During his march to victory in the Dell Technologies Match Play championship, Dustin Johnson at times looked as though he had no pulse.
Not true.
"It's beating -- not very fast," he said. "Sometimes it gets going pretty good. It just depends if I'm walking up a steep hill or something."
Big celebrations are simply not part of his repertoire, and Johnson is OK with that. Asked if he had ever really lost control of his emotions during a big moment, he thought for a second and shook his head.
"I'm OK with my little fist pump," he said.
But here's another element to the world's No. 1 player -- despite 15 victories on the PGA Tour, including a major, Johnson has never really had a reason to celebrate.
He won his first event as a rookie at Turning Stone Resort in Verona, N.Y., with birdies on the last two holes, but he still had to wait for Charles Howell III to finish to clinch the title. The only other time he won by one shot with a birdie on the last hole was in 2010 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but that was with an up-and-down from the bunker right of the green on the par-5 18th. He blasted out to 3 feet and lightly pumped his fist when he made the putt.
Johnson only had to two-putt for par when he won at three tournaments. He won by multiple shots at two more.
But wait.
"There was one moment when I lost it a little bit," Johnson said.
He thought back to Saturday afternoon in the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah, when he and his partner Matt Kuchar were all-square against Nicolas Colsaerts and Paul Lawrie. In an amphitheater setting around the par-3 17th filled with raucous fans, Johnson made a tough, sliding 20-foot birdie putt that led to a 1-up victory.
It was one of the loudest cheers of the week, and Johnson apparently couldn't contain himself. He moved to the left as the ball broke toward the cup, and when it dropped for a birdie, he gave a long, slow uppercut. And then he walked to the hole and removed the ball from the cup.
In the background, Kuchar was doing a pirouette as he slammed his fist.
For Johnson, it really was a big moment. His pulse must have been at least 60.
"Maybe 65," Johnson replied.
Cheers!
The things cheerleaders will do to hold onto the glory days. A Texas student was actually arrested for lying to the police -- all because she didn't want to return her cheer uniforms.
In April, an El Paso student named Gina Nicole Torrijos called her local police to report a burglary. She alleges that someone came into her house and stole two Riverside High School cheerleading uniforms from her bedroom dresser. No computers, jewelry, or TVs taken. Just the uniforms.
According to a story from the El Paso Times, officers spoke to the high school cheer coach, who provided the final piece to the puzzle, telling the police that Torrijos had returned one of her two uniforms.
Clearly aware that her plan was falling apart, Torrijos wrote a confession, telling police that she had "made up the story of the burglary of habitation to cover the fact that she wanted to avoid turning in her cheer uniforms to the school," the complaint states. In other words, she staged a robbery to keep her cheerleading uniforms.
Torrijos was arrested on suspicion of making a false report to a police officer, which, according to the El Paso Times, "is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine."
Sports quiz
Dustin Johnson won the 2016 U.S. Open for his only major title. What was his second-best finish in a major?
Sports answer
Johnson tied for second in the 2011 British Open.
Sports on 05/11/2017