Now that the pine needles have settled in Augusta, let’s view Dustin Johnson and his record-breaking Masters victory in historical context:
1. DJ is now tied with Gary Player for 26th on the all-time list for most PGA Tour wins with 24. (But let’s get one thing straight; the Black Knight is arguably one of the top 5 golf professionals of all time, with nine majors victories on the regular tour and a matching nine majors on the PGA Tour Champions (seniors) circuit. Only the incomparable Bernhard Langer has more Champions Tour majors. Player also logged 160 tournament wins during his career in the USA and internationally. Incredible. So no parallels between DJ and Player should properly be drawn at this juncture of DJ’s career other than this happenstance of total PGA victories.)
2. DJ now joins an exclusive group: every golfer with at least 24 PGA Tour victories, save Macdonald Smith, who retired in 1936, is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
3. Every golfer with at least 2 majors victories is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Now, in examining the qualifications for election, being a member of the WGHOF may not be the distinction one would otherwise think. In fact, after the criticism it received after the election of Colin Montgomerie in the class of 2013 to the Hall, despite the fact he had never won a major championship or a stroke play tournament in the U.S., the WGHOF suspended its election process in 2014 and revamped its selection criteria. Prior to that process, the criteria for regular PGA tour golfers was basically at least 10 PGA Tour wins, two majors or two Players Championship titles. As a result, good but certainly not great golfers such as Lanny Wadkins (21 tour wins, 1 major), Tom Kite (19 tour wins, 1 major), Larry Nelson (10 tour wins but 3 majors), Hubie Green (19 tour wins, 2 majors), Curtis Strange ((17 tour wins, 2 majors), and Fred Couples (15 tour wins, 1 majors) were elected to the Hall prior to 2014.
4. In the last 22 majors in which he has played, starting with the 2015 Masters, DJ has won twice, finished 2nd (alone or tied) 4 times, and finished in the top 10 thirteen times. To put that in perspective, Rory McIlroy was 12 top-ten finishes in majors during that time, Brooks Koepka has 11, Jordan Spieth 9, and no one else is close.
5. DJ is now 36
years young. How many majors victories
are in his future? Well, Jack Nicklaus won
4 majors after turning 36, including his last and perhaps most memorable one at
the Masters in 1986, at the ripe old age of 46.
Gary Player won 4 of his 9 majors after turning 36 years of age. Phil Mickelson won 2 of his 5 majors after turning
39. Conversely, Tom Watson won all 8 of
his majors before turning 36.
So, it would appear that history is not much of a guide here, except to indicate that it might be difficult to expect even someone as supremely talented as Johnson to win more than 3 or 4 more majors in the coming years. Only time will tell. In the meantime, the 2021 Masters is only five months away, so it won’t be long before we see DJ defend his well-deserved 2020 title, and hopefully before crowds of roaring patrons and blooming azaleas in Augusta.
AMDG
© R. E. Kelly 2012 -2020
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