Dustin comes

IT IS 12 years since a world No1 won the Masters. He was called Tiger Woods.

There is no Woods in the field at Augusta this year, no Arnie at the ceremonial tee-off, no azaleas even, thanks to the vagaries of the Georgia climate. But there is a world No1, and Dustin Johnson will take some stopping when it comes to the battle for the Green Jacket.

The streak Johnson is on is so hot it burns. Three wins in his past three outings show an athlete at the peak of his powers and a man at peace with himself. It will require a force of nature to disturb that equilibrium.

The predicted wind may raise the hopes of his rivals in levelling the playing field, but there is a languid assurance about Johnson this week that suggests even Rory McIlroy is going to have to play out of his skin over the next four days around Augusta National to defeat him.

“I’ve always liked the course. I always thought it suited my game very well. It’s a tough course and everything in your bag needs to be working for you to play well around here. But over the last couple of years I’ve done a little bit better and I feel like I’ve had a chance,” said Johnson, who finished fourth in 2016.

“Obviously I’m playing well coming into this week, so hopefully I can continue that success and I’m looking forward to giving myself a chance to win on Sunday.”

Johnson, who broke his Major duck at last year’s US Open, has certain physical advantages that make him a golfing rocket launcher – his arms are so long he can mark his golf ball without bending over – but natural length can only take a player so far and it has taken him into his 30s to solve

CARRYING HIM HOME: Johnson with his son Tatum

the rest of the equation. A sharp improvement in his wedge play has contributed to the uplift but it is the shift in attitude off the course that has made the biggest difference. Johnson always had a wild side. As a teenager in South Carolina, he was coerced into buying the ammunition for a gun that was later used by a friend’s brother in a murder. His lifestyle excesses on the Tour led him to take a six-month break from the game in 2014, which meant he missed the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. But becoming a father three months later proved a light-bulb moment. “The biggest thing for me was when Paulina and I had our son, Tatum. That was probably the