D.J. and M.K. at the 2010 PGA Championship – Two Clerihews

As all golf fans know, Dustin Johnson, the talented but inexperienced professional, has had his problems with the Majors this year. In June, at the U.S. Open, he led going into the last round and then skied to an 82, losing his chance to win. And in this year’s last major, the PGA Championship, leading by a shot on the last hole, he incurred a two stroke penalty for grounding his club in a bunker, and again lost any chance to win.

Johnson’s Major travails deserve to be remembered in a Clerihew. A Clerihew is  particular kind of a four line poem, named for its inventor, Edmund Clerihew Bentley. In an earlier Post, I described the characteristics of a Clerihew:

Clerihews are four line verses of the form aabb, in other words, the first and second lines rhyme as do the third and fourth. Beyond their rhyming scheme, Clerihews have a particular structure and purpose. Each focuses on one or more aspects of  the life and/or the works of a famous person while allowing for, better yet encouraging, overstatement, distortion and humor. It is also a requirement that the first line of a Clerihew begin or end with the person’s name.

So here is my Clerihew for Dustin Johnson:

D.J. at the PGA Championship

Dustin Johnson, D.J.to some,
Is likely feeling pretty glum.
He grounded his club in a trap unknown,
The result – another Major blown!

But what about the winner, Martin Kaymer? He deserves a Clerihew as well . . . and may need it to be remembered! So here is his:

Martin Kaymer – The Guy who Won

Martin Kaymer,
A Major first timer.
His win eclipsed by an unfortunate flap,
When the leader on 18 was caught in a trap!

Hopefully, both with have unclouded Major victories in the future.