Dustin Johnson won the 2020 Masters and set a scoring record at 20-under par, two strokes better than the record, held jointly by Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth. Johnson, who grew up an hour away from Augusta National Golf Course in Columbia, S.C., became the first world No. 1 to win the event since Woods in 2002.
He finished five strokes ahead of Sungjae Im of South Korea and the Australian golfer Cameron Smith, who became the first player in the 84-year history of the Masters to post four rounds in the 60s.
“It’s a dream come true. As a kid I always dreamed about being a Masters champion,” Johnson said, pausing to choke back tears.
“It’s just incredible.”
Johnson, who finished with a final round 68 on Sunday, was first congratulated by his brother, Austin, who has been on his bag since 2013. Their collaboration began as a lark, with Dustin hiring his brother for tournaments in Australia and China so his regular caddie, Bobby Brown, could be at home for the birth of his child.
“The biggest thing about being a caddie is knowing your player, knowing what to say to them, what not to say or when to leave them alone and not say anything,” Johnson told The New York Times in 2017. “No one knows me better than my brother.”
They are the third golfer-caddie pairing of family members to win the Masters. Jack Nicklaus and his son, Jack Nicklaus II, were the first in 1986; Patrick Reed and his brother-in-law Kessler Karain followed in 2018.
Johnson spent much of last month isolating in a hotel room for 11 days after a positive coronavirus test result.
“Just laying around, kind of doing nothing,” he said of his mandated respite in late October. He played in only one event in early November after his layoff, finishing in a tie for second at the Houston Open.
It was Johnson’s first win at the Masters, where he had previously finished in the top 10 in his last four starts. With the victory, he ended a disappointing streak of failing to win any of four major championships in which he had held the 54-hole lead. It happened most recently at the P.G.A. Championship in August, when he tied for second behind Collin Morikawa.
This is a developing story.