Dustin Johnson compared to Tiger Woods after Masters victory

When Dustin Johnson was presented with his first Masters green jacket it was fitting that Tiger Woods was there to hand over golf’s most coveted item of clothing.

Johnson stormed to a record-breaking victory at Augusta National after finishing with a score of 20-under - five shots clear of Australian Cameron Smith and South Korea’s Sungjae Im.

The American now has two major titles and becomes the first world No.1 to win the Masters since Woods in 2002, BBC Sport reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Having defending champion Woods present the green jacket was a “dream come true” the 36-year-old admitted.

“The Masters is for me the biggest tournament and the one I wanted to win the most,” Johnson said. “I am just very proud of the way I handled myself and finished off the tournament.

“It still feels like a dream. As a kid, I was dreaming about winning the Masters and having Tiger put the green jacket on you still feels like a dream. But I am here and what a great feeling it is. I could not feel more excited.”

Johnson tipped to win more majors

Golf coaching guru Butch Harmon believes Johnson is the “closest thing” to 15-time major winner Woods he’s ever seen.

Harmon, who coached Woods from 1993 to 2004, told Sky Sports: “Now Dustin Johnson has got his second major, he’s going to go on and win a lot of majors and I think he’s going to win this great tournament numerous times. I’ve said it all along that when he is on, I don’t think he can be beaten.

“When he’s firing on all cylinders, like he was this week with his driving and controlling his irons, he’s the closest thing to Tiger Woods I’ve ever seen. The difference to that is that Tiger was on for the best part of 20 years, so he’s got a way to go to get in that category!

“I think it meant so much to DJ that it was Tiger who put the green jacket on him after winning this great tournament. He grew up just 75 miles from Augusta, so this is a tournament he always wanted to win.”

With the 2016 US Open and 2020 Masters titles now in his locker, Johnson is being tipped to complete a career grand slam of majors by adding The Open Championship and PGA Championship to his CV.

Speaking on Sky Sports 2002 PGA Championship winner Rich Beem said: “Butch Harmon has no doubts that Dustin will win more majors, but I am going to go one more than Butch. I think Dustin Johnson in the next three years is going to win the career grand slam.”

Johnson will only have to wait four months to defend his title as Augusta hosts the 2021 Masters in April.