When Dustin Johnson heads north of the border to Canada, his popularity spikes and it’s not all because of his golf game. With his fiancée being Paulina Gretzky, Canucks have a special place in their heart for Johnson’s father-in-law to be, Wayne Gretzky — you may have heard of him.
Embracing his fans-by-association, Johnson played to the crowd’s more basic hockey sensibilities during the seventh hole of the RBC Canadian Open Pro-Am on Wednesday. Asked by the tournament to don the sweater of their favorite hockey player, DJ produced an Edmonton Oilers Gretzky 99 jersey and struck his iron shot to the par-3 green.
Meet DJ’s Fiancée, Paulina Gretzky
Dustin Johnson paying his respects to a ? of a father-in-law.
(? @RBCCanadianOpen) pic.twitter.com/YbEv7iznIR
— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) July 26, 2018
“I get a lot of fans up here, thanks to Wayne. Thanks, Wayne, I appreciate that,” Johnson told the Associated Press. “I get a lot of fans, and it’s great. It’s always fun to play for a big crowd, to have them cheering you on.
“I’m sure Wayne had something to do with it. They wanted us to wear our favorite hockey jersey when we hit the shot on No. 7, so I had the Gretzky jersey on.”
Johnson is hoping to ride the wave of fandom to his third win of the season. Coming off of a missed cut at last week’s Open Championship, DJ will likely be teeing it up four weeks straight with the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the PGA Championship on the schedule the next two weeks.
