It looks like we might see Dustin Johnson back in action before the end of January.
Johnson expects to return to the PGA Tour at the $6 million Farmers Insurance Open, from Jan. 26-29 at Torrey Pines outside San Diego, according to his agent.
David Winkle of Hambric Sports Management said Friday that the Coastal Carolina alumnus and former Myrtle Beach resident would be skipping the first three events of the year as he recovers from knee surgery.
Johnson had arthroscopic surgery on Nov. 29 to repair damaged cartilage in his right knee. He had reportedly been experiencing pain since July, when he was a runner-up to Darren Clarke in the British Open.
Johnson is missing this week's season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, next week's Sony Open in Hawaii, and the Humana Challenge (formerly the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic) in La Quinta, Calif.
He has played in the season-opening event the past three-years with finishes between ninth and 16th, the Sony Open in 2008 and 2010 with a pair of top 20s -- he withdrew before the tournament last year for personal reasons -- and hasn't played in the Humana since 2009. Johnson tied for third at Torrey Pines last year, and that event precedes by two weeks the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which he won in 2009 and 2010.
Johnson was expected to be crutches for a week, then resume chipping and putting, and be nearly full strength by late December. Johnson said Thursday on Twitter that his knee rehab was "in the rearview mirror" and he was "still getting over the tail end" of it.
Despite discomfort, Johnson won The Barclays in August to become the first player since Tiger Woods in 1999 to win in each of his first four years on the PGA Tour straight out of college. He has five career wins and more than $13.5 million in official earnings, not including $2.5 million for finishing in the top five in the FedEx Cup playoffs in each of the past two seasons.
