ST. LOUIS – Unlike on the PGA Tour, players at this week’s PGA Championship are permitted to wear shorts during their practice rounds.
The practice became the norm on the European Tour in 2016 and the PGA of America followed suit last year.
You can count Dustin Johnson as a fan of the policy.
“I think it’s good, especially as hot as it is here,” he said Tuesday at Bellerive. “It’s nice, if you want to wear shorts, to be able to wear them.”
That said, the top-ranked player in the world walked into the interview room in long pants, prompting an obvious follow-up: “Do you plan to wear shorts in a practice round, or did you just forget to pack them because you’re not used to it?”
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“Yeah, I definitely forgot to pack them,” he admitted, laughing. “But I mean … I was going to play really early this morning so it wasn’t going to be too hot so I just wore pants.
“And I did [wear shorts] last year and at Quail Hollow, and it almost felt kind of weird wearing shorts, especially when I wear pants every single day out here. At home I do wear them a bunch.
“But yeah, I definitely forgot.”
Johnson will tee off at 12:53 p.m. CT on Thursday with a pair of major champions in Bubba Watson and Adam Scott. They’ll all be wearing long pants.
