Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele lead U.S. Team’s dream start

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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GULLANE, Scotland — American golfer Luke List equaled the Gullane course record with a 7-under-par 63 to start the Scottish Open on Thursday. List moved into the lead with his ninth birdie on the 15th hole and held it to finish the round ahead by one stroke. He was followed by five players in a tie for second; Rickie Fowler, Lee Westwood, Robert Rock, Scott Fernandez of Spain, and Jens Dantorp of Sweden. Masters champion Patrick Reed was part of an eight-strong group a shot further back following a 65, with Danny Willett continuing his resurgence with a 66, and Olympic champion Justin Rose returning a 67. On a day when almost 100 players broke par, five-time major champion Phil Mickelson, who won The Open Championship in 2013 at nearby Muirfield, could only manage a level-par 70. Fowler raised the prospect of recording the first 59 in European Tour history after five birdies and an eagle took him to 7 under after 12 holes. But a bogey on the 13th was followed by five straight pars as the inward nine played much harder back into the wind. Reed also raced to the turn in 29 before coming home in 36. “I love playing links golf and being able to use your imagination and hit different shots,” said Fowler, whose victory at Gullane in 2015 prompted the members to rename the clubhouse bar in his honor. “I feel like this golf course, you go around and you hit pretty much every club in your bag.” Rock carded six birdies in a bogey-free round as he looks to secure one of the three places available in next week’s British Open for players finishing in the top 10 who are not otherwise exempt. “It’s the last chance and it’s always disappointing to not play the Open,” said Rock, who finished seventh at St Andrews in 2010. “I’m going as a coach anyway (for fellow Englishman Matt Wallace). But I’d like to be playing.”

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