The Masters golf tournament tees it up this coming Thursday at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. Historically the Masters is contested during the second week of April. Fans of the game oftentimes refer to the start of the Masters as the kickoff to the spring season as the dogwoods and the azaleas are in full bloom in Augusta and the outright beauty of the golf course is on full display.
Because of the pandemic, the 2020 Masters was postponed and was ultimately contested in November of last year. Dustin Johnson won that first ever autumn Masters, running away from the field with a five-stroke win over Sungjae Im and Cameron Champ. It was Johnson’s second major championship victory and definitely guaranteed him a spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame somewhere down the line.
Johnson is currently the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world and his last five years of play on golf’s center stage has been most impressive. During that time, Dustin has won 16 times including a U.S. Open triumph and a Masters victory, four wins in various World Golf Championship events, four Fed Ex Cup tournament victories, and he has brought home two PGA Tour Player of the Year trophies. Only Tiger Woods and Greg Norman have spent more weeks in the top spot on the world rankings. While DJ is a power player, he elevated his game several years ago by spending many hours on the practice range working on his wedge game. He is currently ranked third in scoring average on the PGA Tour as well as eighth in driving distance. Yet most telling is the fact that he is ranked sixth in shots gained tee to green and ninth is approach shots to the green. In a nutshell, Dustin pounds the ball down the fairway and then hits great short iron and wedge shots covering the flagstick. When he putts well, he wins.
Jaime Diaz is a highly regarded golf journalist who has written for the New York Times and Sports Illustrated. He is currently a talking head for the Golf Channel. After Johnson prevailed at last year’s Masters, Diaz made a most interesting assessment of the state of Dustin’s golf game. He called DJ “a giant Lee Trevino.” While Trevino is close to one foot smaller than Dustin Johnson, he had the reputation of being one of the two best strikers of the golf ball alongside the iconic Ben Hogan. Diaz is spot-on with his assessment when you consider that Dustin excels at pretty much every aspect of the game of golf. His putting isn’t up there with his ball striking skills, but when you consistently hit shots to inside of 10 feet, birdies seem to be easier to accumulate.
Although the 2020 season featured a stoppage of play as well as the cancellation of a number of PGA Tour events, Johnson still had a stellar season, topped off by his Masters triumph. His bank account swelled by just less than $24 million. He won the season-long Fed Ex Cup for the first time. The eye-popping money stats from last year included the fact that DJ averaged $21,816 for every hole that he played. It’s nice work when you’re that good.
Of course, when there is a field of just less than 100 golfers competing for the Masters green jacket, there is no true favorite. You just can’t tee it up, play average golf, and take home the winner’s first-place check some 72 holes later. The 2020 Masters marked Dustin Johnson’s second grand slam title and there are a pair of one-time major winners who enter next week’s Masters as potential favorites alongside DJ. Maybe they’ll pick up that elusive second major.
The Players Championship features golf’s strongest field each and every year, and its reigning champion, Justin Thomas, is not only playing great golf but is also looking to add a second major title to his already impressive golfing resume. The 27-year-old Thomas is the second-ranked golfer in the world, has won 14 times on the PGA Tour, and has survived the heat of grand slam Sunday golf by taking home the PGA Championship back in 2017. Speaking of Ben Hogan, when JT won the Players last month, commentator Paul Azinger described his ball striking that weekend as “Hogan-esque.” Because of the treacherous nature of the greens at Augusta National, hitting irons close to those diabolical pin placements is definitely a plus.
Another great iron player with a major championship trophy on his mantle is 24-year-old Collin Morikawa. A Southern California kid who played his collegiate golf at U.C. Berkeley, Collin displayed brilliant iron play as well as a heady short game when he won the PGA Championship last August at San Francisco’s Harding Park. In early March he won the World Golf Championship at the Concession in Florida. Morikawa is the world’s fourth-ranked golfer and although he has only been a professional golfer since 2019, he seems wise beyond his years. Perhaps he needs to play Augusta National a few more times because of its quirkiness, but then again, when you’re the No. 1-ranked golfer on tour with approach shots to the green, perhaps Morikawa’s skill level can get him fitted for a green jacket next Sunday.
Of course, not every winner of a Masters green jacket has had to win a major championship prior to achieving success at Augusta National. During the course of the last decade, world class golfers such as Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott have won their breakthrough grand slam title at the Masters. There are a number of outstanding young golfers who could follow that path as well this time around. Among those to consider are Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger and Viktor Hovland. Schauffele is ranked sixth in the world and is the PGA Tour’s 10th-best putter. Cantlay is 10th in the world and is the second-best scrambler on tour. Berger has had a great 10-month stretch of golf although he can run hot and cold. When he’s on, he’s very on. He is the world’s 15th-ranked golfer. Hovland is just three years removed from his U.S. Amateur win at Pebble Beach. He’s only 23 years old and is already the 14th-ranked golfer in the world. He’s already won twice on the PGA Tour. All four seem to have the skills to survive the difficulties that Augusta National presents.
The Masters tees it up this coming Thursday. All the prognostications have been made. Don’t expect a “who’s he” moment at the Masters where a virtual unknown will prevail at Augusta National. It’s just too difficult a course to see for the first or second time, and the pressure of winning the year’s first major is definitely something that favors a veteran linkster. When all is said and done, expect an iron master to be the golfer in victory lane. It could be DJ or JT or Collin or Xander. Then again, maybe Sergio is gearing up for that second green jacket.
