Dustin Johnson wins The Masters with RECORD score at Augusta National

Johnson cements his position as World No.1 as he slips on the Green Jacket for the first time in his career...

Andy Roberts's picture
Sun, 15 Nov 2020
Dustin Johnson wins The Masters with RECORD score at Augusta National

Dustin Johnson has won The Masters for the first time in his career, and has broken the 72-hole scoring record at Augusta National in the process. 

Johnson, 36, carded a final-round 68 to finish the week at 20-under par and five strokes clear of Cameron Smith and Sungjae Im. The World No.1's four-round total eclipses the previous record of 18-under par set by Tiger Woods in 1997 and Jordan Spieth in 2015. 

 

 

"It's the one I wanted to win the most," said Johnson. "To have Tiger put the Green Jacket on me, I feel like I'm still dreaming."

The victory marks Johnson's second career major title to go alongside his 2016 US Open triumph at Oakmont. 

Johnson's five-stroke margin of victory is also the biggest since Woods won by 12 strokes in 1997, and his 11th straight round under par at Augusta breaks the previous record of Woods (10). 

On top of owning the new 72-hole scoring record at Augusta National, he also posted the fewest amount of bogeys of any Masters champion with just four. The previous record was just five, which had been set by five players. 

 

 

Johnson has been enjoying some of the best golf of his career in 2020, reflected none better than winning the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup for the first time in his career. 

The now 24-time PGA Tour winner has finished inside the top-six spots in his last seven tournaments on the PGA Tour, and that includes two victories and six top-threes. 

 

 

Johnson took a commanding four-stroke lead into the final round of The Masters but his lead was whittled down to just one stroke following a fast start from his playing partners Smith and Im.

He handed a birdie at the 3rd back with back-to-back bogeys at the 4th and 5th, but then resumed control of the tournament with birdies at the par-3 6th and par-5 8th. 

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Johnson played sensible golf around the turn and played for the middle of the greens, and then got up-and-down for par from a difficult spot at the tricky par-4 11th.

He fired his short-iron approach into the heart of the green at the iconic par-3 12th - a hole that saw defending champion Tiger Woods take an incredible 10 after sending three balls into the water earlier in the day - and then surged into a five-stroke lead when converting a six-foot birdie putt at the 14th to move to 19-under par.

Johnson then sent a wedge to within eight feet at the par-5 15th and drained the birdie putt to move to 20-under par.

He then played into the heart of the green with his approach shots at 16, 17 and 18 to see out his first Masters title and second career major. 

Justin Thomas finished in fourth on 12-under par, while Rory McIlroy surged over the final 54 holes to finish tied fifth with Dylan Frittelli on 11-under par. 

Brooks Koepka finished a further stroke back on 10-under par alongside Jon Rahm and CT Pan. 

Of the selected others, pre-tournament favourite Bryson DeChambeau failed to fire for most of the week and ended up tied 34th on 2-under par, one stroke ahead of Woods on 1-under par. 

RELATED: HOW MUCH THEY WON AT THE MASTERS

THE MASTERS FINAL LEADERBOARD

-20 D Johnson
-15 C Smith, S Im
-12 J Thomas
-11 R McIlroy, D Frittelli 
-10 B Koepka, J Rahm, CT Pan