JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — On the eve of the PGA Championship, Dustin Johnson was surely holed up in some quiet corner, getting in a little extra reading.

Or, at the very least, he was giving a cursory glance to that sheet of paper explaining the local rules of Atlanta Athletic Club.

Well, that’s not D.J.

This is, after all, the guy who sells T-shirts on his website that say, “No Guts, No Glory.”

“I’ve never looked at one and probably never will,” Johnson said Wednesday, breaking into a defiant smile.

Not even after what happened last year?

“I know the rules,” Johnson shot back.

That may be true, but there’s that little matter of Whistling Straits. In one of the greatest mental blunders or — depending on your point of view — all-time rip jobs, Johnson lost the chance to win his first major championship at last year’s PGA Championship.

He had to take a two-shot penalty on the 72nd hole after grounding his club in a patch of dirt that only vaguely resembled a bunker.

Johnson still isn’t sure that’s what it was.

“It was only about this big around,” he said, holding out his arms in the shape of a small circle. “There was grass and beer cans and cups in there. It had no definition at all.”

Good enough, though, under local rules. And Johnson, knowing the rules, dutifully erased the number on his card and wrote in one that was two strokes higher. Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson went on to a playoff that should’ve included Johnson, too.

Kaymer went on to capture his first major title, so he’ll be the defending champion when play begins Thursday.

Johnson is still chasing his first big win, but he’s never really griped about the cards he was dealt.

Heck, he still blames himself for driving the ball so far right that he wound up in a bunker that didn’t look like one. He had a one-stroke lead, his first major title just a par away. He should’ve been more conservative off the tee, done what it took to stay in the fairway.

“I never should’ve hit it over there,” Johnson said. “I should’ve hit a 3-wood instead of the driver.”

In defeat, Johnson earned plenty of respect for the way he stoically handled the penalty.

“I don’t ever get too angry or too mad, especially when it was my fault,” Johnson said. “Still, the more times I look at it, the more I think it’s not even a bunker. But things happen. Rules are rules. I broke one, and I got a penalty.”

He’s reminded of his misfortune quite often. Often when he stops to sign autographs after a practice round — as he did for a good 15 minutes Wednesday, working both sides of the ropes — someone hands him a picture that captures what is, up to now, the defining moment of the 27-year-old’s career.

“It seems that all the pictures people want me to sign are like me hitting that shot,” Johnson said, chuckling. “I’m like, ‘Uhh, thank you.”‘

Having been a Sunday contender in three of the past six majors, Johnson seems poised to break through, to create a new defining moment.

He started the final round of the 2010 U.S. Open with a three-shot lead, only to throw it away with an 82. After the disappointment of Whistling Straits, Johnson clawed his way back from a miserable start at this year’s British Open and was in the final group again.