Dustin Johnson has grown accustomed to having fans gaze in awe. On Thursday, those eyes happened to belong to a couple Kansas City Chiefs.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Dustin Johnson has grown accustomed to having fans gaze in awe.
On Thursday, those eyes happened to belong to Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, among others.
After playing a round of golf at nearby Augusta Country Club on Wednesday, the Kansas City Chiefs stars were in attendance for Thursday’s opening round.
Wayne Gretzky and his wife Janet watch Dustin Johnson on the 13th hole during Thursday’s first round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 8, 2021, in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo: Andrew Davis/The Augusta Chronicle)
Mahomes, wearing a backward Augusta Country Club hat and yellow Adidas kicks, watched intently as Johnson teed off with Lee Westwood and amateur Tyler Strafaci.
“Let’s follow DJ,” Mahomes said as the defending Masters champion—and fellow Adidas client—walked down the first fairway. “I want to watch him.”
Mahomes had originally planned to attend the 2020 Masters last April before the pandemic postponed the event to November, which coincided with the NFL schedule.
Wayne Gretzky and his wife, Janet, were also in the gallery following Johnson.
Gretzky’s daughter, Paulina, is Johnson’s fiance. The couple have two sons together.
Two days before his wedding, Trevor Lawrence and fiancé Marissa Mowry spent Thursday afternoon at the Masters.
The former Clemson star and projected top pick in the upcoming NFL Draft called the his time at Augusta National, “A great way to begin the wedding festivities.”
Larry Fitzgerald, an 11-time NFL Pro Bowler and current free agent, was also at Augusta National on Thursday.
Former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence and his fiancé Marissa Mowry talk to Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs near the 13th hole during the first round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 8, 2021 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Slipping on the green jacket was a career high for Dustin Johnson but seeing his kids blanketed in that jacket took it to a new level.
(Editor’s note: This is Part IV in a seven-part series on the life and career of reigning Masters champion Dustin Johnson. Check back to Golfweek.com each day for the next part of the story.)
Dustin Johnson reached golf’s nirvana when Tiger Woods helped him slip on a size-42 long green jacket last November.
It was a fitting scene for Johnson’s record-smashing victory in the 2020 Masters.
A few hours later, his day got even better.
In the massive rental home a short distance from Augusta National Golf Club, family and friends, including fiancée Paulina Gretzky as well as Wayne and Janet Gretzky, began celebrating the triumph. Shortly into the merriment, the two shortest residents stole the show as Johnson’s sons, Tatum, 6, and River, 3, each put on golf’s most coveted garment.
“That was so great, the best. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier (than to) see their reaction to the green jacket,” Johnson said. “They love the green jacket. They were really excited and they were super proud.
“They tell everybody that daddy won the green jacket.”
Johnson met The Great One’s daughter in 2013 and he proposed six months later. A few months after that, Johnson took a six-month sabbatical from professional golf to deal with “personal challenges.”
Helping him on his new path in life were the births of Tatum in January 2015 and River in June 2017. The instant Tatum came into the world, Johnson changed. An overwhelming sense of transformation, love, responsibility and purpose took hold.
“Oh, wow, the kids mean everything in the world to me,” said Johnson, who, as a teen, endured his parents’ bitter divorce. “It’s been absolutely amazing being a father. You have no idea how great it is. You think you know before you have kids, but you have no idea until you become a father. It’s just amazing.”
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Since he returned from his leave of absence, Johnson became No. 1 in the world and won 17 tournaments worldwide, including a major for each of his sons.
“Dustin never came across to me that he would be super excited about anything, but when Tatum came into the world, it completely matured Dustin in a second,” said Johnson’s trainer, Joey Diovisalvi. “People say you’ll never know the feeling of becoming a father until it happens to you, and that happened to him in a very powerful way.
“Watching him raise two boys who are very much like him, and seeing him beyond being overjoyed, is special. He’s beyond committed. He explores things with those boys and they are not sheltered. The beauty about Dustin is everything in his life is about simplicity. He’s not on a clock. Whatever they want to do, he goes and hangs out with the boys.”
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By every measure, Paulina is Johnson’s equal as a parent, her impact on both her fiancé and sons immeasurable.
“Paulina grew up very much in the microscope of the first child of The Great One,” said David Winkle, Johnson’s agent. “She’s very accustomed to being in the family of a professional athlete and being in the spotlight and that helps because she understands what Dustin goes through.
“She loves the boys. She’s a great mother. There is nothing Dustin would rather do than hang with Paulina and those little boys.”
In turn, the boys make Johnson a better golfer. Wayne Gretzky said Johnson’s duty to his sons altered his everyday schedule for the better.
“Fatherhood changes all of us. What it does is it takes away that sort of free time you have, whatever age you are, because you have that commitment when you wake up in the morning,” the hockey icon said. “In Dustin’s case, he knows he has to practice, work out, put in his time for golf, and then he has family time and he loves family time. From what I’ve seen, the birth of his children got him really centered on a schedule that he was not only committed to his golf but he was committed to getting his kids ready for school, taking them to school, being a father and all that entails.
“One of the greatest thrills in his life is taking his boys fishing. He grew up fishing with his father, grandfather, brother, and I think he is truly at peace in those moments he has with his boys.”
Or as Johnson will tell you, he loves nothing more than gathering up the rods and reels and the two boys.
“They love going on the boat so we fish a lot. The first time they caught a fish, to see their excitement on their faces, that was so great,” Johnson said. “And when I saw how much they love to fish, well, I can pretty much fish whenever I want to now. I just say, ‘I’m taking the boys fishing.’
“And they love going to the golf course and hitting golf balls. Or whether we’re just playing around the house, it’s great being with them. They definitely keep you busy. But it’s fun and I wouldn’t change anything for the world.”
A common misconception is that Wayne Gretzky is a golf and life guru for Dustin Johnson. What the two actually have is a long friendship.
(Editor’s note: This is Part III in a seven-part series on the life and career of reigning Masters champion Dustin Johnson. Check back to Golfweek.com each day for the next part of the story.)
Quicker than the puck hit the net off a slapshot during his iconic NHL career, Wayne Gretzky immediately wanted to make something clear.
“I am not the DJ Whisperer. I’m not some guru or anything like that for Dustin,” the Great One said. “People think I give him advice all the time. I don’t. I’m more like a grandfather, a father-in-law, a big brother. We just talk about the family, the kids, scheduling, TV shows, sports, just things most people talk about.
“We’re friends.”
So, no, Gretzky does not take on the role of Albert Einstein lecturing an entry-level class attended by Johnson. Instead, Gretzky from time to time lays out crumbs that have helped Johnson find higher ground that included becoming No. 1 in the world and his smashing victory in the 2020 Masters.
“I’ve encouraged him to raise the bar, sure, to set higher goals, and I’ve talked to him about the commitment to pay the price to be the best,” Gretzky said. “He’s in his own world in golf and I’m not a golfer by any means, and he was top 10 before we ever met. I’ve never given him a lesson plan.”
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Gretzky, who can hold his own on the golf course as a 10 handicapper, met Johnson in 2012 at a golf skills event for charity. They became much closer when Johnson began dating and then became engaged to Gretzky’s daughter, Paulina. And they’ve been frequent partners in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and playing companions at Sherwood Country Club in California.
“From the beginning I always thought he was a wonderful young man,” Gretzky said. “What fans don’t get is an opportunity to get to really know some of the guys in pro sports and there is a different perception of what people see on TV and what people really are and what they are truly about.
“In Dustin’s case, his demeanor away from the golf course is pretty much identical of what it is on the golf course. He never gets flustered, very easy going, extremely polite and very considerate. He was a joy to be around right from Day 1.”
Johnson said as much about Gretzky. The two hit it off immediately, in large part because they roll at a similar pace, share common interests, are extremely humble and their demeanors are very much alike.
“Wayne’s been great. He obviously has been a big supporter and believer in me,” Johnson said. “Having his support and just being able to spend a lot of time with him has been one of the best things ever. To listen to him, to see how he handles himself and what he did when he was playing and all the things he’s been through and done. That’s some pretty good experience to be around.
“He’s never gone, ‘Hey, Dustin, let’s sit down and talk for a bit.’ We spend a lot of time together talking about a lot of things and we play a lot of golf together. But we don’t talk about me doing this or doing that. There hasn’t been one specific thing he’s told me about something. The time, the quality of time, that we’ve gotten to spend together, means something.”
There was one time, however, when Gretzky made sure to drop some wisdom. One of Johnson’s crushing defeats came at the 2015 U.S. Open when he had a putt to win on the 72nd hole from 12 feet but missed. Then he had a putt from just over 3 feet to force a playoff but missed. He tapped in to complete a demoralizing three-putt and lose by one shot to Jordan Spieth.
“I grabbed him afterward and I told him I knew he wanted to get out of there but he needed to give the media 10 minutes and it would be the greatest 10 minutes he ever did,” Gretzky said. “I told him it’s easy to walk out of here with your tail between your legs, but you’ll be a bigger person and you’ll win over a lot of people by standing there and telling the truth. And tell them how much it hurts.
“And he did it.”
Dustin Johnson on the 18th green in the final round of the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. (Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)
At the rental home that night, Johnson let out his emotions. Even though he did his best to put the defeat behind him as quickly as possible, it stung. Then he and Gretzky and a few others boarded a plane that night and headed to Coeur d’Alene in Idaho.
“A bunch of us were going to tee off at 8 a.m. Monday. He told me to wake him up,” Gretzky said. “I wasn’t going to wake him up, come on. He’d just lost the U.S. Open. Well, he was up the next day.”
And played golf with buddies for 21 consecutive days.
“Either you love this sport and have a passion for it, or you don’t. And Dustin truly loves golf,” Gretzky said. “But I told him if I had lost Game 7 of a Stanley Cup final, I promise you I wouldn’t be playing pickup hockey with my buddies the next three weeks.”
Speaking of the Stanley Cup, Gretzky won four of them with the Edmonton Oilers. But not one of those was won on the road. After celebrating Johnson’s Masters triumph last November, a small group of Johnson’s family, team and friends flew to Florida that night. On the flight, Gretzky pulled Johnson aside.
“I told him that one of the dreams I had as an athlete was to win a Stanley Cup on the road,” Gretzky said. “I never did, though. But that night while he’s wearing the green jacket, I told him I felt like I was part of a championship team.
“It was the trip I never got as an athlete. I retired at 39 and I never thought I’d get the feeling again of being part of a winning group. It was so special.”
Johnson said that exchange between the two might be their best one.
“It was awesome. Pretty cool,” Johnson said. “Emotional, too, something I will never forget because he means so much to me.”
According to a story on TMZ Sports, Wayne Gretzky recorded a hole-in-one at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, to end his year.
Gretzky reportedly used a 9-iron on the par-3 sixth hole, which was playing 140 yards. TMZ also reported that Masters champ Dustin Johnson, who is engaged to Gretzky’s daughter Paulina, called from vacation in Hawaii to congratulate his future father-in-law.
In October, Gretzky put his mansion in Thousand Oaks back on the market for nearly $10 million more than he bought it for just three years ago. He built the home with his actress/model wife Janet Jones in 2002 and then sold the property to former Major League Baseball star Lenny Dykstra for $18.5 million in 2007. Dykstra later fell into debt and the home was auctioned off, it changed hands twice before Gretzky again purchased the property — this time for $13.5 million. It is still for sale.
DAZN commentators Chris Mannix and Sergio Mora discuss Floyd Mayweather’s decision to become a trainer.
Floyd Mayweather recently announced that he intends to pursue a second career as a trainer.
The future Hall of Famer acknowledged that he’s at the beginning of the learning curve but, never one to set his sights low, he added that, “I will be one of the best trainers in the world.”
Is that realistic?
Few great athletes have become great coaches or managers. For example, Ted Williams was among the greatest hitters of all time but wasn’t a successful manager. Wayne Gretzky, considered the best hockey player ever, was just a so-so coach.
In this episode of “Jabs with Mannix and Mora,” DAZN commentators Chris Mannix and Sergio Mora give their takes on whether Mayweather would be different from Williams and Gretzky.
Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots join a long lists of superstars splitting from teams.
Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have divorced after 20 seasons together with the New England Patriots. The quarterback is on to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the coach remains in Foxboro. Sparked thoughts of other legendary sports marriages and couplings that wound up going through splitsville.
Phil Esposito and the Bruins
Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Phil Esposito as a huge part of a great run by the Boston Bruins. Imagine the shock when the prolific scorer was dealt to the rival New York Rangers.
Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers are two of the six quarterbacks in the field this week, and the Super Bowl champions brought their A-game.
Pebble Beach Golf Links can humble the best players in the world (see David Duval’s scorecard from Friday), but this year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am the celebrity amateurs in the field have brought their A-game.
From athletes like future National Football League Hall of Famers Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers and arguably the greatest hockey player of all-time, Wayne Gretzky, to artists like country music star Jake Owen, we’ve seen some truly impressive shots that even Tour players can be jealous of.
Check out the best celebrity amateur shots from the PGA Tour’s annual trip to the Monterey Peninsula.
Alex Ovechkin has a long way to go, but Wayne Gretzky’s record seems possible.
Alex Ovechkin still has a long way to go, but he’s steadily making progress, moving up the NHL’s all-time career goals list as he chases Wayne Gretzky’s record.
With eight goals in the last three games going into the All-Star Weekend, the Washington Capitals winger now has 34 goals this season, putting him in a two-way tie for second in the league with Toronto’s Auston Matthews.
But Ovechkin’s back-to-back hat tricks last week in his team’s wins over the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders also helped him climb into the top-10 on the all-time goals list. And with 692 career goals, he’s now tied for night all time with Steve Yzerman after passing by Mario Lemieux.
Passes Mario Lemieux and ties Steve Yzerman in all-time goals.
Still, Gretzky has 894 career goals. But at 34, Ovechkin is not showing any signs of slowing down as he’s easily on pace for his second straight season with at least 50 goals and ninth overall.
Scoring 202 more goals in his career seems plausible, and Gretzky told NHL.com Ovechkin catching his record “would be wonderful for the game”.
“I’m a big believer that records are made to be broken,” Gretzky told NHL.com on Friday. “What I accomplished, I’m very proud of. It’s hard to do what I did, and it’s really hard to do what he’s doing now. But there’s no question in my mind that he has a real legitimate chance of doing it. The two things that you need; you’ve got to stay healthy, and he’s proven that over his career. He plays hard and he stays healthy. And, secondly, you’ve got to be on a good team — and he plays on a good team.
“For my success, I had to play with good players. He plays with good players, and that obviously helps.”
Aside from a December slump when he only scored four times that month, Ovechkin has been on fire this season. He opened the season with an 11-goal October, scored nine times in November and already has 10 through January and he hasn’t played in a week.
He’s also suspended for one game for skipping the All-Star Weekend in St. Louis, despite being voted the Metropolitan Division captain. It’s the second straight year he’s skipped the festivities in favor of more rest.
But at the rate Ovechkin has been scoring this season, he’ll likely break his tie with Yzerman shortly and catch Mark Messier in No. 8 with 694 goals.
If he does that, the 700 club is right around the corner with Mike Gartner (708), Phil Esposito (717), Marcel Dionne (731), Brett Hull (741), Jaromir Jagr (766), Gordie Howe (801) and Gretzky ahead of him on the all-time goals list.
“From the day he came into the game, into the National Hockey League, we knew what he was,” Gretzky said. “He was just a hard-working guy who loved to score goals. Everybody loves to score goals. The two, three guys that I always remembered seemed to love it more than anybody were Brett Hull, Mike Bossy and Luc Robitaille, and Alex has that fire. He gets around the net and he just loves to score.”
Ovechkin and the Capitals are at the top of the Eastern Conference with a one-point advantage over the Boston Bruins. With the team’s captain suspended for Monday’s game against Montreal, he’ll be back on the ice for Wednesday’s home game against Nashville.
USA TODAY Sports’ Larry Berger sat down with the legendary Wayne Gretzky to discuss whether or not he played in the greatest era of hockey of all time.
USA TODAY Sports’ Larry Berger sat down with the legendary Wayne Gretzky to discuss whether or not he played in the greatest era of hockey of all time.
