Dustin Johnson left to regret brutal four-hole stretch at The Open

Dustin Johnson was left to rue a brutal run of three bogeys in four holes to derail his first round at The Open .

Ahead of traveling to Royal Troon, Johnson has struggled for form. In his last major appearance, Johnson missed the cut at the U.S. Open as he shot nine-over through two rounds at Pinehurst.

He also missed the cut at the Masters and finished tied-43rd at the PGA Championship at Valhalla. His form has hardly been better on the LIV Golf circuit; aside from his win in Las Vegas, the second event of the season, Johnson has logged just one top-10 finish.

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On Thursday, Johnson started solidly, rattling off three successive bogeys before dropping his first shot on the par-five fourth. He recovered with a birdie on the eighth, but it would prove to be his only birdie of a difficult day.

The LIV Golf star’s round truly began to unravel midway through the back nine. He bogeyed three of four holes between No. 13 and No. 16, condemning him to a first-round 74 to sit on three-over-par heading into Friday.

This means Johnson is eight shots behind leader Shane Lowry, the 2019 Open champion. Lowry shot a bogey-free five-under to lead the field, ending his round with a birdie on the 18th. Ironically, both Lowry and Johnson have tallied the most bogey-free rounds of 66 at The Open since 2014. The duo, along with Jordan Spieth, have both carded three such rounds.

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Back in 2017, Johnson was the world No. 1. He last tasted major success at Augusta in 2020, when he won the Masters with a record 20-under total.

In his last 13 major appearances, Johnson has failed to grab a spot in the top five, which also includes five missed cuts in the same period. Perhaps the shortened schedule at LIV Golf is seeing the 4Aces GC captain struggle to keep his game in tune.

Johnson was one of the prominent faces of the PGA Tour and had declared his loyalty before making the controversial switch . He joined LIV Golf in May 2022, officially resigning from the PGA Tour a month later. The American admitted he joined LIV Golf for financial purposes, with his move earning Johnson an initial $125 million with potential to rise to $150 million.

Johnson will hope to improve in Scotland as the weekend unfolds. Given he has missed the cut at two of the previous three majors, just making the weekend would be a plus - but storming back and following Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in winning a major while at LIV Golf would help shed talk of his decline.