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Bubba Watson was among the thousand people around the 18th green in his green jacket, waiting to give Dustin Johnson a hug and a message as he walked away with a few tears in his eyes and the all-time Masters scoring record in his pocket. . .
“Welcome to the club,” Watson told the new host of the April dinner of champions.
Johnson touched the sleeve of Watson’s green jacket as he replied, “I’ve been dreaming about this for a long time.”
Timely, Johnson refused to wait another minute to seal the deal. After delaying his birdie putt on the last green to six inches, he fiddled with the change in his pocket before deciding to simply touch it without waiting for Sungjae Im to pull out his pair to clear the stage.
“It’s a dream come true. You know, when I was a kid I always dreamed of being a Masters champion … It’s hard to talk,” Johnson said, apologizing for his unusual emotion in the television interview.
“I’ve never had so much trouble putting myself together. On the golf course I’m pretty good at it. “
At the famed Augusta National Range, Johnson just wouldn’t be denied Sunday when the winds picked up and young cannons Im and Cameron Smith tried to push but failed to catch a man on a mission. He kept everyone at arm’s length until he made three consecutive birdies at 13, 14 and 15 to reach 20 under par for the first time in tournament history and notch a five-shot victory.
Having grown just an hour up Interstate 20 in Columbia, South Carolina, that green jacket is what inspired Johnson to play golf rather than other sports suited to his athletic 6’4 ”frame.
He’s been a figure everyone has adapted to for the 42-length coat of an Augusta champion over the years, as he built a Hall of Fame career with 23 wins and a US Open title that de somehow it seemed to lack a bit of major hardware. .
“It honestly still feels like a dream,” he said. “When I was a kid, I dreamed of winning the Masters, that Tiger put the green jacket on, it still seems like a dream.
“Growing up so close to here, it has always been the tournament I wanted to win the most,” he said.
“You know, being close the last two years, finishing second last year behind Tiger, this was something I really wanted to do.”
Woods, who stayed to take Johnson’s jacket off after finishing tied for 38th on a day he hit a 10 at the 12th hole, praised Johnson’s performance.
“He’s one of the first guys to bring athletics to our sport,” Woods said.
“DJ has an incredible ability to stay calm through tough times, and to win this event, and we all know as past champions how difficult it is, the emotions that we have to deal with. I think there is no one more suitable for that than DJ. “
Despite starting the day with a four-shot lead, Johnson’s calm was put to the test again, as his main record with the 54-hole lead was 0 of 4.
He didn’t hit a fairway until the eighth hole, and back-to-back bogeys at 4 and 5 reduced his lead to one shot over Im and two over Smith.
But the short birdies at 6 and 8 gave him back the mattress and he settled into a rhythm that no one could touch.
“Since, really, 7 at the clubhouse, I played very, very solid,” he said. “Take a lot of great shots. But it was still difficult. I mean, I was nervous all day, but I felt like he controlled me really well. “
Im and Smith tied for second at 15 under par, and Smith became the first player in Masters history to record four rounds in the 60s (67-68-69-69) only to lose by five shots. Justin Thomas finished only in fourth place at 12 under par.
Rory McIlroy posted his third straight U-70 round with a 69 on Sunday to climb a tie for fifth with Dylan Frittelli at 11-under. McIlroy came within four shots of the lead as he birdies 3, 6 and 8 to reach 11 under par, while Johnson bogeyed back to back at 4 and 5 to slide to 15 under par.
“When I birdied the eighth hole and got to 11, I saw that DJ was down to 15, and I thought maybe there was a possibility,” McIlroy said.
“But then the wind picked up when we got to the corner, and it was difficult to make birdies. … Dustin is just playing such solid golf. It was probably an illusion of me on the eighth green.
“But yeah, I held on to the end and tried to get another score in the 60s in pretty tough conditions.”
It’s the score McIlroy scored in the first round that will haunt him, a 75 out of three over par when he finished the last nine holes of his suspended first round on Friday morning at 39 during the lowest scoring round in Masters history. .
In the end, it might not have mattered the way Johnson was playing, but it robbed McIlroy of a legitimate opportunity to fight for the missing piece of his big shot.
“That second morning I just didn’t have it,” he said. “I think I have to take the positives, I played the last 54 really well and only did two bogeys on that 54-hole stretch, which is probably the best golf race I’ve played here.”
Shane Lowry finished four under par and his career-best draw for 25th.
McIlroy tipped his cap to the number one player in the world, earning a second major that elevates him to another level of golf elite.
“He’s been knocking on the door for so long, and I think, again, since he came back in June after the lockdown, he has been by far the best player in the world,” McIlroy said.
“He’s won a few times, won a FedExCup, had a chance [in the PGA Championship] in Harding Park.
“And I think so, it validates what he did at Oakmont a few years ago and he’s had so many opportunities and he hasn’t been able to close the deal, but his resume speaks for itself.”
That résumé now includes a place in the Masters and the Champions Dinner for the rest of Johnson’s life. The wait was worth it.
“As a kid you dream of playing in the Masters and you dream of wearing a green jacket,” he said with that jacket on.
“I still think it is a dream, but I hope it is not.”
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