Dustin Johnson is happy with where his game is.
The 2016 U.S. Open champion has already captured a big win this season at the WGC-Mexico Championship and has seven top-10 finishes, including runner-up finishes at the Masters and the PGA Championship.
But the longstanding world No. 1 was recently bumped down a peg by good friend Brooks Koepka.
As Johnson falls to No. 2, both in the World Golf Rankings and on golf's biggest stage, he is still betting on himself.
"I felt like I'm playing pretty solid. I feel like the game's in good form," he said. "Obviously had a pretty good week at the PGA a couple weeks ago. ...
"I put myself in a position to have a chance, which coming from that far behind, you know, on a really tough golf course, it's hard to do."
Johnson has had quite a few chances in the past to come away with wins at the USGA's marquee event. The most notable came in 2015 at Chambers Bay when he caught the wrath of his putter. Johnson finished with a three-putt, and later a one-stroke penalty from a previous hole, to fall into a tie for second place behind Jordan Spieth.
It has seemed for a while that was as far as Johnson could go until he won the U.S. Open the following year. Since then, he has missed the cut (2017) and finished third (2018) in the past two U.S. Opens.
This season, Johnson has played consistent golf while maintaining a top spot in the world rankings, but it hasn't yet translated at a major championship.
Even if Pebble Beach is the course where Johnson returns to major glory, he knows it won't be easy.
The course comes with its own challenges, not to mention the added difficulty the USGA will bring with hole placements.
While Johnson has held leads there before, it will be tough to have a substantial lead going into the weekend on this course with this field.
"But it's Pebble. If — even in 2010 where I had a good — a really good chance, I had about a three-shot lead or something going into Sunday, you know, it's a golf course where if you play solid for four days, it's tough enough depending on the conditions," Johnson said. "I feel like if I played really well for four days, you could win by a lot — I'd love to say yes, but I think that's a bit of a stretch. Just because right now in the game, I feel like there's just so many really good players, and they are all playing really well."