Weekly Recap: DJ Makes It Look Easy

For years, the prevailing thought was that losing majors in excruciating fashion time after time didn't really bother Dustin Johnson. The belief was that he was able to simply shrug it off, pack up the NetJet and move on to the next tournament.

Now, we know that that wasn't the case -- or at least isn't the case anymore.

After running away with the 84th Masters, Johnson showed how much winning this major did matter to him. He finally proved it to all of us and -- more importantly, as he said in the Augusta National interview room -- to himself. He was so moved that in a separate interview with Amanda Balionis he could barely speak.

Winning can't possibly mean that much if losing means so little.

So he was either putting on a brave front all along or something changed at some point. Maybe he got tired of blowing big tournaments. We can all recite the list: Pebble Beach, Whistling Straits, Chambers Bay. We won't include Harding Park. Johnson played very well, but Collin Morikawa played better.

By all accounts, Johnson works harder now. Much harder. When you can roll out of bed and beat 99.99 percent of the world, maybe you don't think you have to go above and beyond. And there's a certain logic to that. However, his fiancee's father, Wayne Gretzky, played a large role in changing that mindset.

Don't discount the effect Johnson's younger brother/caddie, Austin Johnson, had as well. He has worked with DJ on all facets of his putting game and helps him line up his putts. Much has been said about how much Johnson's putting has improved. And it has. But his putting, at least as measured by strokes gained, wasn't all that bad. It was more the critical miss here and there, on the pressure-filled putts. Where Johnson really has gotten significantly better is with his wedges, picking up more strokes around the green. Before 2014-15, he was almost always ranked outside the top 100. He's been inside that threshold ever since, and even as high as 33rd. When you add that to the rest of his game, well, watch out. Case in point: DJ was first in the field in scrambling. First in scrambling at...Augusta National.

We could look back in a few years and see that winning this second major was a turning point in Johnson's career. He has now won four times since June. Could you see him winning a major next year? Maybe two or three or more over the next 10 years, which is how much longer Johnson says he wants to play? He could turn out to have a backloaded career, somewhat like Phil Mickelson's. Maybe not quite as good as Mickelson's, but maybe as good, depending on your metric. After all, Johnson has been the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world for the equivalent of two full years now, and that should count for a lot. It's not ALL about majors.

The feeling here has long been that Johnson did not need a second major to be stamped an all-time great. He has had so many other remarkable accomplishments.

But for those of you who required it, now he has it.

AUGUSTA NATIONAL

A word about the course.

It played easier than it ever has before. Johnson set the scoring record at 20-under-par, the cut line was the lowest ever, more Masters rookies made the cut than ever before, and the scoring average was under par for three days until it inched a little bit over on a windy Sunday.

The greens got soaked before the tournament and never really dried out. They may never be this easy again. That should not detract from Johnson's win. Not one bit. But when using course history as a guide in future Masters, this November edition should be viewed as an outlier. Guys who had never played well in the Masters before suddenly did. Sure, that happens a bit every year, but it happened a lot this year. That's one reason why the Sunday leaderboard was so underwhelming. 

Rest assured that the ANGC powers that be will make sure this is not repeated come April.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Tiger Woods
It certainly would be poetic to believe that the 12th hole, which is really where Woods won the 2019 tournament, decided that payment was now due. On Sunday, Woods shot a 10 there, with three water balls on the little par-3 -- nearly matching the four rinsers that sunk Francesco Molinari, Brooks Koepka, Ian Poulter and Tony Finau a year ago. Woods incredibly managed to birdie five of the final six holes, nearly negating those seven lost shots on 12. So it was close to a wash. Woods wound up tied for 38th, which is not far off where he was placed in the RotoWire pre-tournament rankings, at 27th. It was fun to see Tiger look like the Tiger of old for those six holes. But to do it again over a full 72? Well, that's far harder to envision.

Phil Mickelson
Mickelson finished four shots worse than Woods in a tie for 55th. A day after boasting that he drove the ball like a "stallion," he ballooned to a 79 on Saturday, providing more evidence that the golf gods exist. The feeling before the tournament was that both Mickelson and Woods might be able to have good weeks simply because of their familiarity at Augusta. But the course played so easy that their big advantage was minimized. We'll wait five months to see Tiger and Phil on the course in its true form before making a final judgment on their Masters futures.

Bryson DeChambeau
After two months of hype, it all came crashing down for DeChambeau at the very outset on Thursday morning. He complained of dizziness and stomach pains during the tournament, so it's best to hold off on grading his performance. DeChambeau was spot-on in reviewing his dominant U.S. Open -- that he did so much more than just boom his drives. Hitting the ball farther than everyone else is not enough to win a major, though.

Cameron Smith
Smith had been 3-for-3 in Masters cuts coming in and tied for fifth in 2018. So we're not lumping him in with some others who took advantage of the softer conditions. Maybe becoming the first golfer to shoot all four rounds in the 60s was a byproduct of the tamer course, but Smith was still awesome in tying for second with Sungjae Im. Smith's short game is good enough to play well anywhere. Where he really shined this past week was off the tee, repeatedly booming long and straight drives. That should send his stock rising in 2021.

Sungjae Im
Im came somewhat close to becoming the first winning Masters rookie in more than 40 years (Fuzzy Zoeller, 1979). Im is a top-20 player and won the Honda in February, so he's the real deal. His short game was superb all week. But he also had never finished in the top-20 in six previous majors, missing four cuts. Still, he's only 22. Can he contend again next April? He'll be a tough guy to rank in the 85th Masters.

Justin Thomas
Thomas' solo fourth continued his trend of getting better every year through his five Masters. He was also coming off a tie for eighth at the U.S. Open. Clearly, he's been circling around a second major win for a couple of years now. He still needs to putt better for it to happen at Augusta.

Rory McIlroy
McIlroy was cooked after an opening 75. But he roared back to tie for fifth, his sixth Masters top-10 in the past seven years as he continues to chase the career grand slam. He also shot himself out of the tournament on Day 1 at Royal Portrush last year. If he could figure out how to handle Thursday next April, that could be a tell-tale sign.

Dylan Frittelli
Frittelli looked awesome and never fully went away, even on Sunday. He tied for fifth to earn a return visit next year. He had missed the cut in his first Masters in 2018, so improvement is not a total surprise. But Frittelli is ranked outside the top-200 in putting on the PGA Tour, and the greens won't be so kind to him next April.

Abraham Ancer
Ancer is a very good golfer but who played over his head for three days in his first Masters with every round in the 60s. Being in the final grouping on Sunday proved to be too daunting as an ugly 76 left him tied for 13th. 

Jon Rahm
Rahm's tie for seventh gave him a third straight top-10 at the Masters. He stayed with Johnson over the first two days, but the difference between Nos. 1 and 2 seemed quite large on the weekend. Rahm has now played 17 majors. It takes time to win one. It might take Rahm a bit longer. You'd pick Johnson to win another before him, probably Thomas too. And maybe even this next guy:

Brooks Koepka
Koepka also tied for seventh, a very encouraging sign for him heading into 2021, apparently fully healthy again. Johnson's success should be a great motivating factor for Koepka, especially at Augusta, where he was runner-up last year.

C.T. Pan, Corey Conners
Pan tied for seventh in his first Masters and Conners for 10th in his third. By finishing in the top-12, they'll be back next April. Both have won on Tour but are generally horrible putters. It sure seems as if they benefited more than most from a soft Augusta.
  
Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth
Fowler tied for 29th and Spieth tied for 46th. Both normally do far better at the Masters. While their games have trended way south this year, we think they can play better at Augusta in relation to the field on a harder track. We'll find out next April if we're right.

Tyrrell Hatton
Ranked top-10 in the world, Hatton missed all three major cuts this year. He had made eight straight across 2018 and 2019 with three top-10s, so this was probably an aberration. Probably.
 
Bernhard Langer
One of the feel-good stories of the week, the 63-year-old Langer became the oldest player in Masters history to make the cut. He didn't just reach the weekend, either; he tied for 29th. Langer also made the cut the previous two years and three of the past four, so don't chalk this one up to the easier conditions. Truly impressive.