Johnson quickly proving it's not all about the long ball

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Dustin Johnson is displaying an all-around game and has total control with one round to go.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Make no mistake: Dustin Johnson can pound it. But if you're thinking that he's just a one-trick pony, a big-shot artist who may overpower a course to win on occasion but won't be able to hold up when a delicate touch is required ... well, he proved you wrong this week.

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Johnson won his second PGA TOUR event in just his 36th career start, taking the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am by four strokes after rain washed out the final round.

But he did it by more than sheer power, even though he led in driving distance this week, the only player to average more than 300 yards off the tee. That statistic, however, is misleading, since it only takes into account the four recorded drives at Pebble Beach Golf Links and doesn't measure drives at the other two courses in the rotation.

This week belonged to Johnson's irons, wedges and putter, not his driver. He has exhibited a deft flair, approaching the green, around the green and on the green. Consider:

• He ranked second among the 180 pros this week in scrambling, with 11 saves in 12 missed greens in regulation. His TOUR ranking coming into this week was 92nd.

• He also ranked second in greens in regulation at 77.78 percent (42 of 54). His TOUR ranking coming into this week in that statistic was 39th.

• And he tied for 24th in putts per round (an average of 28). He entered this week tied for 107th in that category.

And unlike the driving statistic, those three categories include all three rounds for every player.

"My chipping and putting have been very good," Johnson said after Saturday's third round. "I've hit all my little pitch shots and I'm putting it pretty good. Out here with the soft greens, you have to hit a lot of half-shots. I'm hitting my little chip wedges really well."

Despite his big-hitting ability -- or maybe because of it -- Johnson doesn't spend a lot of time on the driving range. His practice habits center mostly on the short game, and it's starting to pay off.

Last year, he was fourth on TOUR in driving distance behind Bubba Watson, Robert Garrigus and J.B. Holmes. So far this year, he's eighth. Not a huge drop-off, but to Johnson, it really doesn't matter.

"I hit it far but it doesn't really do anything if you can't get it in the hole," he shrugged. "I get it in the hole very good. It's something I pride myself on."

And now, Johnson jumped into the elite young-gun crowd that includes the higher profiles of Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas. As of today, Johnson has just as many PGA TOUR victories as the latter pair.

Luckily for Johnson, he already knew what it took to win, having claimed the Turning Stone Resort Championship last year when he sank an eight-foot putt on the final hole to beat Robert Allenby.

And he was in contention here a year ago. He was tied for third entering the final round at Pebble Beach, and for the first time in his young TOUR career he was in the final group, playing with Vijay Singh and Dudley Hart.

He shot 1-over 73 that day, with a double-bogey on the 14th and a bogey at the 18th, to finish tied for seventh. He didn't win ... but he did gain a valuable lesson.

"It was a good learning experience, definitely," said Johnson, recalling how the winds kicked up in the final round. "I was right there coming down the stretch. I'll be able to draw on that as well as my victory at Turning Stone."

With his second win, we all learned something:

Don't judge Dustin Johnson by his long drives.