His Aces GC teammare Pat Perez promptly jumped in: "We don't give a damn how he feels. We know how he feels about us, so it's mutual," Perez said.
Perez's quotes have now been deleted from LIV Golf's official transcripts, underscoring the sensitive state of world golf affairs.
But Johnson and fellow players are adamant the Adelaide edition fulfilled the dream they were sold when signing up for LIV.
"I thought this is what it would get to," Johnson said.
"Hopefully we will continue this for more events because this was incredible.
"The support we've had from the fans and the city ... awesome.
"Obviously the crowds were unbelievable this week so it was a lot of fun."
The Grange in Adelaide was sold out for three consecutive days as some 90,000 people revelled in LIV Golf's Australian debut.
"Honestly, for us to get to this point this fast - I could see it getting even better, bigger," Patrick Reed said.
Fellow American Peter Uihlein said the success should come with context.
"It's 12 events, that's the reality - we have done 12 events and you get this kind of atmosphere on your 12th one?" he said.
"Think about when this is like your 40th or 50th, how much bigger and how much more this will grow.
"People lose sight of that a little bit. This is literally the 12th event. The sky is the limit."
Another American, Chase Koepka, said: "This has been the best tournament LIV has had so far."
Which all comes as a source of pride for Australia's Cam Smith, who lived a LIV week in the star attraction spotlight.
"This is part of the reason why we play, we want to play in front of big crowds that get excited," Smith said.
"And put golf clubs in the hands of kids that one day want to be out here.
"Yeah, it's a massive step in the right direction for us."
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