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AUGUSTA, GA – When Dustin Johnson made the first start Sunday morning with a four stroke lead at the 2020 Masters, he received only a handful of applause. Various members of the Augusta National Golf Club along with their spouses and a few volunteers cheered as the # 1 player on the planet tried to lock down the second major of his career.
On the veranda beyond the large oak tree that protects the clubhouse from the first tee, a group of waiters and waitresses wearing green Masters logo masks oversaw the tee shot. They added to the applause. Johnson punched his brother Austin’s fist as the 84th Masters final round began.
Two hundred and fifty minutes later, Dustin banged Austin’s fist again. They were on the 18th tee box, and Dustin had just erased his tee shot. In the previous four hours, his lead had grown suddenly, but you could put the World Golf Hall of Fame in the chasm between leading par five with one to go and leading par four with 18 holes left. They knew Dustin was about to add Augusta National to his now growing collection of major championships.
There are a million reasons why we root an athlete or a team in the sports we love. Some are tasteless, many are legitimate. The unifying factor is that everyone loves a good story.
Dustin Johnson – perhaps a little unlikely (if you’ve been following the start of his career) – ticks a lot of “easy to encourage” boxes. On Sunday he may have checked the others.
The wheels wobbled early as Johnson cut a chip at the 2nd hole in a bunker before recovering for par. He made two bogeys in his first five holes and saw his slim one-shot lead enter the 6th. Memories of the four 54-hole leaders that DJ lost to the majors began to come into play.
“There were doubts in my mind just because I had been there,” Johnson said after the round. “I’m often in this position. For example, ‘When am I going to have my head and finish the golf tournament or finish a major?’”
DJ recovered with birdies in the 6th and 8th places, taking a two-time lead in the second nine. As he wandered from the 9th green to the 10th tee, another golf scribe cackled. “Have you ever tried to walk like this?” he asked, pointing to DJ “You can’t do it. You were born with this.”
Johnson is a rarity in professional sports. People feel for him because of the grief he has been through for so many years.
Take your pick between Johnson anchoring his club at the 2010 PGA Championship, the ugly 82 in the final at the 2010 US Open and falling down the stairs at the 2017 Masters. There are plenty more. They are all so deeply sad.
But people – as the commentary on his approach suggests – also want be him. You rarely feel empathy and idolization in equivalent doses. The merger is a quirk, but it makes him an easy player to cheer on.
His greatness too. DJ picked his spots, let birdies come to him at numbers 13-15 and lit the second nine with a 33. He finished in 68.
No one in the history of the Masters has ever touched 20 cents in the standings. He did it with a birdie on the 15th green. As he walked to the 16th, he looked at the grand classification overlooking the previous hole. The volunteers had been working on these hands-on boards all week, perhaps more for the ritual of it all than for the information itself.
They had opened the slots for Cameron Smith, on the verge of putting the number of DJ’s closest competitor all day. He turned away before them. He didn’t want to know. He wanted to stay in his world.
Johnson has gone from someone with a reputation for a jerk to a clear thinker when it comes to working the golf courses and mentally preparing for the psychological warfare of the big championships. His physical transformation was less obvious – he’s always been good – but he’s really developed mentally. This is yet another reason why you want to see him succeed.
“He’s turned on, more than he suggests, more than everyone in the media thinks,” said Rory McIlroy, who finished Johnson’s T5 and nine fullback. “I’m just going to put it that way. He’s smarter than you think.
Johnson had a putt at No.18 to go 21 under. He missed it and “settled” for 20 cents, the new Masters record scoring by two strokes. That extra little bird would have given him the all-time mark for the major championship. Instead, he is also tied for this record.
When DJ approached the ball, which was within striking range, he rummaged in his pocket for a marker. Normally, the future champion will score as everyone in the squad comes out. But he couldn’t find his mark so he just tapped with Sungjae Im still left with the putt.
Considering the circumstances, it was a humorous and low-key golf moment. He’d rather go out and not have the last spotlight than sit for 15 seconds trying to find his marker. He plays golf in some ways (but not a lot) the way we to play golf.
The term idea of Dustin Johnson down normally means something different from Sunday.
After Tiger Woods held the green jacket for DJ to slip on, the new Masters champion took the stage on the practice green at Augusta National. The moment took her breath away. A normally placid DJ couldn’t find the words and couldn’t find his voice. It was what you expected from the champion.
Johnson is neither loud nor cheeky. A top 10 player said of him: “There is nothing wrong with letting your clubs do the talking.”
That’s what DJ has been doing all week at Augusta National. Even in victory, the words never came.
There is a great irony in this year’s major finale. One of the easiest players to cheer on on the pitch has won a Bossless Masters. You could say he won because there weren’t any clients, but I’m not sure the man who rolls with the mantra, “I feel the same whether the fans are there or not” was going to spit out one of the greatest Masters performances ever. all the time.
Anyway, there is no asterisk on this Masters. While having clients would have changed the feel of the tournament, DJ would have won this tournament if they had scratched Augusta National and replanted it in a bubble over the Pacific Ocean. Still, it would have been great to see.
“I like having them here,” Johnson said of customers. “They bring excitement, especially when they are cheering you on, they can shoot you. I miss them, and I hope we can see them in April.”
DJ is both a grinder and a dreamer. More traits that are rarely combined. He explained on Sunday that he wants to give the maximum of his golf work ethic for another decade and see how much he can earn.
As he left the 18th green, Johnson turned to Bubba Watson, a two-time champion who was there to greet him. He said he dreamed of putting on the jacket Watson was wearing.
“Growing up was all it was when I was a kid,” said Johnson, who was born 120 miles from Augusta National in Columbia, South Carolina. “You dream of playing in the Masters and you dream of putting on a green jacket. You still think it’s a dream, but … I hope it isn’t.”
With no one paying attention, Johnson went from being a bad boy of golf in the mid-1920s to one of the most serious and genuine people in the game. I’m not sure exactly when (or why) the transformation has happened, but it is remarkable to look back now. He has become endearing.
Here’s Dustin Johnson, whose reputation for a carefree attitude predated him, completely losing himself when Woods covered him with the green jacket. Talk emotionally about your kids and family and what it means so much more to have your brother in your bag.
There is a bit of awe to this one, like he sometimes can’t believe his own level of talent.
Augusta and Oakmont among the 24 PGA Tour wins, however, made Johnson an all-time greats, someone who elicited adulation for his gifts and grind, heartache and hope.
Although he has won nine figures well in his career and clinched titles all over the world, all he wants to do is wake up every morning and go play a good round of golf. Another in a long list of things to love (and sometimes even relate to) about him.
It seems the only unfortunate part of Dustin Johnson’s 2020 Masters victory is that there were so few people there to cheer him on in the biggest win of his career.
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