (T74).
Other top 10 players in the field include No. 9 Webb Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open winner who has played in five Colonials, and No. 10 Tommy Fleetwood, the Englishman who will be making his Colonial debut. Former SMU player Bryson DeChambeau, who is No. 13 in the world, is also in the field.
Former Colonial champions such as Jordan Spieth, Kevin Na, Kevin Kisner, Zach Johnson and Rory Sabbatini have committed to play as well.
For now, Johnson is the headliner.
But Colonial has a chance to land Rory McIlroy, the world’s top-ranked player, as well as No. 2 Jon Rahm, No. 3 Brooks Koepka and No. 4 Justin Thomas. McIlroy and Thomas have never played the Colonial, while Rahm has played the past three years and Koepka played in 2018.
The Colonial’s field is expanding to 144 players this year amid the pandemic, although past champions who earned a lifetime exemption (winners before 2000) do not count against the 144-player limit such as Olin Browne (1999), David Frost (1997), Tom Lehman (1995) and Keith Clearwater (1987).
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 10:19 AM.
