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All You Need to Know About the Masters Tournament, April 5th-11th

Dustin Johnson

Masters Tournament
April 5-11, 2021


Location & Course Information
Augusta, Ga.
Augusta National Golf Club

Designed by Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones on the site of a former tree nursery, Augusta National opened in 1932. The course features elevation changes, large undulating greens and relatively few but strategically placed bunkers. The layout has undergone changes throughout its history to continue to provide a strong test for Masters competitors.

Yardage:
7,475; par 72

Notable Course Features
The stretch of holes from 11 to 13, known as Amen Corner, has provided more than its share of drama over the years. The 505-yard par-4 11th, with a green guarded by water on the left, is one of the toughest holes on the course. The 155-yard 12th is one of the world’s famous par 3s with its shallow, diagonal green fronted by Rae’s Creek. The 510-yard 13th is a dogleg left that provides birdie or eagle opportunities.

2020 Champion
Dustin Johnson, U.S.

Quick Facts
Field: Approx 90 players
Format: 72 holes stroke play
Purse: $11.5 million
Winner’s Share: $2,070,000

FedExCup Points:
600 to the winner

Media Coverage
ESPN/CBS
Social Media
@TheMasters
@TheMasters

Five months after playing a November major due to the pandemic, players return to Augusta National for yet another swing at history. A few, most notably Dustin Johnson, will carry momentum. Nobody played any better than Rory McIlroy (66-67-69) over the final three rounds of the 2020 Masters. McIlroy, who needs a green jacket to become only the sixth player to collect each of the four professional major championships, rebounded from a tentative opening 3-over 75 to climb all the way back into a tie for fifth. Had he figured something out?

Likewise, Justin Thomas won’t need 12 months to mull how close he really is to breaking through at Augusta National Golf Club. Thomas, tied for the lead through 36 holes, finished fourth despite failing to break 70 on the weekend. The aftermath of Tiger Woods’ shocking Sunday septuple-bogey 10 at No. 12? It won’t sting for long. Another tee time at Augusta National, where Woods will chase a record-tying sixth Masters title, awaits. Memories of his sizzling Sunday finish (five birdies in six holes) will be fresh.

No, there is nothing positive related to the COVID-19 pandemic that sent our world careening in 2020. But for the game’s top players, one highly intriguing shift resulting from the postponing and rescheduling of events created something they’ll likely never see again: Back-to-back Masters Tournaments in their majors lineup, played five months apart. With a record score of 20-under 268, Johnson slipped on a champion’s green jacket in 2020 ,something he’d waited most of his 36 years to do. He won’t wait long to chase another.

With softer autumn conditions, course knowledge for veteran players was not as big a factor as it will be in springtime when conditions are expected to be firmer. Still, a November Masters, for many, served up a savory appetizer to get right back to Georgia and do it all over again, hopefully a little better.

“I’m very confident I’m going to win around this place at some point,” Thomas said. His fourth-place finish was his best Masters showing. “I’m very comfortable. I just need to execute a little bit better … I wish the tournament in April started tomorrow.”

How Dustin Johnson Won

You want to know a great feeling? It’s when you and your little brother grow up an hour’s drive across the South Carolina border from Augusta National Golf Club, home to one of the biggest spectacles in sports, and every putt after dinner in the darkness is to win the Masters. It is when one of those brothers emerges in the thick of contention on Augusta National’s second nine on Sunday, and the other enjoys a front-row seat, his brother’s bag on his shoulder.

It gets better when the player rips one last drive off the 18th tee and, having intentionally not peeked toward any of those giant Masters leaderboards nearly impossible to miss, turns to his brother and asks, Do you know how we stand? The volley returned from Austin Johnson to his big brother was exactly what Dustin Johnson wanted to hear: You have a five-shot lead.

Thus, Johnson, at 36, a golfer born in the South, came to collect his first Masters Green Jacket, defeating Australia’s Cameron Smith and first-time Augusta National participant Sungjae Im of South Korea by five shots. Johnson’s 20-under 268 established a tournament record by two shots. It was his second major title.

Johnson had taken a 54-hole lead into Sunday for the fifth time in a major. None of the previous four had ended with him holding the trophy. So he understood the questions about his ability to close at a major championship. Shoot, he pondered those same questions himself.

“I’m in this position a lot of times. Like when am I going to have the lead and finish off the golf tournament, or finish off a major?” Johnson asked. ”For me, it definitely proved that I can do it.”

Johnson was dominant throughout, shooting the low round or tying for low round three of the four tournament days. He made only four bogeys. Im trimmed the lead to one shot early Sunday, but Johnson (68) played his final 13 holes in 5-under.
As he walked off the 18th green past two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, Johnson told him, “I’ve been dreaming about putting on that jacket my whole life.”

Check this out

The field will include players who won PGA TOUR events after the scheduled April dates of the 2020 Masters and top finishers in the PGA Championship and U.S. Open held in August and September. The Masters field in November was based on the qualifications for the scheduled Masters in April 2020.

The cumulative scoring average for the field in November of 71.752 was the lowest ever, while Dustin Johnson set the 72-hole scoring record of 20-under 268.

Johnson became the eighth player (ninth instance) to win the Masters after finishing second the previous year. The most recent was Jordan Spieth in 2015.

Johnson has finished in the top 10 in five consecutive Masters starts.
Johnson’s five-stroke victory margin was the largest at the Masters since 1997, when Tiger Woods won by a record 12 strokes.
Cameron Smith (T2) became the first player to shoot four rounds in the 60s at the Masters