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The final results for the 2020 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia is in. Dustin Johnson cruised to a five-shot, wire-to-wire victory over runners-up Cameron Smith and Sungjae Im.
This is Johnson’s second major championship, first Masters win, and 24th PGA Tour win. It extends his lead at No. 1 in the OWGR.
Leaderboard
Below is the truncated top 10 leaderboard:
(1) Dustin Johnson (-20)(T2) Cameron Smith (-15)
(T2) Sungjae Im (-15)
(4) Justin Thomas (-12)
(T5) Rory McIlroy (-11)
(T5) Dylan Frittelli (-11)
(T7) C.T. Pan (-10)
(T7) Brooks Koepka (-10)
(T7) John Rahm (-10)
(T10) Webb Simpson (-9)
(T10) Corey Conners (-9)
(T10) Patrick Reed (-9)
For the full leaderboard, go here.
Thoughts & Statistics
Here are some statistics on the champion and other notables near the top of the leaderboard:
Winner: Dustin Johnson (-20)
First off, it’s worth mentioning that at -20, Dustin has broken the 72-hole scoring record at Augusta previously held by Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth.
This is not as impressive as it seems at first glance, since the 2020 Masters was one of the easiest in recent memory, but it’s still a notable achievement. It so happens that Spieth’s record was also shot during a Masters with easy scoring conditions.
That aside, Johnson has continued a run of incredible golf over the past year or so. Consider this: he won three times in the 2020 season, and his last six starts prior to the Masters were (from most to least recent): T2 (Houston Open), T6 (U.S. Open), win (TOUR Championship), 2 (BMW Championship), win (Northern Trust), and T2 (PGA Championship).
How unbelievable is that? The only performance I can draw a comparison to (but not quite as good) is that of Tiger Woods after his dad died, when he won 5-6 tournaments in a row. Johnson is the best player in the world right now by a healthy margin.
And how has Johnson performed in past Masters? Phenomenally, it turns out: T2 in 2019, T10 in 2018, T4 in 2016, and T6 in 2015.
Johnson had both top recent form and top course form coming into the Masters, so it’s not much of a surprise to see him win this authoritatively.
Scoring
In Round 4, Johnson made six birdies and two bogeys to shoot a 4-under 68. He rattled off three birdies in a row from 13-15 and had no trouble holding his lead the rest of the way.
He also won wire-to-wire, tying for the lead in two rounds but coming out ahead in the other two. His worst round was a 2-under 70 on Friday.
Scores in regulation: 65, 70, 65, 68 (268)
A dream come true. I’ll remember this day at @TheMasters for the rest of my life. #themasters pic.twitter.com/jUCYsXFCIG
— Dustin Johnson (@DJohnsonPGA) November 15, 2020
Runners-Up (-15)
Cameron Smith sticks out to me as the guy who beat Justin Thomas in a singles match in the 2019 Presidents Cup. There was a lot of braggadocio going on there, but his impressive performance that week proved his worth as a real contender at the highest levels of the game.
On top of that, it turns out that he was in great form coming into the tournament — he finished T4 at the ZOZO the previous month, and 11 the week before that at the CJ Cup.
At just 27 years old, Smith has plenty of Tour wins in his bright future.
Sungjae Im has a more modest record, but he did win the Honda Classic in 2020 and has Web.com and Korean Tour wins under his belt.
A Note On Tiger
I’m not really surprised by Tiger’s performance this week; it’s just a continuation of the below-average play he has shown us all year.
His driving was solid and his short game was great, but his iron play and putting left a lot to be desired.
I don’t need to get into the details of his disastrous 10 on the 12th hole in the final round. What I was impressed by, and what gives me some hope for his future on Tour, was his ability to come back and birdie five of the last six holes to finish at 1-under for the tournament.
Why wasn’t Tiger able to contend at all in 2020? Why is he scoring so much worse than he did in 2018 right after his back fusion, when he nearly won the FedEx Cup?
I can’t tell you for sure. What I am confident of is that he doesn’t practice or play nearly enough to get his game to the level it needs to be at. Part of this is certainly due to his back, and I think there’s also some lost motivation after winning last year’s Masters.
Maybe something just needs to click before we see him win again. Until then, let’s hope he has a better 2021.
Have any congratulations for Dustin, or any other thoughts about this year’s Masters? Go ahead and leave a comment below.
