For 10 years, Dustin Johnson ’s chase for career-defining, main championship titles was tinged with ruthless angst, misfortune and calamitous setbacks.
He grounded a membership in an unobserved bunker on the 2010 P.G.A. Championship to earn a heartless penalty that bounced him from a playoff for the victory. 5 years later, at america Open, a three-putt on the ultimate gap value him one other main championship playoff berth. Using a scorching streak that made him the prohibitive favourite on the Masters three years in the past, Johnson slipped on the steps at his rental home on the event’s eve and withdrew with a again damage.
Whilst he gained the 2016 U.S. Open, he was saddled with the ignominy of a penalty assessed after his celebration on the ultimate gap.
Johnson, 36, hopes to seek out his means there.
“It feels good to get previous one main, particularly when the second is the Masters, which I at all times dreamed of successful as a child,” mentioned Johnson, who grew up in Columbia, S.C., about an hour’s drive from the Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership. “I dream of successful quite a lot of majors. Hopefully, this one will assist give me slightly spring.”
Johnson, whose unshakable stoicism on the golf course has develop into his best-known trait, broke down in tears whereas being interviewed after the ultimate spherical behind the 18th inexperienced.
“It nonetheless appears like I’m dreaming,” he mentioned, wiping his eyes.
Johnson’s closest pursuers had been Sungjae Im of South Korea and Cameron Smith of Australia, who every completed the event at 15 underneath par. They narrowed Johnson’s lead after he made consecutive bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes, however Dustin Johnson rallied with two birdies in his subsequent three holes after which prolonged his lead from there.
Johnson’s final-round, four-under-par 68 gave him a event rating of 268, or 20 underneath par, which broke the 72-hole Masters file of 270 beforehand held by Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth.
Woods, the defending champion, started Sunday 11 strokes behind Johnson, however by no means mounted a run on the lead. On the par-3 12th gap, he hit three balls into the creek defending the inexperienced and registered a rating of 10, his highest rating on any gap in his PGA Tour profession.
Woods then birdied 5 of his final six holes to complete one underneath par for the event and tied for 38th.
Johnson’s victory additionally concluded a bizarrely atypical Masters, which was postponed to November from its customary spot in early April due to the coronavirus pandemic. An occasion recognized for its traditions, the 84th Masters was contested for the first time without fans, who’re usually a vital a part of the visible and auditory expertise. Augusta Nationwide was so quiet that solely the chatter between participant and caddie rose above the chirping birds. The ultimate spherical, a theatric staple of the worldwide sporting calendar, was held 4 hours sooner than its normal time to account for the diminished quantity of daylight within the fall.
Lastly, Johnson was introduced with the green jacket that goes with his victory lower than 5 months earlier than he should defend his title in April 2021.
That may be a circumstance that didn’t vex Johnson, the world’s top-ranked participant.
“I do know 2020 has been a very unusual 12 months,” mentioned Dustin Johnson, who contracted the coronavirus final month and quarantined for roughly two weeks with delicate signs. “However it’s been good to me.”
Johnson’s victory was his first after holding the 54-hole lead in a serious championship. He had didn’t win in 4 such situations, together with in August when he tied for second on the P.G.A. Championship. Johnson conceded that not with the ability to shut out the lead in a serious had begun to weigh on him.
“There was doubts in my thoughts,” he mentioned, including: “I’m on this place quite a lot of instances — like when am I going to complete off the golf event or end off a serious?
“This undoubtedly proved that I can do it.”
The Masters victory caps off a superb 12 months for Johnson, who gained 4 2020 PGA Tour occasions and was second or tied for second three different instances. In what’s the ultimate substantial event of 2020, Johnson on Sunday additionally stole the highlight from Bryson DeChambeau, whose latest prime outcomes and attention-grabbing, towering drives had made him the Masters favourite. DeChambeau, who shot a one-over-par 73 Sunday to complete the occasion two underneath par, mentioned that he battled bouts of dizziness in the course of the event and indicated he was going to see a health care provider when he returned house to Dallas.
“I’ve obtained to repair this dizziness; I’ve obtained to get wholesome,” DeChambeau mentioned.
Because the solar set Sunday night, in a Masters ritual, Woods helped put a inexperienced jacket, dimension 42 lengthy, on Johnson’s shoulders. Later, Johnson was requested if there was any particular that means to having Woods, the five-time Masters champion, performing the ceremony.
“Sure,” he answered. Then, with amusing and broad smile he added: “However any man might put it on me and I’d be simply effective.”
