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AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | A man of few words, Dustin Johnson had no words as he stood in the slanting Sunday sunshine, wearing his new green jacket as a couple hundred people encircled Augusta National’s practice putting green to celebrate the new Masters champion.
It felt as if the moment had been more than a decade in the making, longer than that if his younger days hitting golf balls at the Weed Hill practice range 70 miles away in Columbia, South Carolina, were included.
Destiny is a wonderful thing, but it doesn’t come with promises and Johnson knows that as well as anyone who’s ever picked up a 7-iron and gone chasing the game.
That’s why Johnson stood like a statue, using his thumb to wipe the tears that spoke for him in the socially distanced green jacket ceremony. Tiger Woods had done the jacket honors and when he was asked what it all meant, Johnson felt it but couldn’t share it.
“I’ve never had this much trouble gathering myself,” Johnson finally said, the purity of his reaction likely winning over many who have never quite figured out how they feel about him.
Johnson had already done more than enough to ensure his place in the World Golf Hall of Fame down the road, but despite those 23 PGA Tour victories that include an emphatic U.S. Open win at fearsome Oakmont, the shadow of what could have been has stayed with Johnson like his beard.
It was a tough tag to carry considering fewer than 30 players have won as many tour events as Johnson but doing more was his professional shadow. In this quiet November Masters, Johnson awoke early Sunday morning, having slept on a four-stroke lead knowing both his history and his opportunity.
The cold truth was no player in history had ever led four different major championships after 54 holes and failed to win any of those – except Johnson.
As Cameron Smith said Saturday evening, “He has a four-shot lead. Anyone with a four-shot lead is expected to win.”
When Johnson made two nervous bogeys early in his final round and he couldn’t find a fairway until the par-5 eighth hole, it would have been easy to look for vultures gathering. Instead, the attendant in the Augusta National clubhouse was sent looking for a green jacket, size 42 long.
“It changes the narrative for sure,” said Claude Harmon III, Johnson’s swing coach, after his man had set the Masters scoring record at 20-under-par 268.
For all of the pre-tournament talk about what Bryson DeChambeau might do to Augusta National and whether Rory McIlroy might finally complete the career Grand Slam in this off-kilter year, the answer to this Masters equation should have been as apparent as an illuminated Christmas tree on a December night.
Johnson is the best player in the game, simple as that. He’s No. 1 in the world ranking and in his six previous tournament starts, he had finished first or second five times, the only miss in that run being a T6 at the U.S. Open.
A two-week COVID-induced quarantine could have tempered his edge but it didn’t.
When Johnson had the opportunity to own what he’s been chasing since he was a kid hitting putts alone, he pured an 8-iron tee shot down the hill at the par-3 sixth hole, setting up a birdie that felt like clearing the clouds on a bumpy flight.
“I knew it wasn't going to be easy,” Johnson said. “I knew I was going to have to play well if I wanted to win, and … especially from really (No.) 7 into the clubhouse, I played really, really solid. Hit a lot of great shots.
“But it was still hard. I mean, I was nervous all day, but I felt like I controlled myself very well.”
Smith and Sungjae Im did their best to chase down Johnson but he was too far ahead and too good to lose. When Johnson strung together consecutive birdies at Nos. 13, 14 and 15, he was denied the chorus of roars that would have come in any normal year but he wasn’t denied the satisfaction of what he accomplished.
Until Sunday, had Johnson been the subject of one of those instant word-association games, the responses likely would range from “blew the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay,” to “screwed up in the bunker at Whistling Straits when he could have won the PGA Championship. ”
Or, “the guy who fell down the stairs at the Masters and had to withdraw.”
That was in April 2017 when Johnson arrived at Augusta National like Taylor Swift arrives on stage – with all eyes on him.
Then he slipped in his socks, banged his back and people shook their heads at him.
“I don’t think people realize how hard it has been for him to overcome what happened in ’17,” Harmon said. “There are still times he still talks about, from the fall, his body sometimes gets tight.
“From where he was in ’17, we thought we would see this. I think everybody thought this is what we would see. It’s a testament to be able to come back from that to get to here.”
Johnson never looks nervous, though he said he was nervous from the start Sunday. Woods, the coolest and coldest Sunday player ever, said that’s what he admires about Johnson.
McIlroy looks at how simple Johnson makes the game look and he’s right. Johnson knows he can hit rifle-shot baby cuts off the tee, he hits iron shots with surprising finesse and he’s become an outstanding putter with the help of his brother and caddie, Austin. He is as much artist as athlete.
What Johnson may do best is be himself.
“A lot was put on him by other people,” Harmon said. “His attitude is, ‘I can’t control what I’ve done in the past.’ We have never as a team talked about what happened at Chambers Bay. He’s never even brought it up. You would think somewhere along the line after that he would say, ‘Man, I was close.’ He never even talked about it.
“My dad (Butch Harmon) said DJ reminds him of an NFL quarterback or a cornerback. You get burned or you throw an interception, you have to go straight back out with the same mental attitude. You can’t let that stuff dwell. He is so good at that.”
When it was over, Johnson walked into a hug and a kiss from his fiancée Paulina Gretzky. They lingered for a moment on the 18th green and as Johnson climbed the hill toward the clubhouse to sign his card, two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson was there in his green jacket.
“Welcome to the club,” Watson told Johnson.
“I’ve been dreaming of this for a long time,” Johnson said, touching Watson’s jacket.
A few minutes later, Johnson walked out of the Butler Cabin with Woods to do the public jacket ceremony. It was charming, a window into the soul of a man who keeps things hidden.
“It means so much to me,” Johnson said later. “It means so much to my family, Paulina, the kids. They know it's something that I've always been dreaming about and it’s why I work so hard
“To finally have the dream come true, I think that's why you see all that emotion.”
He said enough.
His tears said the rest.
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