Dustin Johnson eyes major breakthrough

Dustin Johnson returns to the major championship arena at St Andrews on Thursday resolved to leave behind his status as golf’s nearly man and in the process stop Jordan Spieth’s bid for Grand Slam glory.

In the absence of Ireland’s world number one and defending champion Rory McIlroy following his football-related ankle injury 10 days ago, Johnson, Spieth and their American compatriot Rickie Fowler will start the 144th Open Championship as the men to watch for a variety of reasons.

Spieth has arrived in Scotland in search of a third successive major of the season straight from his red-eye transatlantic flight that followed a play-off victory over Tom Gillis at the John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour in Illinois on Sunday night. Victory here at the Home of Golf seven days later would complete three-quarters of a never-before-completed calendar Grand Slam and hand the 21-year-old Texan a place among the game’s immortals.