Dustin Johnson is once again golf’s number 1 player.

The Dutch Fork graduate assumed the world’s top ranking this past Sunday by dominating the field in Boston.

The Northern Trust tournament was the the first of 3 in the PGA Tour’s version of the “playoffs”. The 11-shot victory placed him number 1 on the FedEx points’ list which carries a cash reward of $10 million if he remains in this top position for 2 more events.

“I found something during practice Wednesday and it clicked,”commented a wide smiling Johnson.

His brother Austin was on the bag as his caddy, and the “Brothers Johnson”, as referred to recently on the telecast, both got their competitive golf start locally in the Tri-County’s S.C. Junior Golf Association Chapter.

Just as this column followed Johnson during his early competitive years, we continue this week with Isabella Rawl’s comeback story. The Lexington High junior won the SCJGA Beth Daniel a couple of weeks ago after being out of golf with a back injury for a year.

“There was so much pain I could not even sit in class, so I had to be homeschooled,” she said. “Even though the injury caused pain, there was great news. There was no skeletal structural damage and once the problem was diagnosed, the cure was immediate.”

Rawl went to numerous medical experts, including orthopedics, neurologist, and chiropractors before the problem was solved. It took several months and many tests to reach a diagnosis.

“Carl Paulson, my swing coach, set up a visit to a physical therapist in Raleigh (NC),” Rawl said. “Chris Finn worked on the muscles and soft tissue. Although the therapy was painful, when he finished his work, I could swing the club without pain.”

“Now I go through 4 training sessions a week, 3 on my own, and 1 with KT(Ken Taylor) at the Tsunami Bar Training Center. His expertise along with the Tsunami Bar technology has been fantastic. The key for me is strength, especially core strength.”

Rawl committed early to go to Clemson as an 8th grader which is highly unusual.

“Coach (Kelly) Hester was so supportive and stood behind me during this entire process,” she said. “I know it’s still 2 years away, but I’m truly looking forward to playing golf at Clemson.”

Rawl’s next tournament will be an American Junior Golf Association event in Greenville in 2 weeks.

Speaking of Greenville, the SCJGA All-Stars event was played at Carolina Springs Golf Club in Greenville this past weekend.

Several of our local juniors had success. Emily Baker of Chapin finished the tournament with a birdie on her 36th hole to win the Girls 13-18 Division by 1 shot. Mia Andrade of Chapin finished 3rd in the girls 10- 12 Division. Chapin freshman Chase Cline won the boys 13-14 division by 7 shots with 8th grader Harrison James placing 3rd.

Ashton Eubanks of Lexington finished 2nd in the boys 15-18 division.

Next week, the focus will be details of our local players’ All Star experience.

The Lexington Recreation and Aging Commission Family Junior Fall season registration is underway. This program features the entire family participating in golf learning together and having numerous options.

This is a brand new Grow Golf Now curriculum that offers both fundamental method based skill along with strategies for playing the game.

For more, go to the LRAC website, find Athletics, then click in the last paragraph of the description to find Family Junior Golf at the bottom.