DJ is an awful "grinder" - imho, primarily due to the extreme mediocre quality and inconsistency of his short-game on, and around, the greens including the flatstick (actually, primarily the average quality and inconsistency of his putting, especially 10-feet in, which is the key to being a great grinder and scrambler - Speith and Walker being great examples of this....they can still put up very respectable scores with their B games even though the way they do it is not as "pretty").
DJ is fortunate however, he is such a consistently great striker of the ball, that he rarely has to worry about "grinding" as evidenced by the fact that he was the current tour leader in regards to "consecutive cuts made" coming into the PGA at 25 consecutive cuts made - an extremely impressive number and a testament to the consistency of his sterling tee-to-green ball-striking ability (as is his finishing Top 10 in 6 of the last 7 Majors coming into the PGA including a US Open Championship).
Honestly, as strange and paradoxical as it sounds, players that are as insanely talented and consistent as DJ from tee-to-green are often horrible "grinders" as they hit so many fairways and GIR, that they simply are not used to facing these types of scrambling / grinding shots hole after hole after hole -- IOW, their "greatest weakness" are the types of shots they rarely face (DJ is used "routine pars" even when he hits mediocre approach shots). Conversely, some of the best "grinders" in both the amateur and pro ranks are great grinders because they have lower percentage of fairways hit and GIR and they simply hit these difficult shots more often and are therefore not only better at them, but more "imaginative" in their options, and the best specific option, for these difficult, precision shots. Essentially, there short games and putting are simply more "pressure tested" to these unusual situations (a function of confidence) because they see them more often and hit this type of delicate shot more often -- e.g., "grinding" is a strength for them conversely to it being a weakness for a player like DJ that is typically near the very top of the board in GIR, routine pars [i.e., two-putt pars], etc....
In any event, the last two days very clearly show what DJ's cryptonite is and that is the very rare round where he does not have his A-Game (leads field in Driving Distance, Fairways Hit and Greens in Regulation, tons of good looks at birdie form 15' and in...) OR even his B-Game (top Quartile in the statistics mentioned, but not leading). He just does not have the quality of, or imaginative, short-game required and the worse his psychology gets and the more pressure he puts on his flat-stick, the worse he putts -- which is frankly not that unusual for any golfer. Grinders typically excel at putting under all circumstances precisely because their "psychology" always stays positive and they have extreme confidence that they can get up and down from anywhere even from inside a "trash can"! Their thoughts stay positive even when scrambling and grinding which is critical to putting -- putting is probably the most psychologically impacted portion of any phase of golf. Even for the absolute best putters, if they get over a putt that confuses them and they don't like, they are unlikely to make it -- it is a certifiable fact, that the more putts you truly believe you are going to make, the more putts you will make. Putting is easy for grinders typically, but putting becomes quite difficult for a player like DJ when he is playing poorly tee-to-green, because it is extremely rare for a player like DJ to play poorly tee-to-green and it destroys his "psychological state" and you can not putt well when your psychology is negative.
DJ is fortunate however, he is such a consistently great striker of the ball, that he rarely has to worry about "grinding" as evidenced by the fact that he was the current tour leader in regards to "consecutive cuts made" coming into the PGA at 25 consecutive cuts made - an extremely impressive number and a testament to the consistency of his sterling tee-to-green ball-striking ability (as is his finishing Top 10 in 6 of the last 7 Majors coming into the PGA including a US Open Championship).
Honestly, as strange and paradoxical as it sounds, players that are as insanely talented and consistent as DJ from tee-to-green are often horrible "grinders" as they hit so many fairways and GIR, that they simply are not used to facing these types of scrambling / grinding shots hole after hole after hole -- IOW, their "greatest weakness" are the types of shots they rarely face (DJ is used "routine pars" even when he hits mediocre approach shots). Conversely, some of the best "grinders" in both the amateur and pro ranks are great grinders because they have lower percentage of fairways hit and GIR and they simply hit these difficult shots more often and are therefore not only better at them, but more "imaginative" in their options, and the best specific option, for these difficult, precision shots. Essentially, there short games and putting are simply more "pressure tested" to these unusual situations (a function of confidence) because they see them more often and hit this type of delicate shot more often -- e.g., "grinding" is a strength for them conversely to it being a weakness for a player like DJ that is typically near the very top of the board in GIR, routine pars [i.e., two-putt pars], etc....
In any event, the last two days very clearly show what DJ's cryptonite is and that is the very rare round where he does not have his A-Game (leads field in Driving Distance, Fairways Hit and Greens in Regulation, tons of good looks at birdie form 15' and in...) OR even his B-Game (top Quartile in the statistics mentioned, but not leading). He just does not have the quality of, or imaginative, short-game required and the worse his psychology gets and the more pressure he puts on his flat-stick, the worse he putts -- which is frankly not that unusual for any golfer. Grinders typically excel at putting under all circumstances precisely because their "psychology" always stays positive and they have extreme confidence that they can get up and down from anywhere even from inside a "trash can"! Their thoughts stay positive even when scrambling and grinding which is critical to putting -- putting is probably the most psychologically impacted portion of any phase of golf. Even for the absolute best putters, if they get over a putt that confuses them and they don't like, they are unlikely to make it -- it is a certifiable fact, that the more putts you truly believe you are going to make, the more putts you will make. Putting is easy for grinders typically, but putting becomes quite difficult for a player like DJ when he is playing poorly tee-to-green, because it is extremely rare for a player like DJ to play poorly tee-to-green and it destroys his "psychological state" and you can not putt well when your psychology is negative.
