2020 Masters Tournament

The 2020 Masters Tournament was the 84th edition of the Masters Tournament held at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

"2020 Masters" redirects here. For the snooker tournament, see 2020 Masters (snooker). For the darts tournament, see 2020 Masters (darts).

2020 Masters Tournament
Front cover of the 2020 Masters Journal depicting Augusta National in the fall
Tournament information
DatesNovember 12–15, 2020
LocationAugusta, Georgia, U.S.
33.503°N 82.020°W / 33.503; -82.020
Course(s)Augusta National Golf Club
Tour(s)
Statistics
Par72
Length7,475 yards (6,835 m)
Field92 players, 60 after cut
Cut144 (E)
Prize fund$11,500,000
Winner's share$2,070,000
Champion
United States Dustin Johnson
268 (−20)
Location Map
Augusta National is located in the United States
Augusta National
Augusta National
Location in the United States
Augusta National is located in Georgia
Augusta National
Augusta National
Location in Georgia

The golf tournament was originally scheduled for April 9–12, 2020, but it was postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[1] On April 6, Augusta National announced the tournament was rescheduled for November 12–15[2] and on August 12, the golf club announced that the tournament would be held without spectators in attendance.[3]

Dustin Johnson won the tournament with a record score of 268, 20-under-par, five strokes ahead of Im Sung-jae and Cameron Smith.[4]

Course
Main article: Augusta National Golf Club
HoleNameYardsParHoleNameYardsPar
1Tea Olive445410Camellia4954
2Pink Dogwood575511White Dogwood5054
3Flowering Peach350412Golden Bell1553
4Flowering Crab Apple240313Azalea5105
5Magnolia495414Chinese Fir4404
6Juniper180315Firethorn5305
7Pampas450416Redbud1703
8Yellow Jasmine570517Nandina4404
9Carolina Cherry460418Holly4654
Out3,76536In3,71036
Source:[5][6]Total7,47572

Field

The Masters has the smallest field of the four major championships. Officially, the Masters remains an invitation event, but there is a set of qualifying criteria that determines who is included in the field.[7][8] Each player is classified according to the first category by which he qualified, with other categories in which he qualified shown in parentheses.

Golfers who qualify based solely on their performance in amateur tournaments (categories 7–11) must remain amateurs on the original starting day (April 9) of the tournament to be eligible to play.

1. Past Masters Champions

Fred Couples, Zach Johnson (3), Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Phil Mickelson, Larry Mize, José María Olazábal, Patrick Reed (16,17,18,19), Charl Schwartzel, Adam Scott (16,17,18,19), Vijay Singh, Jordan Spieth (2,3,15,18), Bubba Watson (12,18), Mike Weir, Danny Willett (18,19), Tiger Woods (12,16,18,19)

2. Winners of the U.S. Open in the last five years

Dustin Johnson (12,15,17,18,19), Brooks Koepka (4,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19), Gary Woodland (13,16,17,18,19)

3. Winners of The Open Championship in the last five years

Shane Lowry (14,18,19), Francesco Molinari (12,18,19), Henrik Stenson (18,19)

4. Winners of the PGA Championship in the last five years

Jason Day (12,18), Justin Thomas (12,16,17,18,19), Jimmy Walker

5. Winners of The Players Championship in the last three years

Kim Si-woo, Rory McIlroy (16,17,18,19), Webb Simpson (12,16,17,18,19)

6. Gold medalist in the Olympic Games[lower-alpha 1]
7. Winner and runner-up in the 2019 U.S. Amateur

John Augenstein (a), Andy Ogletree (a)

8. Winner of the 2019 Amateur Championship

James Sugrue (a)

9. Winner of the 2019 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship

Lin Yuxin (a)

10. Winner of the 2020 Latin America Amateur Championship

Abel Gallegos (a)

11. Winner of the 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur

Lukas Michel (a)

12. The top 12 finishers and ties in the 2019 Masters Tournament

Patrick Cantlay (15,16,17,18,19), Tony Finau (14,17,18,19), Rickie Fowler (17,18,19), Justin Harding, Matt Kuchar (17,18,19), Ian Poulter (18), Jon Rahm (13,17,18,19), Xander Schauffele (13,17,18,19)

13. Top 4 finishers and ties in the 2019 U.S. Open

Chez Reavie (16,17,18,19), Justin Rose (17,18,19)

14. Top 4 finishers and ties in the 2019 Open Championship

Tommy Fleetwood (17,18,19), Lee Westwood (19)

15. Top 4 finishers and ties in the 2019 PGA Championship

Matt Wallace (18,19)

16. Winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation for the FedEx Cup, between the 2019 Masters Tournament and March 9, 2020 [lower-alpha 2]

Cameron Champ, Tyler Duncan, Dylan Frittelli, Lanto Griffin, Tyrrell Hatton (18,19), Max Homa, Im Sung-jae (17,18,19), Kang Sung-hoon, Andrew Landry, Nate Lashley, Marc Leishman (17,18,19), Sebastián Muñoz, Kevin Na (18,19), Pan Cheng-tsung, J. T. Poston, Cameron Smith (19), Nick Taylor, Brendon Todd, Matthew Wolff

17. All players qualifying for the 2019 edition of The Tour Championship

Abraham Ancer (18,19), Paul Casey (18,19), Corey Conners, Bryson DeChambeau (18,19), Lucas Glover, Charles Howell III, Kevin Kisner (18,19), Jason Kokrak, Hideki Matsuyama (18,19), Louis Oosthuizen (18,19), Brandt Snedeker (18,19)

18. Top 50 on the final 2019 Official World Golf Ranking list

An Byeong-hun (19), Rafa Cabrera-Bello (19), Matt Fitzpatrick (19), Adam Hadwin, Billy Horschel (19), Shugo Imahira (19), Jazz Janewattananond (19), Victor Perez (19), Andrew Putnam, Erik van Rooyen (19), Bernd Wiesberger (19)

19. Top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking list on March 15, 2020

Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Graeme McDowell, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler

20. International invitees
Notes
  1. Invitations in this category are only issued for the Masters Tournament immediately following the Olympic Games; as such there was no qualifying invitee in 2020.
  2. Typically, the rule is between the Masters Tournaments. However, for 2020, it was based on the last completed tournament before the PGA Tour was suspended after the COVID-19 pandemic on March 12, 2020. Winners of PGA Tour events that occurred once the season resumed will be eligible for the 2021 tournament.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, November 12, 2020
Friday, November 13, 2020

Paul Casey had the lead at −7 after the first day, with a round featuring five birdies and an eagle.[11] Defending champion Tiger Woods was three shots back after shooting a 68 and pre-tournament favorite Bryson DeChambeau was a further two shots back after a 70. Play was suspended for three hours due to an electrical storm. 44 of the 92 players did not complete their first rounds on Thursday due to the lack of daylight.[12] On Friday morning, Casey was joined in the lead by Dylan Frittelli and Dustin Johnson, who matched his 65.

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1England Paul Casey65−7
South Africa Dylan Frittelli
United States Dustin Johnson
T4South Korea Im Sung-jae66−6
United States Justin Thomas
T6England Justin Rose67−5
United States Xander Schauffele
United States Webb Simpson
Australia Cameron Smith
T10Mexico Abraham Ancer68−4
United States Cameron Champ
Germany Bernhard Langer
Japan Hideki Matsuyama
South Africa Louis Oosthuizen
United States Patrick Reed
England Lee Westwood
United States Tiger Woods

Second round

Friday, November 13, 2020
Saturday, November 14, 2020

Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, and Justin Thomas were among five players sharing the 36-hole lead, making it the first time the top three players in the world rankings have shared the 36-hole lead in a major championship. Johnson, a co-leader after the first round, got to 10-under-par with birdies on three of his first four holes before consecutive bogeys on holes 14 and 15 (his fifth and sixth, respectively, of the round). He then made 11 consecutive pars before closing with a birdie on the ninth to finish at 9-under-par.[13]

Thomas made four straight birdies on holes 15 to 18 (his sixth to ninth) and overcame a double-bogey at the first, completing his round with birdies at the last two holes for a three-under-par round of 69. Rahm, who finished his round on Saturday morning, had a bogey-free 66 (−6). They were joined at the top of the leaderboard by Abraham Ancer, making his Masters debut, and Cameron Smith, who eagled the 15th before finishing with three straight birdies.[14]

Two-time champion Bernhard Langer made the cut at three-under, becoming, at age 63, the oldest player in Masters history to make the cut.[15] Two amateurs made the cut, John Augenstein on 3-under-par and Andy Ogletree at one-under.

With the first round still to be completed on Friday morning, the second round started at 9:30 am instead of the planned 7:00 am. 48 players did not finish their second round as play was suspended.[16] The second round continued at 7:30 am on Saturday. After the completion of the round, 60 players made the cut, the leading 50 and ties, with the third round beginning at 10:20 am.

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1Mexico Abraham Ancer68-67=135−9
United States Dustin Johnson65-70=135
Spain Jon Rahm69-66=135
Australia Cameron Smith67-68=135
United States Justin Thomas66-69=135
T6United States Patrick Cantlay70-66=136−8
South Korea Im Sung-jae66-70=136
Japan Hideki Matsuyama68-68=136
Taiwan Pan Cheng-tsung70-66=136
United States Patrick Reed68-68=136

Amateurs: Augenstein (−5), Ogletree (−1), Sugrue (+4), Michel (+6), Lin (+8), Gallegos (+16)

Third round

Saturday, November 14, 2020

World No. 1 Dustin Johnson had a bogey-free round of 65 (−7) to take a four-shot lead into the final round. Johnson, part of a five-way tie for the lead going into the round, jumped to the top of the leaderboard with an eagle on the par-five second hole after hitting his approach shot to three feet. He also birdied the third hole before making a 38-foot birdie putt on the fourth. On the back nine, Johnson two-putted for birdie on both par-fives, the 13th and 15th, and saved par from left of the 18th green to finish his round. His 16-under-par score of 200 after 54 holes tied the Masters tournament record, set by Jordan Spieth in 2015. He also became the first player in Masters history with two rounds of 65 or better in the same tournament.[17][18]

South Korea's Im Sung-jae, making his Masters debut, birdied the 18th after getting a fortunate bounce off the mound to the left of the green to 14 feet. He joined Abraham Ancer, another Masters rookie, and Cameron Smith in a tie for second place at 12-under-par.[19]

Jon Rahm, tied for the lead at the start of the round, fell four shots back of Johnson playing the eighth hole before making double-bogey on the par-five, his third shot ricocheting off a tree trunk and into bushes from where he had to take a penalty drop. He had an even par round to finish seven strokes off the lead and tied for seventh place.[20] Justin Thomas was still within two shots of Johnson but made four bogeys on the back nine to drop six back.[21]

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1United States Dustin Johnson65-70-65=200−16
T2Mexico Abraham Ancer68-67-69=204−12
South Korea Im Sung-jae66-70-68=204
Australia Cameron Smith67-68-69=204
5South Africa Dylan Frittelli65-73-67=205−11
6United States Justin Thomas66-69-71=206−10
T7Colombia Sebastián Muñoz70-68-69=207−9
Spain Jon Rahm69-66-72=207
United States Patrick Reed68-68-71=207
T10England Tommy Fleetwood71-66-71=208−8
United States Brooks Koepka70-69-69=208
Japan Hideki Matsuyama68-68-72=208
Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy75-66-67=208

Final round

Sunday, November 15, 2020

Summary

Dustin Johnson began the round with a four-shot lead before making consecutive bogeys at the fourth and fifth holes. Cameron Smith reduced the lead to one after making birdie at the ninth, hitting his approach shot from the pine straw to four feet.

Johnson, meanwhile, came back to birdie the sixth and two-putt for birdie on the par-five eighth after reaching the green in two, taking a two-shot lead into the back nine. He laid up on the par-five 13th but managed to get up-and-down for birdie, then made a six-foot birdie putt on the 14th. After again laying up on the 15th, Johnson chipped to seven feet for his third shot and made the birdie putt to become the first player in Masters history to reach 20-under. He made par on the final three holes to set a new Masters scoring record, breaking the old mark of 18-under set by Tiger Woods in 1997 and Jordan Spieth in 2015.[22][23]

Smith bogeyed the 11th after missing the green to the right and finished at 15-under, five behind Johnson and tied for second place. Im Sung-jae, making his Masters debut at the age of 22, birdied both par-fives on the back nine to join Smith at 15-under. Smith shot a three-under 69, becoming the first player in Masters history with four rounds in the 60s.[24][25] Johnson's five-shot margin of victory was the largest at the Masters since Woods won by 12 in 1997. He made only four bogeys in the tournament, the fewest ever by a Masters champion.[26][27]

Woods, the defending champion, made a 10 on the par-three 12th after hitting three balls into the water, the highest score on a hole in his career. But he came back to birdie five of his last six holes, including the last four in a row for the first time at the Masters, and finished in a tie for 38th place.[28]

Of the two amateurs who made the cut, Andy Ogletree finished at 2-under-par while John Augenstein finished at 3-over-par.

For the second year in a row, a two-tee start was used, with players teeing off between 8:00 am and 9:39 am, using the 1st and 10th tees.

Final leaderboard
Champion
Silver Cup winner (leading amateur)
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion
Top 10
PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)
1United States Dustin Johnson65-70-65-68=268−202,070,000
T2South Korea Im Sung-jae66-70-68-69=273−151,012,000
Australia Cameron Smith67-68-69-69=273
4United States Justin Thomas66-69-71-70=276−12552,000
T5South Africa Dylan Frittelli65-73-67-72=277−11437,000
Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy75-66-67-69=277
T7United States Brooks Koepka70-69-69-70=278−10358,417
Taiwan Pan Cheng-tsung70-66-74-68=278
Spain Jon Rahm69-66-72-71=278
T10Canada Corey Conners74-65-71-69=279−9287,500
United States Patrick Reed (c)68-68-71-72=279
United States Webb Simpson67-73-71-68=279
Source:[6]

Scorecard
Hole123456789101112131415161718
Par454343454443545344
United States Johnson−16−16−17−16−15−16−16−17−17−17−17−17−18−19−20−20−20−20
South Korea Im−12−13−14−14−14−13−12−13−13−13−13−13−14−14−15−15−15−15
Australia Smith−12−13−14−14−13−13−14−14−15−15−14−14−14−14−15−15−15−15
United States Thomas−10−9−9−9−9−9−9−10−10−10−10−11−11−11−13−13−12−12
South Africa Frittelli−11−11−11−11−10−10−11−10−11−11−11−11−11−12−12−11−11−11
Northern Ireland McIlroy−8−8−9−9−9−10−10−11−11−10−10−10−11−11−11−11−11−11
United States Koepka−8−8−8−8−8−8−9−9−9−9−8−8−9−9−10−10−10−10
Taiwan Pan−6−7−7−7−7−7−6−7−7−7−7−6−7−7−8−9−10−10
Spain Rahm−8−9−9−9−9−9−9−9−9−8−8−6−7−7−9−10−9−10
Mexico Ancer−12−12−11−10−10−9−8−9−9−8−7−7−7−7−8−8−8−8

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle Birdie Bogey Double bogey

Source:[6]

Media

This was the 65th consecutive Masters to air on CBS Sports, which began coverage in 1956. Cable coverage aired on ESPN. To ensure that play would conclude before the earlier sunset, and to accommodate CBS's coverage of the NFL, the final round was scheduled so that coverage would begin at 10:00 a.m. ET (similarly to the previous year's final round, which was moved up due to the threat of storms) and conclude around 2:30 p.m. ET. To accommodate the tournament, CBS was only assigned late-afternoon NFL games (4:05 p.m. ET kickoff) for that week's games. Furthermore, CBS's SEC football game on Saturday, normally a 3:30 p.m. ET game, was scheduled for a 6:00 p.m. ET kickoff so that it could air as a lead-out for third round coverage.[29][30][31] It was reported that in the event that the final round did overrun past 4:00 p.m. ET, coverage could be shifted to ESPN's sister broadcast network ABC and simulcast on CBS Sports Network, but that this was highly unlikely.[32]

The SEC game was postponed due to COVID-19 cases in one of the participating teams, leading to CBS scheduling only its pre-game show College Football Today (largely to recap the day's games) after the conclusion of coverage, and giving the rest of the game's broadcast window back to affiliates and its regular Saturday-night network programming.[33]

To cross-promote the tournament, ESPN broadcast College GameDay on-location from Augusta National's par 3 course on November 14.[34]

For the first time since 1963, there was no live coverage of the Masters on free to air television in the UK, with pay television broadcaster Sky Sports securing exclusive rights.[35] Extended highlights were however shown free to air by BBC Sport with what turned out to be the last major tournament covered by veteran commentator Peter Alliss who died less than a month later in December 2020.

Viewership

Facing competition from early-afternoon NFL games on Fox, the final round was seen by 5.59 million viewers in the United States according to the Nielsen ratings — making it the least watched final round at the Masters since 1957.[36]

References
  1. "2020 Masters Tournament Postponed". Masters.com. March 13, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  2. "2020 Masters Targeting November 9-15". Masters.com. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  3. Morse, Ben (August 12, 2020). "2020 Masters to take place in November without fans". CNN. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  4. "Masters 2020 Leaderboard". Masters.com. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  5. "The Course". Masters.com. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  6. "2020 Masters Tournament – leaderboard". ESPN. November 15, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  7. "2020 Masters Tournament Invitees" (PDF). Masters.com. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  8. "2020 Invitees". Masters.com. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  9. Harig, Bob (November 9, 2020). "Sergio Garcia withdraws from Masters after positive COVID-19 test". ESPN. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  10. "Niemann WDs from Masters due to positive COVID-19 test". PGA Tour. November 6, 2020. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  11. Murray, Ewan (November 12, 2020). "Paul Casey and Tiger Woods among old guard leading the way at the Masters". The Guardian. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  12. Bysouth, Alex (November 12, 2020). "Masters 2020: Paul Casey sets clubhouse lead on day one at Augusta". BBC Sport. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  13. Piastowski, Nick (November 14, 2020). "Masters 2020: Four share the lead after exciting Friday at Augusta National". Golf.com. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  14. Vivlamore, Chris (November 13, 2020). "Five under over final four puts Cameron Smith atop Masters leaderboard". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  15. Belbeck, Dane (November 13, 2020). "63-year-old Langer to become oldest player ever to make Masters cut". The Score. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  16. "Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas among Masters leaders as play suspended". ESPN. November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  17. Piastowski, Nick (November 14, 2020). "Dustin Johnson builds commanding Masters lead in third round at Augusta". Golf.com. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  18. Salituro, David (November 14, 2020). "Dustin Johnson closing in on Masters glory after third round". FanSided.com. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  19. Stutsman, Doug (November 14, 2020). "Cameron Smith vying for Masters history with another round in 60s". The Augusta Chronicle. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  20. Baggs, Mercer (November 14, 2020). "How was Jon Rahm's Saturday? 'Pretty awful' said the frustrated Spaniard". Golf Channel. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  21. Jackson, Keith (November 14, 2020). "The Masters: Dustin Johnson leads by four after third round at Augusta National". Sky Sports. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  22. Pickman, Ben (November 15, 2020). "Dustin Johnson Wins 2020 Masters in Record-Setting Performance". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  23. Piastowski, Nick (November 15, 2020). "A champion unlike any other: Dustin Johnson wins the Masters for his first green jacket". Golf.com. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  24. Hoggard, Rex (November 15, 2020). "Cameron Smith can't beat Dustin Johnson, but even DJ didn't do this". Golf Channel. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  25. Wacker, Brian (November 15, 2020). "Masters 2020: Cameron Smith makes Augusta history and still doesn't get a green jacket". Golf Digest. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  26. Ray, Justin (November 15, 2020). "The Masters: 10 notes to know about the final round". The Athletic. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  27. Murray, Ewan (November 15, 2020). "Unstoppable Dustin Johnson cruises to record-breaking first Masters victory". The Guardian. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  28. Boone, Kyle (November 15, 2020). "Watch: Tiger Woods melts down at Masters with septuple-bogey 10, his highest score ever on a hole". CBS Sports. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  29. Rigdon, Jay (September 9, 2020). "The Masters in November will air earlier on the weekend due to CBS football commitments". Awful Announcing. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  30. Lavner, Ryan (September 9, 2020). "2020 Masters Set For Another Earlier-Than-Usual Finish". Golf Channel. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  31. "Sunlight will be a precious commodity at Augusta National for this year's Masters". Golfweek. October 16, 2020. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  32. "If The Masters runs into NFL on CBS coverage Sunday, it could finish on ABC". Awful Announcing. November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  33. "The Alabama-LSU and Texas A&M-Tennessee games have been postponed". Awful Announcing. November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  34. "College GameDay is headed to Augusta National on Masters weekend". Awful Announcing. October 27, 2020. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  35. "Sky seals exclusive live Masters deal in blow to BBC". Sports Business. November 19, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  36. "The Masters latest to see TV ratings plummet following schedule switch". SportsPro Media. November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
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