2020 Masters: Top 10 power rankings at Augusta National

Plenty of us were wondering how Dustin Johnson’s game would look after his spell with COVID-19. He hadn’t made a start since the U.S. Open in September.

It turns out, DJ’s still got it. He contended right down to the end last week at the Houston Open, coming up two shots shy in a tie for second. Memorial Park got the best of him after his opening 72, but Johnson closed impressively with 66-66-65.

In typical fashion, he led the field in strokes gained off the tee (1.3) and was second tee to green (2.54). Marks in the top 30 in approach, around the green and putting are also good signs that he isn’t battling any parts of his game.

His success in Texas extended his top-12 streak to six. One was a win at The Northern Trust, another win at the Tour Championship (T-3rd gross leaderboard) and T-6th at the U.S. Open.

The South Carolinian has an impressive resume at Augusta National. Johnson has made eight of nine cuts and was T-38th or better each time making the weekend.

He never contended here earlier in his career but has honed in over the last half decade: T-6th (70-67-73-69) in 2015, T-4th (73-71-72-71) in 2016, missed 2017 due to the infamous stair slip, T-10th (73-68-71-69) in 2018 and T-2nd (68-70-70-68) last year. He was just a shot away from matching Tiger.

The 36 year old should be able to use his driving prowess to his advantage like he did last week in Houston. In his PGA Tour Player of the Year campaign in 2019-2020, DJ was 11th in SG off the tee (.612).

This helped him dominate the par-5s at a 4.53 scoring average, good for 10th on Tour. Expect him to earn some crystal this week.

Bryson’s getting a lot of the attention this week, and for good reason. Give me Johnson to check off the second box of the career grand slam.