12 things you probably didn’t know about the Masters and Augusta National

It’s the holy grail of North American golf, and this year’s Masters has enjoyed as much build-up as any tournament in recent years.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s the holy grail of North American golf, this year’s Masters has enjoyed as much build-up and anticipation as any tournament in recent years.

Sure, you know that Jack, Tiger and Arnie have combined for 15 green jackets and you’re plenty familiar with azaleas, but we’re guessing there’s plenty in this list that will surprise you.

Without further ado, here are a dozen fun facts about Augusta National and the Masters that will get you ready for a tradition unlike any other.

Watch: Enjoy this 43-minute video of the soothing sights and sounds at Augusta National Golf Club

Enjoy this 43-minute video of all the beauty that is Augusta National.

The Masters is unlike anything else.

The 87th Masters Tournament starts Thursday and Augusta National Golf Club will once again humble brag on itself, with green fairways as far as the eye can see along with the popping pinks, yellows and whites of the thousands of flowers around the course.

For the lucky ones who’ve been able to attend, you know there’s nothing like it. If a trip down Magnolia Lane is still on your bucket list, keep the dream alive.

Until you do make it there, enjoy this 43-minute video of all the beauty that is Augusta National.

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Masters: How SubAir system at Augusta National removes water from the course

Augusta National Golf Club opened in 1932 but in every regard, it is a state-of-the-art facility.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Augusta National Golf Club opened in December of 1932, and it may look like everything has been there for decades, but in every regard, it is a state-of-the-art facility.

When rain falls in Georgia and threatens to make conditions too soft, the club can fight back by turning on a SubAir system to remove the water and keep the course playable.

SubAir Systems, LLC, is based just north of Augusta, Georgia, in Graniteville, South Carolina. Its main product is comprised of a series of pumps and blowers that connect to the drainage system below greens.

To work properly, the underground drainage system needs to be constructed as a “USGA spec green,” with a main pipe running along the fall line of the green with a series of lateral tributary pipes feeding into it. The perforated pipes allow water to enter and flow downhill to an exit area or drain.

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When it is activated, the SubAir system acts like a vacuum and pulls air and water down, into those pipes, much more quickly. This video, created by SubAir in 2010, shows how quickly puddles can disappear.

When the SubAir system is used to pull a lot of water off greens, supplemental pumps and drainage mechanisms can be added to pull the water farther away from the green and release it in areas away from play.

SubAir system
A SubAir system working at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: Golfweek)

When a SubAir system is switched to pressure mode, it forces air into the pipes and up, into the soil and root systems of the grass. This can help to control the temperature of the greens without interrupting play.

When the pumps are running, they create a dull, humming sound that is reminiscent of what you hear inside a plane when the engines are running.

The first green to have a SubAir system installed under it at Augusta National was the 13th green in 2001, but all 18 greens now have it. There are even SubAir systems in many crosswalks to keep them from getting too slippery for the patrons as they walk around the course.

Several other golf courses also have a SubAir system now, including Pebble Beach Golf Links, the site of the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open.

The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets recently had SubAir systems installed on their baseball fields, and several professional and college football teams have SubAir systems on their practice and game fields.

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Dustin Johnson on first trip to Augusta National since winning 2020 Masters: ‘That was pretty cool’

Dustin Johnson on his first trip to Augusta National Golf Club since winning the November Masters: “That was pretty cool.”

Dustin Johnson was on a cloud looking down on cloud nine heading down Magnolia Lane after his record-setting destruction of the golf course and field en route to winning the 2020 Masters in November.

Going back to Augusta National for the first time since he won the green jacket and fulfilled his childhood dream of winning the Masters wasn’t too bad, either.

For two days during the first week of March, Johnson and his green jacket spent time together at Augusta National taking in the grounds like he never had before and reliving his 2020 romp in which he became the only player in Masters history to reach and finish 20 under to win by five shots.

“That was pretty cool, first time back, going into the Champions Locker Room and stuff,” Johnson said Tuesday in a conference call. “That was a really neat experience. First time I spent the night on the grounds, so that was another like cool first-time experience, and had dinner in my Green Jacket.

“That was a lot of fun.”

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Johnson said he doesn’t feel short-changed that his reign as Masters champion will be a short one – unless he joins Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods as the only players to win consecutive Masters.

“It wouldn’t bother me if I only had it for a day,” he said. “I’ve got one, and five months, a year, one month, a day, it doesn’t really make a difference to me. Probably the coolest thing was when I went back up to Augusta and got to wear my jacket when I was on property.”

He played a couple rounds on the trip.

“The course is in immaculate condition. It looks like it’s shaping up to be a normal Masters, and so I’m really looking forward to that,” he said. “I’m pretty sure when I was playing on most of the holes, I was definitely thinking about the shot that I hit on that Sunday when I played.”

While there, Johnson learned his locker mate is Fuzzy Zoeller. But he did not finalize what he will serve to Zoeller and others among the green jacket fraternity on Tuesday night of Masters week at the Champions Dinner.

“I should be able to tell you tomorrow. I’ve got a call when we’re done to do the menu,” Johnson said.

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Hopefully, he won’t be too nervous at the dinner to enjoy the meal he’ll serve, not like he was when he started the final round of last year’s Master with the lead.

“I was definitely nervous starting the day because obviously it meant so much to me. So I was feeling it from kind of the time when I woke up,” he said. “I couldn’t hardly even eat any breakfast, really. Took a couple bites. But it was hard to get down for some reason, which I’ve never had that problem before.

“And then on the course, too, I remember walking the seventh trying to eat a little bit of an almond butter and jelly sandwich and took one bite and had to wash it down with water, and that was the only way I could get it down. I was definitely a little nervous, not in a bad way, more just because it meant so much to me.”

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Tom Weiskopf Q&A: On DJ’s Masters win, Rory McIlroy, Ben Hogan and more

Tom Weiskopf talks the Masters, DJ and Rory, playing with Ben Hogan and how he lost his gig broadcasting the Masters on CBS.

Tom Weiskopf won 16 times on the PGA Tour, including the 1973 British Open at Royal Troon. At 78, he’s still active as a course designer, a subject we delve into in Part II of this Q&A (coming Friday!).

Weiskopf has seen all parts of the industry and has no shortage of tales from every part of a golf life well lived in golf. Before revealing his thoughts about designing golf courses and how he transitioned into that business, Weiskopf shared thoughts on the Masters, Dustin Johnson and Rory, playing with Ben Hogan and how he lost his gig broadcasting the Masters on CBS.

Golfweek: What did you make of Dustin Johnson’s performance at the Masters?

Tom Weiskopf: I watched him disseminate and take apart the great Augusta National. It’s the greatest risk-reward, hole-after-hole, championship course I’ve ever played. The greens were soft but he was so much better, smarter, his ability shined. He had the power and control off the tee, his short game was awesome, his putting and wedge game, his demeanor and intelligence and plan of playing. The guy is unbelievable. He had it going that week, no doubt about it. There are others who would challenge him if they got it going, but they didn’t. They couldn’t. He did.

GW: You mentioned that he played “smartly.” He’s often been criticized for doing just the opposite. What stood out as DJ playing strategically?

TW: I think he finally figured it out. When Amanda [Balionis of CBS] tried to interview him, he was so emotional. I think it finally came to him that all this hard work that he’s put into it, all the experience by those that helped him, that have been telling him this forever, all of this became self-evident to him and he proved to himself that he finally understands how to play this game.

GW: DJ was labeled an underachiever because he only had one major until winning the Masters. What do you think a second major does for him?

TW: It’s far from over for him. He’s a physical specimen, too. Look at his power and the shape he’s in. He’s trained his body and put a lot of effort into it. I heard him say he wants to play real hard for the next 8-10 years. I think he could win a major every year until he stops playing. I don’t know him at all, but he impressed the hell out of me.

Masters Tournament 2020
Dustin Johnson celebrates with the green jacket after winning the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National GC. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)

GW: Is there a player today that reminds you of yourself?

TW: I didn’t really have the passion or the effort that I wanted to put into it and everyone kept pushing me to put into it. Golf was more a means to an end for me. It was a way to give my family the best possible life they could have. Hunting and fishing and the outdoors was more important to me. Getting the grand slam of sheep (a challenge that consists of hunting all four wild sheep species) was more important. That’s why I gave up a Ryder Cup one year so I could get my grand slam.

I think I understand how to play the game now just being away from it and watching on TV. I challenge myself all the time: Why couldn’t I have done that? Why couldn’t I have worked out? Why did I drink? Well, I’m 20 years sober. It’s my greatest accomplishment. Because I was a partier, a good-time guy. I had so much talent that I could turn it on at times when I wanted to, when I needed to, but it wasn’t important to me. I could tell that this guy finally figured it out that it is so important for him because of all the effort and help he got. You can’t stand there and not find a word. He was so emotional, wasn’t he? It was riveting to me. I think he’s going to go on just like he’s gone on for – how many years has he been out there?

GW: He’s won at least a tournament in all 14 years of his career.

TW: That’s what I mean. That’s hard to do out there.

Tom Weiskopf in action during the 1980 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (Photo: Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY NETWORK)

I look at Rory McIlroy and I think golf is something just for Rory to do. I’ve said it for a while now that I don’t think he’ll win much more than the four he’s got or maybe five because I don’t see that determination and will to be the best. I think it is there in Dustin Johnson. I think he finally figured it out and this could propel him to win all four in one year.

Now, it’s hard to turn the switch on. It was his week where everything worked right without exception. What did he make, four bogeys? First player ever to have less than five (at the Masters). I think Jack and Tiger had five once. I think it would behoove you to call Dustin up and ask him this one question: Every day there is one shot or hole that turns your round around. Where were they each day? I’d like to know the answer to that question. I think that would be very interesting.

The birdie at 6 on Sunday was monumental. To throw that ball in as close as he did with that pin placement – those pin placements weren’t easy but it was throwing darts with the soft greens. Another thing I’d like to know: Why didn’t they turn on the Sub-Air system?

GW: What is it about Rory that makes you think golf is just something “to do” for him?

TW: I don’t know what it is. Maybe the way he interviews. I don’t see any frustration. Life is good and it should be – he’s a multi, multi-millionaire and has a kid now – but I don’t see the Tiger attitude. It’s like he’s satisfied all the time. The guy is not a good putter. He can hit some putts so off line with the wrong speed. He’s technically not a good putter but one of the purest swings you’d ever want to watch play in the game. Technically, he’s superior to Dustin Johnson, but Dustin has the confidence to do it every time. I know Rory works out but I bet if you watched them both work out, Rory would be a lot of laughs and giggles and Dustin would be balls to the wall and forcing a little bit more on himself and that’s what he’s done. The way that he’s played this year, who the hell can beat this guy?

Masters Tournament 2020
Rory McIlroy looks over his putt on the tenth green during the final round of The Masters golf tournament at Augusta National GC. (Photo: Rob Schumacher/USA TODAY Sports)

GW: Can you imagine shooting 20 under at Augusta National?

TW: You could never do that in my day. When you’re hitting wedges into the ninth green the way DJ did instead of 6-iron 40-50 yards back off the side slope, you know what I mean, it’s a huge advantage. If ever there was a year for Augusta to demand that ‘This is our ball next year and everyone is playing it’ and change the game, this is when it should be. It will always be the longest hitters that have the biggest advantage at Augusta if they hit it straight and he did. It’s that simple.

But the ball goes too far. You have to make these courses 7,500-7,700 yards long to challenge these guys, There are so many great courses that they could play if the ball went as far as it did when I played.

GW: How much do you play these days?

TW: Hardly at all. I’ve got a few buddies that we play just to have some fun. I’ve had a bad back. I had an MRI. My L-4 and L-5 disks give me problems. I still love watching the game. The U.S. Open was fantastic. Winged Foot is a helluva course. Bryson put his game on the line. It’s not a swing I like. It’s very mechanical. I haven’t met him but I like the guy. I think he’s great for the game. But you can’t swing that hard and control the ball. He’ll have his week when he’s on like he did at Detroit, but we all have that week. The game is a helluva game and there’s a lot of ways to play it. Of all the players I played with it, by far, the greatest striker of the ball was Ben Hogan. Unbelievable.

GW: What was that like, playing with Hogan?

TW: I played with him six times. I played with him at Champions Golf Club once. I was paired with him once at Colonial and played with him based on score on Saturday and Sunday. I played with him three times in a practice round, once in Boston, once at Colonial with Tommy Bolt and I think the other was in Chicago. Every shot, every club, shot after shot was perfection. Sam Snead was a close second. Nicklaus and Trevino were third. Tiger would have to be in there. I played a practice round with Tiger in 2004 at Troon. You could see that he was so much better than anyone playing the game at the time. He was impressive.

But I mean Hogan…have you ever heard the story of Hogan during the last round of the ’53 Masters? He hit it around the corner at 13 and lays up, which was an odd thing. Then he pitched on and made birdie. At 15 he knocks 3-wood over the water and on to the green. Dan Jenkins brings that up to him. He says, ‘I’m confused. You laid up at 13, but go with the 3-wood at 15. Explain your thinking at 13,’ and Hogan says, ‘I didn’t need 3 at the time.’ That’s the intelligence that comes into it at Augusta. I saw that in Dustin Johnson. It was so smart how he continued to play hole after hole. There’s so much risk-reward. It’s an intriguing golf course and you’re challenged all the time by previous experiences and memories of people having disasters at certain times. This guy was so on it. He’s going to be a force for a while. I think he understands now how to play his game.

GW: Listening to you break down the Masters and Augusta National, I wish you were still part of the broadcast team. Why did you stop doing the Masters TV broadcast?

TW: We always had a party on Saturday night that [CBS executive producer] Frank Chirkinian threw for everybody. That was about the third year I worked with Brent Musburger down in the Butler Cabin. He’d call Ben Crenshaw Bob Crenshaw. He didn’t know the difference between a chip or a pitch. I was there to babysit him. He would ask me something during the commercial break and then come right back on the air and use it so he sounded like the expert. He didn’t care about golf and he was a difficult guy to work with. At the dinner that night, the president of CBS came up to me and said, ‘I bet you had a great time working with Brent this week?’ I had been drinking and I said, ‘he’s a f—ing a–hole.’ I said, ‘All he does is steal everyone’s information and he never thanks anyone at the end of the day for all the things he does for them’ and I said, ‘He’s just a self-centered son of a bitch.’ That was it. I was too outspoken.

GW: How did drinking affect your career?

TW: It did in a big way. I knew I had a problem. If you think you have a problem, you do. My dad was an alcoholic. I didn’t miss any starting times, but I played hungover quite a few times and didn’t play worth a damn. I said some terrible things to people. Alcohol affects you in such a negative way. I didn’t do drugs. I never fell in that trap. Everyone drank out there. Some people could control it better. Jack hardly drank at all. I closed a lot of bars down with Arnold Palmer and Dan Jenkins. Do you call it a lifestyle? I don’t know. Was it dealing with the pressure? It affected me in so many ways. It cost me a marriage. Thirty-two years I was married to Jean. She got tired of it.

You’re angry when you drink. You’re looking for an argument. I’m not going to incriminate anybody but all the guys I hung with drank, you know what I mean. It was just part of the Tour.

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Remembering Weed Hill: The driving range where a young Dustin Johnson honed his game

Dustin Johnson learned the game as a boy at Weed Hill Driving Range in Irmo, South Carolina and now hones his skills at The Grove XXIII.

Golf course architect Bobby Weed still remembers the first time he heard about this teen sensation in his native South Carolina who could hit a golf ball a country mile.

“My buddies were telling me that they were playing in the Columbia (S.C.) Amateur and they were walking off the first green at a 350-yard par 4 and this high school kid hit his tee shot over the green,” Weed said in a phone interview Sunday.

That big bopper was none other than Masters champion Dustin Johnson, and that’s not their only connection. Johnson cut his teeth digging up the sod at the driving range that gave Weed his start in the golf business, Weed Hill. Johnson’s father, the head professional at Mid Carolina Club, would take him there as a young boy. Growing up in Colombia, just over an hour from Augusta National, the Masters was the biggest week of the year and Johnson recalled how every putting contest with brother A.J. was to win the Green Jacket. Here is a where a dream that would one day become fulfilled was born.

“They had lights on the range, and most nights I would shut the lights off when I was leaving,” Johnson said.

Weed has built courses around the world, but none is as near and dear to his heart as the driving range he built in his hometown of Irmo, South Carolina.

It was 40 years ago and Weed, a high-school junior, talked his father into letting him convert some bean fields the family owned into Weed Hill Driving Range, where a bucket of balls cost 75 cents and Grandma called the shots until he got home from school.

“I remember getting off the bus and running up the hill and I’d go in there and ask, ‘Grandma, how’s everything going?’ ‘Oh, Bobby,’ she’d say, ‘these people have been out there tearing up your grass,’ ” Weed recalled.

“She would hand wash every ball,” he added. “She’d treat them like they were eggs in a basket.”

In the seventh grade, Johnson made the Irmo High School varsity golf team and earned all-state honors. He matriculated at Coastal Carolina University, near Myrtle Beach, where he was a three-time Big South Conference Player of the Year. Weed Hill also served as a launching pad for the golf careers of PGA Tour winner Wesley Bryan and LPGA Tour pro Lauren Stephenson.

Weed watched Johnson set a Masters scoring record with a 72-hole aggregate of 20-under 268, and commented that it’s all come full circle for him and Johnson as the Masters champ noted that a putting lesson with Hall of Famer Greg Norman that took place at The Grove XXIII, the Michael Jordan-owned club in Hobe Sound, Florida, is another Bobby Weed design – only the practice facility is no former bean field but what he called arguably the best practice grounds on the planet.

“He learned the game with his father at Weed Hill and now he’s honing his skills at The Grove XXIII,” Weed said. “How about that?”

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Max Homa saw Fred Couples do ‘the most old-guy veteran move’ at the Masters

On his “Get a Grip” podcast with Shane Bacon, Max Homa told a funny story about a veteran move he saw Fred Couples make at the Masters.

While fans never heard anyone on the Masters broadcast utter the term “mud ball” last week — they opted instead to say there was turf, earth, or my personal favorite, “organic matter” on the ball — chances are you heard a few players mention them due to the wet conditions, especially on Thursday and Friday.

Mud on a golf ball can significantly impact its flight and distance. That’s pretty easy to understand. The problem is, you never know just how much of an impact there will be.

On his “Get a Grip” podcast alongside Shane Bacon, 2020 Masters rookie Max Homa recapped his first experience at Augusta National and told a fun story about playing with Fred Couples and witnessing one of his savvy, veteran moves firsthand on No. 15.

“Fred was going before me, I wasn’t really watching, but he hit this lay up and it sounded like really bad contact,” said Homa. “I looked over and the ball was not above my head and it was screaming down the fairway. It was so sick, he was getting the mud off the golf ball on the lay up, he was making sure it rolled and didn’t plug.”

“I went over to him and said ‘that is the most old-guy veteran move I have ever seen,’ and he was laughing.”

If you’re like us and already missing the Masters, listen to the full episode here.

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Brennan: Dustin Johnson, the Masters both overcome COVID-19 in strangest golf major

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The strangest of all Masters tournaments, the spectator-less 2020 COVID-19 Masters, has ended in the most appropriate way, won overwhelmingly by a man who was in quarantine with COVID just a month ago. Dustin Johnson’s majestic march …

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AUGUSTA, Ga. – The strangest of all Masters tournaments, the spectator-less 2020 COVID-19 Masters, has ended in the most appropriate way, won overwhelmingly by a man who was in quarantine with COVID just a month ago.

Dustin Johnson’s majestic march across the hushed emerald fairways of Augusta National Golf Club felt more like a coronation than a competition, his historic 20-under par score becoming a perfect exclamation point on this disjointed sports year.

In the 84-year history of the Masters, no one has ever shot a lower score than Johnson, the world’s top-ranked player, did over the past four rounds. The day was anti-climatic only because he was so good. Johnson, 36, has been regarded as a prodigious talent in this sport for more than a decade, but he had won only one major tournament, the 2016 U.S. Open, failing four times at other majors when he held the overnight lead going into the final round.

He led by four strokes Saturday night. “Even I had doubts in my mind,” he said. “When am I going to have the lead and finish off a major?”

MASTERSLeaderboard | Money | Winner’s bag | Photos

The answer turned out to be now. Right now. This time, there would be no collapse. After an uneven start in which he bogeyed two of his first five holes along with one birdie, he settled in and poured it on, finishing with a final round 4-under score of 68. He pumped his fist as his par putt fell on the 18th green, and the couple hundred club members and volunteers and assorted others who had gathered around cheered as best as they could.

Nineteen months earlier, the scene was so different: Tiger Woods winning his improbable fifth green jacket to a raucous ovation, melting into his children’s arms.

Everything was more muted for Johnson, but touching nonetheless. As he walked off the 18th green, he was greeted by two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, who was wearing his green jacket.

“I’ve always wanted one of those,” Johnson said as the two embraced.

Minutes later, Woods was putting a green jacket around Johnson’s shoulders.

Masters Tournament 2020
2019 Masters champion Tiger Woods presents Dustin Johnson with the green jacket after winning the 20202 Masters Tournament at Augusta National GC. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

For a kid who grew up an hour down the road in Columbia, South Carolina, dreaming of winning the Masters, the moment finally caught up with him. He fought back tears several times in a TV interview and later rubbed the sleeve of the green jacket in the press center interview room, as if to make certain it was real.

It was just a month ago that Johnson spent 11 days by himself in a Las Vegas hotel room, quarantining after a positive COVID test. He had “very minor” COVID symptoms, he said.

“I felt like I had a cold. A little bit of a fever for maybe 36 hours. But after that, I felt fine. The worst part about it was the quarantining in the room for so long.”

Johnson said Sunday that he knew he wasn’t going to miss the Masters, but being away from the game for a couple of weeks wasn’t helping matters.

“Granted, you sit in a hotel room for two weeks, it doesn’t do a lot for the golf game,” he said. “But I put a lot of work in last week, and this week, and I was fortunate that I was able to keep the game in good form.”

So a Masters unlike any other, with no roars and no fanfare, produced a result that made all the sense in the world. A man who just recovered from COVID, who also happens to be the top-ranked player in the game, won the last men’s golf major of the year, less than two weeks before Thanksgiving.

Of course that all just happened.

“2020’s been a really strange year,” Johnson said with a sly smile, “but it’s been good to me.”

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Jon Rahm finishes T-7 at 2020 Masters after more missed opportunities

Jon Rahm completed his third straight top-10 finish at Augusta National, but he’s tired of moral victories.

Jon Rahm completed his third straight top-10 finish at Augusta National, but he’s tired of moral victories.

He sat at 9-under-par after a Friday 66, putting him in a great spot heading into the weekend. Then, little went right for the 26-year-old Spaniard. After struggling on the second nine in the third round, he played even-par through the first nine Sunday.

With a bogey on No. 10 and a double-bogey on No. 12, he rallied to go 4-under over the next six holes to finish with 71. It was another case of not being able to take advantage of the conditions, while others did.

“I don’t even know what to say. Just the whole thing of the week, I couldn’t get anything going. I started poorly, made the good birdie on 2, but after that, every option I had, I just didn’t make it,” he said. “I had good putts on 3 and 8. I thought I made them. None of them went in. Then all the other shots just weren’t quite as precise as they need to be at Augusta. It is what it is.”

Once again, one round put him out of contention at a major. He hopes to put that and the rest of this year behind him as quickly as possible.

MASTERSLeaderboard | Money | Winner’s bag | Photos

“At least I battled back at the end, not like I did yesterday, but kind of tired with that and kind of tired of having to deal with majors,” he said. “I always have one round that sets me back big time, and I have to somehow make a miracle Sunday to have a chance. So looking forward to hopefully fixing that.

“And almost like a lot of people this year, probably looking forward to putting 2020 behind me and just looking ahead.”

As for what the course looks like when April rolls around, Rahm is crossing his fingers it plays more traditionally.

“You know, I hope they make it as firm as possible, the complete opposite of what we saw this week,” he said. “I was talking, joking with Patrick Reed and Sebastian (Muñoz), kind of walking down the last few holes saying, it’s like you almost have to hit the delete button from what you learned this week because it’s never, ever going to play again.”

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Rahm added that certain shots he made this week, due to the November conditions of the course, will not carry over to future Masters. He also hopes the conditions in April will make the course harder to crack.

“Some of the shots we hit. I landed a 5 iron pin high on 5 and stayed on the back edge. Usually you’re in the bushes trying to figure out what to do, and many other shots like that that usually are just unplayable. My shot into 15, I hit a low 4 iron that landed a yard short and stayed four feet,” he said. “All those shots will never, ever play like that again. So I kind of hope we see the opposite and see a more challenging Masters.“

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Masters: Cameron Smith first to shoot four rounds in the 60s, ties for second

Cameron Smith is the first golfer in the history of the the Masters to shoot four rounds in the 60s. He still got lapped by Dustin Johnson.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Cameron Smith became the first golfer in the 84-year history of the Masters to shoot four rounds in the 60s at Augusta National Golf Club, and he still got lapped by five strokes by Dustin Johnson.

That about sums up how Johnson played, but also reflects how the 27-year-old Australian native put up a valiant fight, cutting Johnson’s lead to as little as two strokes before Johnson pulled away to finish at tournament-record 20-under-par 268. Smith closed in 3-under 69 to go along with earlier rounds of 67-68-69 to finish tied for second with South Korea’s Sungjae Im and earn his place in the tournament record books.

“That’s pretty cool. I didn’t realize until you told me,” Smith told CBS’s Amanda Balionis.

Once Smith had a moment to let his scoring achievement sink in, he concluded that it would have been even cooler to do so and win.

“I’d take 15 under around here the rest of my career and I might win a couple,” said Smith, whose 72-hole aggregate score actually would have won all but five of 84 Masters (and forced a playoff with Patrick Reed in 2018).

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On the eve of the final round, Smith, who was attempting to become the second Australian to win the Masters after Adam Scott in 2013, said he was going to come with guns blazing and he did just that, making birdie on two of the first three holes. He gave a stroke back with a bogey at No. 5 before making the first of two remarkable birdies from the Georgia pines.

At No. 7, he pushed his tee shot to the right and considered chipping.

Instead he hoisted a wedge over the trees and it stopped 10 feet from the hole. Afterwards, several of the few, the proud on site took turns admiring his fresh divot the way they marvel at the spot on No. 10 where Bubba Watson hit his gravity-defying wedge from the trees to win a playoff in 2012. Had Smith won, it may have been worthy of a plaque someday.

“I knew I had to keep the pressure on Dustin, and wasn’t here to finish second,” Smith said. “There was a small gap up there. The club was pretty good. Just had to hit it really hard and good, and it turned out well.”

At the ninth, Smith pulled off another Houdini act from the trees with a 9 iron from 155 yards that landed on the left fringe and caught the slope and trickled to within 4 feet of the hole for another birdie.

Masters Tournament 2020
Cameron Smith knocks knuckles with Justin Thomas on the 18th green after the final round of the Masters at Augusta National GC. Photo by Rob Schumacher/USA TODAY Sports

Smith, who qualified for the Masters by winning the Sony Open in Hawaii, figured that if he could get to 16 under, Johnson’s score at the beginning of the day, he would have a decent chance to win a Green Jacket.

“I knew I had to put the pressure on early,” he said, “DJ was just too good in the end.”

Smith missed the green at the par-4 11th hole and failed to get up and down for par. It was one of the few times he failed to pull a rabbit out of his hat when he misfired.

“My scrambling, my chipping and putting was unreal this week,” he said, “probably the best it’s ever been.”

Smith’s effort to chase down Johnson stalled from there, though he tacked on a final birdie at No. 15 to help his score dip into the 60s for a fourth straight day.

“I felt as though I needed to shoot 3‑ or 4‑under on that back nine with the wind the way it was,” said Smith, who settled for an even-par 36. “It got pretty tricky out there. I would say after 16, after not birdieing 16, I thought if I birdied the last four, I thought I would still have a chance. At least make him think about it. And wasn’t to be.”

Not to be this time, but Smith continues to knock on the door at the Masters, where he finished T-5 in 2018 and in majors, where he also recorded a top-5 at the 2015 U.S. Open.

“He’s been a good player for a long time, but I think he’s really comfortable at it now,” fellow Aussie Marc Leishman said. “He’s going to be a great player for a long time. I would expect to see him on leaderboards here for a long time to come.”

Especially if he keeps shooting rounds in the 60s.

“I love the place,” Smith said. “I want to win here really badly, and I feel like it brings the best out of my game.”

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