AUGUSTA, Ga. - Dustin Johnson has had his share of misery in major championships. Not the kind of misery that forced him to withdraw from the Masters. But misery nonetheless.
Johnson, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, withdrew minutes prior to the start of his first round due to a back injury he suffered in a freak fall on stairs in his rental home.
He came to Augusta National, tried to warm up, but ultimately decided he could not compete, making him just the second No. 1 player along with Tiger Woods to not play in the Masters.
His other major championship pain was not associated with injury. But some of the high-profile cases have been impossible to forget.
At the 2010 U.S. Open, he lost the 54-hole lead by shooting a final-round 82 and eventually tied for eighth.
Later that summer, Johnson grounded his club in a fairway bunker on the 72nd hole of the PGA Championship, leading to a penalty that cost him a spot in a playoff won by Martin Kaymer.
A year later, he trailed by just a stroke on the back nine of The Open at Royal St. George's when he hit a 2-iron out of bounds on a reachable par-5. He ended up tied for second. Then in 2015, Johnson hit two perfect shots to the par-5 final hole at Chambers Bay, only to lose the U.S. Open to Jordan Spieth when he three-putted from 12 feet.
And just weeks after that, Johnson led The Open through two rounds at St. Andrews, only to slump over the weekend with a pair of 75s and fall into a tie for 49th.
Even in his lone major victory at the 2016 U.S. Open, Johnson had to endure a controversial rules issue that cost him a one-stroke penalty.
In each of these instances, Johnson eventually fought back. You don't win a tournament every season since 2008 -- the longest active streak of any player on tour -- without having some resiliency. (And let's not forget that since last year's Masters, he's won six times around the world, including a major and three World Golf Championships.)
But at least in those tournaments, Johnson had a chance to compete.
At the Masters, Johnson got to the first tee but no farther.