Dustin Johnson Wins First Green Jacket: The Masters 2020

Back in August, Brooks Koepka had some interesting words about Dustin Johnson, whom Koepka was chasing going into the final day of the PGA Championship. “I like my chances,” he said. “When I’ve been in this position before, I’ve capitalized. I don’t know, [Johnson]’s only won one. I’m playing good. I don’t know. We’ll see.” Three months later, it looks like DJ channeled his inner MJ and took that personally. He took home his first Green Jacket at the 2020 Masters.

Dustin Johnson’s Dominance

Where to start with this one? It was a wire-to-wire victory. It was the lowest 72 hole score in Masters history—by two strokes. He didn’t have a single round worse than two under par. Despite being number one in the world coming into the tournament, Dustin Johnson was far from the biggest story coming in. That didn’t matter. This was historic.

But the stats don’t stop there. Johnson had only four holes over par. He had two bogey-free seven under 65s. Despite that, there was a moment on Sunday that a victory for DJ didn’t seem certain. Bogeys on four and five (his first on the front nine all week) dropped him down to -15. He didn’t drop another stroke. Five birdies in the next ten holes saw him five strokes ahead of second place and wearing the Green Jacket in Butler Cabin.

The Field

It was a familiar week for Rory McIlroy. Thursday was a rough three over 75. He was all but out of contention after that. But somehow, he quietly snuck into the top five, going -14 over the next three days. It was his 13th top five finish at a major, but he’s still searching for his fifth major victory.

The rest of the top five featured a combination of new and familiar names. Cameron Smith and Sungjae Im were closest to Dustin Johnson, finishing -15. They were the only others with a chance, but they needed DJ to falter, which he refused to do. Justin Thomas was three behind them at -12, and Dylan Frittelli tied McIlroy at -11 to finish off the top five.

Australian Cameron Smith earned his best major finish and second Augusta top-5 in a runner-up performance this week (via Todd Bennett/The Augusta Chronicle)

As for some other big names, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm finished T7, 10 back on Johnson. Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed were a stroke behind them, tied for tenth. Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay were seven under at T17. Champions Tour player Bernhard Langer had a strong week, finishing three under, tied with Rickie Fowler and others in 29th.

The favorite going in, Bryson DeChambeau, struggled. He was never in contention, but he had some bad breaks throughout the tournament. On the third hole Friday, his ball was lost in the second cut, seemingly for no reason. He took a triple bogey and bogeyed the two holes after. To rub salt in the wound, a spotter found the ball after the window to look for it closed and gave it to him on the fourth tee. Who knows how the emotional DeChambeau would have reacted had his ball instead been found.

Tiger Watch

There’s no moral victories for the best golfer of all time, but this weekend was as close as it gets for Tiger. He was five under going into Sunday, but fell to -3 after 10 holes. Then came the twelfth. He hit it into Rae’s Creek three times on the par three, finishing with a 10. He could’ve packed it in; most guys probably would’ve.

Instead, Tiger birdied 13. He then pared 14. Then he birdied the last four holes, getting himself back to four over for the round. He finished the tournament one under par, tied for 38th.

Quick Hits

Andy Ogletree was the low amateur for the week. He finished two under par and tied for 34th place.

Jordan Spieth just snuck inside the cut line. He didn’t match his wire to wire win from 2015, but he did just finish inside the top-50.

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