AUGUSTA, Ga. — Perhaps it is fitting
that the player leading the biggest golf tour-
nament of 2020 prepared for the event last
month by self-isolating in a hotel room for 11
days after a positive coronavirus test result.
“Just laying around, kind of doing noth-
ing,” the player, Dustin Johnson said of his
mandated respite in late October.
But what of his conditioning, putting and
driving-range practice for the all-important
Masters tournament?
“The most movement I made was to the
shower,” said Johnson, whose symptoms
were minimal.
Johnson’s understated regimen appears
to be working. With five birdies, an eagle
and no bogeys, Johnson shot a seven-un-
der-par 65 in Saturday’s third round to take
an authoritative four-stroke lead over the
field entering Sunday’s final round.
While most of the pretournament atten-
tion was focused on the hard-swinging
Bryson DeChambeau and the defending
champion Tiger Woods, Johnson, the
world’s top-ranked golfer, was quietly, even
idly, preparing for his latest run at the Mas-
ters title. He played in only one event in
early November after his layoff, and with
top-10 finishes in his last four Masters tour-
naments, Johnson was hardly an underdog,
but he has now pieced together three sub-
par rounds that have left him at 16 under for
the 2020 tournament.
That is rarefied air, as the record for the
lowest four-round Masters score is 270, or
18 under par, set by Tiger Woods in 1997 and
tied by Jordan Spieth in 2015.
There is, however, another relevant his-
torical perspective, and it does not favor
Johnson. While he came from behind to win
the 2016 United States Open, four times in
his career Johnson has held the 54-hole lead
in a major championship and failed to win.
It happened most recently at the P.G.A.
Championship in August, when he tied for
second behind Collin Morikawa.
Reminded of those disappointments after
his round on Saturday, Johnson said, “If I
can play like I did today, I think it will break
that streak.”
Some of his rivals are almost expecting as
much. Tommy Fleetwood, who trails John-
son by eight strokes, was asked if thought
he was still in the mix for this year’s title.
“Well, yeah,” Fleetwood said with a
laugh, and then added, using Johnson’s
nickname, “Unfortunately, D. J.’s playing.”
Three golfers are tied for second at 12 un-
der par: the Masters rookies Abraham An-
cer of Mexico and Sungjae Im of South Ko-
rea, along with Cameron Smith of Australia.
With softer-than-usual greens in this
year’s Masters, a byproduct of heavy rain-
fall on Thursday and of varied November
turf conditions, scores have been substan-
tially lower. Each of the golfers in second
place, for instance, has posted nothing but
below-par rounds. When the delayed sec-
ond round was finally completed early on
Saturday morning, the cut line to trim the
field was 144 strokes, the lowest in Masters
history.
“With the conditions being soft, you can
be really aggressive no matter what club
you have in your hand,” Johnson said.
“You’ve got to be aggressive, and you’ve got
to attack the flags.”
Not every golfer was as confident, or as
fit, as Johnson.
Woods, who began the third round five
under par, was clearly hobbled on Saturday
by his unpredictable surgically repaired
back. He moved stiffly and did not swingwith the same fluidity he had exhibited in
the first two rounds. His condition was par-
ticularly noticeable when Woods went to re-
trieve his ball from holes, which he did gin-
gerly and by bending only his knees to limit
strain on his back. Finishing his round at
par, he was 11 strokes behind Johnson,
which all but eliminates him from con-
tention for a sixth green jacket.
DeChambeau, the pretournament favor-
ite, revealed on Saturday that he had not
been feeling well and went for a coronavirus
test on Friday night. Although the test re-
sult was negative, DeChambeau, who is 13
strokes behind Johnson, said he still felt un-
der the weather and had been having bouts
of dizziness.
“Yeah, I’m not good, unfortunately,”
DeChambeau, who shot his best score of the
event, 69, on Saturday, said. “I don’t know
what it is. I just feel kind of dull and numb
out there — just not fully aware of every-
thing and making some silly, silly mistakes.”
Johnson was the PGA Tour’s hottest golf-
er until the virus interrupted his season,
and as formidable as he and his lead are, the
final round of the Masters has traditionally
been volatile. Johnson’s closest pursuershave notable credentials. Im, who won the
Honda Classic in March, was the 2019 rook-
ie of the year on the PGA Tour and has four
other top-three finishes since September- Ancer is ranked 21st in the world and
was second in two PGA Tour events this
year. Smith’s recent record is not as impres-
sive, but he did finish tied for fifth at the 2018
Masters.
Lurking six strokes back is Justin Thom-
as, who like Johnson has one major champi-
onship victory, and who was tied for second
behind Johnson at the Tour Championship,
the final event of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Johnson, who grew up in South Carolina,
an hour’s drive from Augusta National, was
asked how he intended to spend Saturday
night with a career-defining victory per-
haps 24 hours away. His answer was in line
with his quarantine routine.
“What am I going to do? When I get back
to the house, I’ll play with my kids,” he said.
His fiancée, Paulina Gretzky and her
family are in town as well.
Johnson shrugged and grinned.
“Just going to have some dinner and hang
out at the house,” he said.
Once in Quarantine, but Now in Full Control
Dustin Johnson, above,
shot a seven-under-par 65
on Saturday at Augusta
National. Bryson
DeChambeau, the pre-
tournament favorite,
tested negative but said he
was having bouts of dizzi-
ness. He shot a 69 but is
13 strokes off the pace.PHOTOGRAPHS BY DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMESDustin Johnson, who tested positive
in October, surges to a four-shot lead
after three rounds of the Masters.
By BILL PENNINGTONDustin JohnsonAbraham AncerCameron SmithSungjae ImDylan FrittelliJustin Thomas-16
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Leaderboard
30 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2020
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