Don’t discount Tiger’s role at the Presidents Cup

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Dustin Johnson suffers a few shaky moments with a chunked pitch shot and back-to-back front-nine bogeys, but settles down to author a final-round 68 for a five-shot victory over Presidents Cup teammates Cameron Smith and Sungjae Im, who each carded 69s. Smith became the first player in Masters history to record four rounds in the 60s. Here are five stories you might have missed from the 2020 Masters. 1. This one came from the heart Johnson grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, just over an hour away from Augusta. He thought about the Masters whilst honing his game at the now defunct Weed Hill driving range, where he was often the last player practicing under the lights. When he'd actually won the green jacket, there was no mistaking how much this one meant to him. He began to tear up when his brother/caddie Austin did as they embraced on the 18th green. Then came the ceremony with CBS's Amanda Balionis as the usually stoic Johnson was overcome with emotion. "I had a tough time there speaking with Amanda on the putting green," he said. "Just because like I said, it means so much to me. 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." That hard work, and the athlete in him, has put him over the top. Tiger Woods, who put the green jacket on Johnson Sunday, cited the winner's raw athleticism, plus his seemingly imperturbable nature. Johnson, who is 6 feet, 4 inches tall, could palm a basketball in the seventh grade and doesn't get too bent out of shape on the course. And he doesn't linger over losses. "As we've all seen, he’s an amazing athlete," Woods said. "He’s one of the first guys to ever bring athleticism to our sport. DJ has just an amazing ability to stay calm in tough moments ... and we all know as past champions how hard it is, the emotions we have to deal with out there. "There’s no one more suited to that, I think, than DJ." For more on Johnson's victory, click here. 2. It's been a rollercoaster One of the biggest pre-tournament concerns for the players was not to get the coronavirus. Paul Casey, who opened with 65 but closed with 77 to finish T38, was only half joking when he said he was so worried about getting it and missing Augusta he didn't let his kids have play dates. Johnson tested positive for the virus in Las Vegas on Oct. 11, and after withdrawing from THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK, spent 11 days holed up in his hotel room. It had a little outside area where he would sometimes go sit, and he would get up to shower, but otherwise that was it. He watched a whole lot of TV, especially the series "Yellowstone." The silver lining was he figured now that he'd had it, he would be OK for the Masters. "I know 2020 has been a really strange year, but it’s been good to me," he said after his fourth win of the year. "I’ve played some good golf. You know, I can’t thank Augusta enough for just having the Masters. Obviously when it canceled in April, none of us knew if we were going to be able to play in it. I was just happy to be here playing, and it worked out OK for me." 3. DeChambeau wasn't himself The biggest pre-tournament storyline, whether the newly beefy, ultra-long-hitting DeChambeau would tear apart Augusta National, never materialized. If anything, Augusta tore him apart, exposing the runaway U.S. Open champion's susceptibility to the blowup hole. DeChambeau double-bogeyed the 13th hole in the first round, and triple-bogeyed the par-4 third hole (with a lost ball) in the second. Ironically, the third and 13th holes are two of the shortest on the course. He closed with a 1-over 73 (T34) that featured a double-bogey at the par-4 fifth hole. He also complained of dizziness and brain fog. "At the beginning of the week I felt like I could have a great chance to win the tournament if I just played my game," DeChambeau said. "... I made way too many mistakes that I’ve got to talk about with my caddie and go, ‘Hey, how do we not make these mistakes anymore? How can we work better as a team to have that not happen?' At Winged Foot we did a great job of it. This week we didn’t." 4. Tiger and Phil flashed form Phil Mickelson was 5 under through two rounds and "driving it like a stallion." If he could just shore up his faulty putting, he said, he could potentially make a run at his fourth Masters title. It didn't happen, as he shot 79-73 to finish T55. Defending champion Woods had a crazier week. He, too, was 5 under through two rounds, but went 72-76 to finish T38. His final round was especially topsy-turvy as he hit three balls in the water and made a 10 - the highest score of his PGA TOUR career - at the par-3 12th hole. He then birdied five of his last six holes, including the last four in a row, to finish the round. "I committed to the wrong wind," he said of his misadventure on 12. "This sport is awfully lonely sometimes," he added. "You have to fight it. No one is going to bring you off the mound or call in a sub. You have to fight through it. That’s what makes this game so unique and so difficult mentally. We’ve all been there, unfortunately." For more on Woods' wild 12th hole, click here. 5. McIlroy still knocking on the door Rory McIlroy, 31, keeps flirting with winning Masters, the one major that eludes him for the career Grand Slam. With his opening-round 75, he spotted the winner 10 strokes, but beat Johnson by one the rest of the way to lose by nine and finish T5 with Dylan Frittelli (72). "You know, when I birdied the 8th hole and I got to 11 (under), I saw DJ had dropped to 15, and I thought, maybe there’s a chance," said McIlroy, who hasn't won in over a year. In retrospect, there wasn't a chance, and he played his last 10 holes in even par with a bogey at 10 and a birdie at the par-5 13th, which had vexed him all week. He signed for a 3-under 69, his third straight sub-70 round, and now has six top-10 finishes in his last seven Masters. "The wind sort of got up as we hit the turn," he said, "and it just was hard to make birdies." TOUR TOP 10 The PGA TOUR Regular Season top 10 will receive bonuses for their efforts.

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THE OVERVIEW By Cameron Morfit, PGATOUR.COM On or off the course, Kevin Kisner seldom fails to entertain. He’s also very, very good. The former Georgia Bulldog first made news in 2015 when he lost three playoffs in one season, becoming the first to hit that bittersweet trifecta since Horton Smith in 1937. All he’s done since is win twice, rack up more top-10s, and, last fall, make his first Presidents Cup team.  At Liberty National, his partner on the U.S. team was none other than Phil Mickelson, who has played in every Presidents Cup. Kisner soaked up every minute. “He probably wants me to be as hyped up as I can be,â€� Kisner said of Mickelson before the matches. “He’s fired up. He’s grabbing me every five minutes and telling me something that I don’t understand, and then we go on.â€� TOP 30 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2018: We’ll countdown our list with one new player each day in December. Click here for the published players. MORE: Top 30 explanation and schedule As it turned out, Kisner understood fine, going undefeated (2-0-2) while compiling three points in the U.S. Team’s winning effort. He and Mickelson won two of their three matches and halved the other. Kisner was so clutch and such a fine addition, you almost couldn’t fault him for his goofy “Three Amigosâ€� victory dance with Mickelson. None of which was a surprise. (OK, the dance was a surprise.) Kisner contended until the bitter end at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow (T4). He hit one of the clutch shots of the year at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a 95-foot chip that rattled the stick and dropped for eagle, forcing extra holes as dusk fell. (Jonas Blixt and Cam Smith ultimately beat Kisner and Scott Brown in the two-man team event.) At the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational, Kisner drained a bloodless five-footer on the 72nd hole for a one-stroke victory over Sean O’Hair, Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth. And he nearly made history at the Sony Open in Hawaii, where he missed an eagle putt of just over 10 feet that would have given him a third-round 59. (The 60 bettered his career low on TOUR by three.) “Kisâ€� is fired up, and he’s just getting started. Click here to follow Cameron on Twitter FEDEXCUP Current 2017-18 position: 70th Playoff appearances: 4 TOUR Championship appearances: 3 Best result: 12th (2017) BY THE NUMBERS INSIGHTS FROM OUR INSIDERS TOUR INSIDER by Ben Everill Kisner has shown himself good enough to be part of the elite names on TOUR now and this season is about maintaining, and improving. A winner in the last two seasons, Kizner should now expect nothing less than another trophy in 2018. Don’t be surprised if it comes in Hawaii before the new year is very old. He’s good in every aspect of the game, making up for any perceived lack of distance. And his competitive spirit is not to be underestimated. This guy is a bulldog — a straight-up grinder and fighter.  Click here to follow Ben on Twitter FANTASY INSIDER by Rob Bolton If this annual series focuses on fantasy value, you wouldn’t be reading about him for another week. I slotted the 33-year-old from South Carolina 17th in my full-membership fantasy ranking during the sliver of the offseason, so his appearance here represents the first noticeable drop from there to here. That speaks both to the strength remaining in the Top 30 and his underrated value in our world. He’s fresh off a career season (in his prime) in which he established a career low for missed cuts (three) for the fourth consecutive season all the while recording a career-high eight top 10s. While average in distance off the tee, he does everything else from well to outstanding. Fearless. Click here to follow Rob on Twitter EQUIPMENT INSIDER by Jonathan Wall Kisner’s Callaway Great Big Bertha driver has a custom 20-gram slide weight that replaced the two 10-gram weights he used to have in the track. Callaway GBB Epic fairway wood and 58-degree Fourteen Golf wedge were the only new additions to the bag last season. Click here to follow Jonathan on Twitter STYLE INSIDER by Greg Monteforte Kisner’s style can best be described as contemporary takes on classic looks. In 2017, he made the rare mid-season apparel shift and his new Dunning threads fit him to a tee. Here’s hoping we see more of the same from Kiz in 2018. Click here to follow Greg on Twitter

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