This is it, this is Masters Sunday. Months of anticipation for this fall 2020 Masters has culminated in this day, as Dustin Johnson carries a four-stroke lead into Sunday, looking for his first green jacket. He brings that history of his major collapses with him—being the only player in major history to be 0-for-4 in converting on 54-hole leads. The last of those came just a few months ago at the 2020 PGA Championship, so the world will be watching how DJ deals with that baggage.
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It has looked easy for DJ thus far. The Columbia, S.C. native became the only player in Masters history to card two rounds of 65 or better with his Saturday 65, sitting at 16 under par (65-70-65) through 54 holes. He has the Masters 72-hole scoring record (18-under) well within his sights. The biggest obstacle for DJ, as our Joel Beall writes, might be himself.
Here are the tee times, delayed for 10 minutes this morning due to fog, of the final groups on Sunday along with their starting scores:
9:39 a.m.: Dustin Johnson (-16), Sungjae Im (-12), Abraham Ancer (-12)
9:28 a.m.: Cameron Smith (-12), Dylan Frittelli (-11), Justin Thomas (-10)
9:17 a.m.: Sebastian Munoz (-9), Patrick Reed (-9), Jon Rahm (-9)
9:06 a.m.: Rory McIlroy (-8), Brooks Koepka (-8), Tommy Fleetwood (-8)
8:55 a.m.: Hideki Matsuyama (-7), Patrick Cantlay (-7), Kevin Na (-6)
10:34 a.m.: There’s the Dustin Johnson we’ve seen all week. DJ holes the difficult downhiller from 12 feet to get to 17-under and now extending his lead back to 3 shots. DJ’s putter has been an absolute weapon this week, and that was a big make for him to negate some of those negative thoughts from the first two holes.
Sungjae Im manages to match DJ’s birdie at the third hole—to keep pace and remain three back of the lead. Sungjae’s tied at 14-under with Cam Smith as DJ gets to 17-under, now one off the 72-hole scoring record.
10:30 a.m.: Cam Smith continues to be a scrambling machine at the par-3 fourth hole after his tee shot found the left greenside bunker. The Aussie hits a phenomenal out to about a foot to save his par to remain two back of DJ.
10:28 a.m.: Dustin Johnson busts his driver off the tee, hitting it 323 yards and leaving himself just 17 yards to this tricky left-hand hole location. DJ hits an OK pitch that runs past the flag to about 12 feet or so. Sungjae Im in the same group hit a phenomenal second shot to about 7 feet, as he has a chance to join Cam Smith at 14-under to get to two back of DJ’s lead.
10:22 a.m.: Cam Smith converts the short birdie putt at the third hole to trim Dustin Johnson’s lead to two shots. The Aussie has led the field in putting all week, and he continues to convert on opportunities early. One of the amazing stats from yesterday is that Cam Smith needed just nine putts on the back nine en route to shooting 3-under par on the inward nine. Smith is off to a dream start for him thus far.
Justin Thomas is off to a disappointing start with the bogey at the par-5 second, but he converts a tricky 9-footer for par at the third to avoid dropping another shot. He’s 7 back early as he aims to do something special on Sunday.
Sebastian Munoz hits the shot of the day at the par-3 fourth hole and converts the birdie from about 3 feet to get to 10-under in an impressive showing for the Masters debutant.
10:17 a.m.: Abraham Ancer misses a real chance for birdie from 3 feet at the second hole, which would’ve gotten him to 3 back. That was a surprising miss for Ancer, who has looked so good all week.
Sungjae Im converts after hitting a phenomenal chip shot, getting to three back of DJ’s lead. That matches Cam Smith at T-2. Cam Smith looks like he might make it two birdies in a row after sticking his approach to about 5 feet at the third hole.
10:11 a.m.: Dustin Johnson hits his 7-wood from the rough up near the front right bunker, presenting a challenging third shot over the bunker to the traditional right hole location. And DJ fails to make it to the green with his third, hitting into that front bunker. Now DJ is left with a difficult sand shot for his fourth. But OK, he hits it to two feet from there to save par. He avoids disaster early . . .
10:01 a.m.: As TV coverage starts, we have a look at DJ’s poor drive at No. 2. Looks like he has a mud ball in the right-hand rough—he couldn’t tell where it went off the tee. It’ll be surprising for DJ not to go for this second hole, where he nearly made an albatross yesterday. But DJ doesn’t need eagles today … a couple birdies at the par 5s and bogey-free golf will do him well. But DJ has two wide right drives to start Sunday after not missing one fairway on Saturday.
9:55 a.m.: Justin Thomas has found trouble at No. 2. He snapped his tee shot left way into the trees, and it looks like he wasn’t able to find it, so he had to take a drop and play a pounch out into the fairway for his third, then played his fourth shot to 16 feet for a chance at par at the par-5 second. Cam Smith played his third shot from 86 yards to 9 feet, so he’ll have a great chance to get within three of Dustin Johnson’s lead.
9:49 a.m.: OK, all the groups are now on the course. The final group of Dustin Johnson, Sungjae Im are off the first tee. DJ found the right fairway bunker off the tee, but hits a fine approach to 31 feet. Sungjae’s shot from the fairway spun off the front of the green, but he hits a nice chip to 3 feet. Abraham Ancer hit approach to 13 feet but fails to convert on the birdie putt. DJ two-putts for par to maintain his four-shot lead.
In the group behind, Cam Smith, Justin Thomas and Dylan Frittelli all parred the first. No early fireworks yet, but you just wait.
9:44 a.m.: Cameron Champ is off to that special round we just talked about below. Wow … three birdies in three holes for the long-hitting 2019 Safeway Open champion. Champ gets to 9-under overall. What a start!
9:38 a.m.: Rory McIlroy will be thinking about what could’ve been all week at Augusta. That opening 75 kicked him out of contention early, but he has fought back brilliantly. He’ll have a few more ‘woulda, shoula, coulda’s’ about his play at the first two holes on Sunday. Rory left his third shot in the bunker at the par-5 second hole after another gargantuan tee shot. Rory hits his fourth close from the bunker, but a par at the second hole isn’t how special rounds at Augusta get started.
9:32 a.m.: Rory McIlroy hits a disappointing second shot from just 223 yards at the par-5 second, finding the right greenside bunker. He’ll have the little mound behind the hole location to help, but that’s a poor shot after such a great tee ball.
At the fifth hole, Tiger Woods, Scottie Scheffler and Shane Lowry are all in the fairway with their tee shots.
9:26 a.m.: Rory McIlroy has hit opening tee shots of 343 yards (No. 2) and 330-yard (No. 1) to start his round. He’s going to have just 223 yards into the par-5 second hole. That’s a middle iron for the Northern Irishman … just absolute insanity. Koepka found the right fairway bunkers off the second so he’ll have to lay up before hitting his third shot.
Tiger Woods pars the par-3 fourth, hitting a nice tee shot to about 30 feet above the hole, and then navigating the slippery downhill putt expertly to about 2 feet. The others in his group par, too—Tiger remains at 6-under.
9:16 a.m.: Rory misses that great birdie chance from 8 feet hole high on the opening green after his mammoth drive, so that’ll be a disappointing par on the first hole. Usually you’re never disappointed with an opening par at Augusta National, but that one is a definite missed opportunity—especially because Rory McIlroy needs a historic, 62-type-of-round to have a chance today. Koepka and Fleetwood also make pars to stay at 8-under.
9:12 a.m.: Tiger Woods two-putts for par on the third green to remain at 6-under. His playing partners also make par. Meanwhile Rory McIlroy hits an absolute dart of an approach at the first hole, hoping to convert on that incredible 330-yard opening drive. Rory will have 8 feet for an opening birdie.
9:06 a.m.: The Rory-Fleetwood-Koepka group is on the first tee starting their rounds. And oh boy, what a fantastic first tee shot from Rory McIlroy. He carried the right fairway bunkers by A LOT. He hits it 330 yards, and that’s uphill to the fairway from the first tee, so that’s just a gigantic drive. He’ll have 101 yards left at No. 1 … craziness. Koepka’s drive went right but avoided the bunkers. And Fleetwood finds the fairway, about 35 yards behind Rory.
8:56 a.m.: Tiger Woods nearrrrrly holes his pitch shot from behind the green at No. 2. Wow, he raised his club up and drops it behind him after it lips out. He thought it was good, and it looked great. That was from a very simliar spot where Leishman holed out, too. He’ll settle for the one-footer for birdie to get to 6-under. Scottie Scheffler, his playing competitor, does, too, but in disappointing fashion, after he hit his approach to about 13 feet, riding the ridge down to the traditional Sunday hole location perfectly. Scheffler gets to 6-under.
8:47 a.m.: Tiger Woods absolutely pounds his driver down the left side of the par-5 second hole, riding the tree line perfectly as his ball bounds down the fairway. We’re seeing a little more bounce in the fairway today than earlier this week. Tiger recoiled on that drive and popped it out there 322 yards, giving him an iron from 240 yards into this second green.
8:35 a.m.: There are a couple of hot starts from players on the course thus far. Marc Leishman is 2-under through two to get to 6-under. Adam Scott and Lee Westwood each are two-under through three to get to 5-under.
How about this highlight from Leishman at No. 2!
8:24 a.m.: We’ll start our updates with the defending champion, Tiger Woods, who has started his final round of the 2020 Masters. He’s paired with Scottie Scheffler and Shane Lowry, who he played the opening two rounds with. All three players started the day at 5-under, and they’ll remain there after the first hole. Tiger hit the fairway with his cut off the tee, hit an OK approach to about 35-40 feet, and two-putted to get out of there with a 4.
Here are the 2020 Sunday hole locations—note the different location at the par-3 16th, not the traditional pin we’re so used to seeing.