Favourite Dustin Johnson wary of Masters pitfalls

With the golf Dustin Johnson is playing right now, he is clearly the golfer to beat at this week’s Masters. 

Yet while the American has the golfing world at his feet, he has been through enough disappointment in major championships to take nothing for granted. The world number one will tee off tomorrow at Augusta National on the back of three consecutive wins in as many starts. No golfer has been in hotter form since Rory McIlroy’s run of Open, WGC-Bridgestone and PGA Championship wins in 2014 and it is no surprise to see Johnson, 32, heading the betting markets.

His last three starts have produced victories in the Genesis Open at Los Angeles’ Riviera Club, the WGC-Mexico Championship and the WGC-Dell Match Play in Austin, Texas, a fortnight ago. Those wins have taken him past world number two Rory McIlroy (13) in terms of PGA Tour titles, to 15 and only Tiger Woods has won more, 18, since Johnson came on tour in 2008. And with two top 10s at Augusta National in his last two starts, a tie for sixth in 2015 and a career-best T4 12 months ago, why would anyone doubt he has one arm inside the sleeve of a green jacket already?