Why it's the year of the young master

Post by Sports Journalist Derek Clements

---

Rory McIlroy is favourite to win The Masters and complete his career grand slam, but it might prove to be a mountain too high for the world number one to climb.

I believe the pressure of trying to win a third successive major will get to McIlroy, and there is also the small matter of his form - he hasn't played well in America this year. Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth are different propositions altogether.

For me, Spieth will be hard to beat at Augusta, but if anybody is going to do it, it will be the Dustinator.

Destiny for Dustinator

Like many others, I still see the at the thought of Johnson's six-month "leave of absence" from the PGA Tour and the refusal of the tour to confirm a) that he was banned, and b) what he was banned for. The general view is that it was because he was caught taking cocaine, although he has broadly hinted that his problems were alcohol-related. But putting that to one side, he has returned to the game with his act well and truly sorted out, and his sponsors have all stuck by him - would they have done so had the tour announced he was a cocaine user?

It is clear that he put the time away from the game to good use, most notably with his short game. Prior to his absence, he had a habit of hitting wedge shots 20 yards through the green, but he now has the ball under control, and that is obviously the result of some serious hard work.

Coming back after such a long absence is not an easy thing to do, but Johnson looks like he has never been away. He missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open but then finished fourth at the AT&T Pro-Am and was second the following week in the Northern Trust Open. Another missed cut followed at the Honda Classic before he won the WGC Cadillac championship.

I was particularly impressed with his performance at the Texas Open where he opened with a 78, but battled to make the cut and then, over the weekend, was three shots better than anybody else in the final 36 holes. He ended up tied sixth.

Almost every part of Johnson's game has improved since his return. His average drive travels 318.8 yards, further than anybody else, and although he hits only 50.54% of fairways, his misses rarely get him into trouble and certainly won't do so at Augusta. With 4.35 birdies per round, only three players have done better, and his scoring average of 69.59 also has him in fourth place. He is first in strokes gained from tee to green, ninth in putting average and, crucially, leads the putting average in the fourth round. His scoring average in round three and four is 68, bettered by only two players.

There are several areas where there is a lot of room for improvement. His sand save percentage is just 39.47%, which puts him in 176th place.

That he was in a bad place last year is beyond doubt, but his marriage to Paulina Gretzky and the birth of his first child seem to have given Johnson the right perspective on life. He should already have won the US Open at Pebble Beach, The Open at Royal St George's and the US PGA at Whistling Straits. It is surely only a matter of time before he puts that right.

Spotlights on Spieth

As good as his form is, Johnson won't beat Spieth at Augusta. It is hard to believe that he is still only 21 years of age. His victory at the Valspar championship gave him his second PGA Tour success, to add to the Australian Open and Hero Challenge victories he recorded in such fine style at the end of last year.

If Johnson's statistics are impressive, Spieth's are simply stratospheric. He missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open, but in six other outings in 2015 he has been tied seventh, tied seventh again, tied fourth, tied 17th, won, second. He leads the putting averages with 1.673 putts per green, his 27.30 putts per round also leads the way. He holes 85% of putts inside 10 feet and is in the top 10 in scoring average (69.58), birdies per round (4.27), strokes gained, putting from 15th-25ft, par four scoring average and approaches from 50-125 yards. And before the Houston Open he had gone 230 holes without a three putt.

He bemoans his lack of length from the tee, but still belts it out there 295 yards on average and stands seventh in total driving. They are all just numbers, of course, but when you put them together you have the complete player. Something they haven't been able to work out yet is a chart for what goes on between the ears. If they did, the young American would probably top that too.

He admitted last year that on more than one occasion he allowed frustration to get the better of him, but he has been working on that too. He is mature way beyond his years. Last year he finished second to Bubba Watson on his Augusta debut, and said that he was disappointed. He will expect to go one better this year.

Of course these two won't have things all their own way. Hideki Matsuyama is the first Japanese golfer who looks good enough to win majors, and I expect him to figure in the final shake-up, along with Patrick Reed and Jason Day. Brandt Snedeker should also do well at Augusta, possessed as he is with one of the best putting strokes in the game. Reed upset a lot of the game's stuffed shirts last when he said that he regarded himself as a top-five player. If he wins at Augusta, guess what? He will offically beome a top-five player.

Masters forecast (2nd April 2015):

1st Jordan Spieth 12/1
2nd Dustin Johnson 16/1
3rd Hideki Matsuyama 66/1
4th Patrick Reed 33/1
5th Jason Day 16/1

Photo Credit - TourProGolfClubs

---

Related Articles

McIlroy will be happy to be lost in the Woods