Dustin Johnson Is Your 2020 Masters Champion

Banks11/15/2020 7:59 PM

Patrick Smith. Getty Images.

DJ!

The world's number 1 golfer showed exactly why he's the game's best in a resounding 5-shot victory this week. More impressive was the dominant fashion in which he won it. Broke Tiger and Spieth's Masters Tournament record of 270 with a crisp 268 and set another record for most consecutive rounds under par at Augusta National with his 11th in the final round. Brilliant stuff.

The narrative going into today was all about DJ having blown all 4 of his previous major lead/co-leads. This was the most comfortable of any of those leads, but that's still a mental hurdle to have to get over and DJ answered the bell in a big way. Didn't exactly come out guns blazing to start and he may have bogeyed 4 and 5, but he responded with a huge answer with birdies on 6 and 8 to maintain control and not let Sungjae Im and Cameron Smith get too close to him.

Cameron Smith played yet another unbelievable round of golf to apply some pressure and cut the lead to 2 at the turn, and that's where DJ's mettle was really tested. He answered with a stress-free par at 10, a great up-and-down at the challenging 11th to save par, and played the smart safe shot to the left of the pin and between the bunkers on 12. With danger out of the way it became attack mode moving forward, and that's where DJ thrives. Birdie-birdie-birdie on 13-15 and it was ovah. Curtains. Finito.

Giphy Images.

The guy just makes the game look so easy. He's always had the distance, he's always had the ball-striking, and over the last half decade he's steadily improved all other aspects of his game to create the MACHINE that he is now. It's actually wild that this is only his 2nd major victory. He's been on so many front page leaderboards in his day and now has 11 Top 5's and 19 Top 10's to his name. A green jacket at Augusta National is as good as it gets, and his 2016 US Open victory at Oakmont was at one of golf's most iconic venues too.

He's starting to move into the conversation among the game's all-time greats. He's definitely cemented himself as a top 5 player this century. This serves as his 24th PGA Tour win and he's spent the 4th most weeks at #1 in the history of the OWGR ranking (dating back to 1986). Only Tiger, Norman, and Rory have more, and he's a lock to pass Rory in a couple of weeks. At age 36 he may not be as young as a lot of his fellow competitors, but there's plenty of great golf left in DJ and he's showing no signs of stopping.

Congrats to DJ.