Dustin Johnson to make return at Wells Fargo Championship

World No.1 Dustin Johnson has revealed that he is nearing full fitness and has pencilled in his return to action at the Wells Fargo Championship next month.

Johnson suffered a back injury when he fell down a flight of stairs at his Augusta rental home, which forced the World No.1 to pull out of the first Major of the year.

He had walked to the first tee with the full intention of teeing it up before concluding he couldn’t play, yet had said he felt the injury wouldn’t be long-standing. 

“My elbow is bruised and thats fine but its the lower back,” Johnson had said. “I could swing maybe 70% max and it still hurt. The back-swing is fine but its impact and through impact where it catches. “It feels like in probably two days I’ll be fine.”

However, the World No.1 has since missed the RBC Heritage, and won’t be teeing it up at either this week’s Valero Texas Open or at the Zurich Classic. 

Instead, the 32-year-old has now set his sights on winning a fourth PGA Tour title in a row at the Wells Fargo Championship, which starts on May 4.

Johnson told GolfMagic: “[My back is] still a little bit bruised, but today I hit balls, and everything was pretty good.”

“It’s a little tight, but I can swing just fine. I was very happy with my practice session today. I was hitting it very well. Hardly any issues. I would say it’s about 85, 90%.”

“I felt good probably since about last Monday. I’ve got a few weeks off, so there was just no point in rushing anything. I just kind of took it easy, just been training a little bit, taking care of it so I won’t have any issues. Today was good. I hit balls all the way through driver and I was fine, so that was very reassuring.”

Johnson is also expected to compete at The Players Championship next month ahead of the defence of his US Open title at Erin Hills in June.