Dustin Johnson’s Dominant Week at the Masters
By Bill Felber
Dustin Johnson’s record 268 score ranks among the most dominant performances in the Masters tournament history
The world’s best pros beat up on Augusta this week, and Dustin Johnson went to work on the world’s best pros in the Masters.
The result was a record field-wide onslaught highlighted by one of the most dominant individual performances in Masters history.
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Let’s begin with the four-round field average. It was a remarkable 284.3; that is, 3.7 strokes under par. In the history of the event, no field has ever approached such a group slaughter of Augusta National. In fact the previous record low, 284.64 in 2001, is about one-third of a stroke higher.
Of the 60 players who completed four rounds this week, 43 – that’s better than 70 percent — turned in under-par totals.
The course conditions – rendered benign first by the November re-scheduling and then by early week rains – had something to do with the scoring feast that broke out. But so did Johnson. His 20-under par 72-hole total set a tournament record of 268, and equaled the lowest score relative to par in the storied 160-year history of major tournament golf.
Looked at in isolation, that statement can be deceiving. Course conditions, equipment and training regimens all improve over time. But when we relativize Johnson’s performance this week for all those changes, he still emerges among the greats in Masters tournament history.
The standard deviation of Johnson’s performance relative to this year’s Masters field works out to -2.92. In the entire 86-year history of the Masters, only four players have separated themselves from the field by a larger standard deviation.
Next. The Masters: Winners and Losers from Augusta National. dark
Yes, you’ve heard of the four who rank ahead of Johnson. They are Jack Nicklaus, Ray Floyd, Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer.
For posterity, here are the 10 most dominant Masters performances of all time as of the completion of play Sunday.
Rank Player Year St. Dev.
1 Jack Nicklaus 1965 -3.48
2 Ray Floyd 1976 -3.33
3 Tiger Woods 1997 -3.20
4 Arnold Palmer 1964 -3.00
5 Dustin Johnson 2020 -2.92
6 Nick Faldo 1996 -2.80
7 Jordan Spieth 2015 -2.79
8 Seve Ballesteros 1980 -2.70
9 Vijay Singh 2000 -2.69
10 Bubba Watson 2014 -2.61
Johnson was so dominant that Australian Cameron Smith became the first player in Masters history to record four rounds in the 60s at the same event…and still trailed by five strokes at the finish. Here’s how extraordinary that is: If Smith had gone even deeper into sub-70 territory and recorded four rounds of 67, it would have gotten him nothing more certain than a playoff with Johnson.