Masters sets up best for Johnson’s game

For most of the Masters field, the competitive rounds begin Thursday. For Irmo’s Dustin Johnson, they started Tuesday.

Johnson teamed with Brandt Snedeker to go against Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler in Mickelson and Fowler’s regular Tuesday money match. Mickelson and Fowler have made a habit of playing a Tuesday practice round together at every tournament in which they both play. They rotate their opponents.

“Me and Brandt did OK,” Johnson said with a smile when he met with the media here following the round.

That might be as good a sign as any that the Dutch Fork High School alum is ready finally to contend at Augusta National.

“As far as really helping prepare for Thursday and getting ready for the tournament, kind of putting the guys under the gun; whether it is trash‑talking or maybe your partner is out of the hole and you have to step up and put a score on the board, it really does help,” Fowler said of the Tuesday matches. “Some guys may not like it. I know the guys that play in the game, we are all for it. It really does help. It kind of simulates a tournament round. It gives us an idea of what we may need to work on or if we are playing well, then it gives us confidence going into the week.”

Johnson needs some confidence at the Masters. The nine-time PGA Tour winner has never finished better than 13^th here (2013). He missed the cut last year and his average finish in his four previous Masters was 30^th.

“I mean, the golf course, I feel like sets up very well for me. Just haven't really put it all together,” he said. “I've contended in all the other (majors), just not here. To me, yeah, this one sets up the best for me. I really can't explain it. I feel like I should play well here.”

He should play well, particularly, this week, said Mickelson, who saw a course in Tuesday’s damp conditions that was setting up perfectly for the game’s biggest hitters.

“I think guys like Dustin and J.B. Holmes and Bubba Watson and Rory McIlroy, the usual suspects who really hit the ball long and far, have a distinct advantage coming into these greens,” Mickelson said. “I think distance is going to be a factor.”

Johnson enters Augusta on a hot streak that came on the heels of his six-month leave of absence for personal reasons. In six events this year, he has missed two cuts but finished in the top six four times, including a victory at the WGC-Cadillac Championship.

He seemed at ease facing the national media Tuesday afternoon in the Augusta National press room with fiancée Paulina Gretzky, new baby Tatum and in-laws Wayne and Janet Gretzky on planes on their way into town.

“This year, I feel a little bit better coming in here, a little more confident in my game,” he said. “I feel like I'm doing the right things with the golf game. I feel like continuing to get a little bit better. You know, with my play this year, definitely playing a lot more consistent and more solid coming in here.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 9:53 PM with the headline "Masters sets up best for Johnson’s game."