There was some brief suspense as Im narrowed the lead to one stroke after Johnson's bogeys. But the world number one player quickly regained form with easy pars and a three-birdie run on the 13th, 14th and 15th holes that cemented his victory.

“It’s a dream come true,” The usually stoic Johnson said as fought to hold back tears. “As a kid [I] always dreamed about being a Masters champion.” 

Johnson broke the previous record of 18 under par set by Tiger Woods in 1997 and tied by Jordan Spieth in 2015. His five-stroke margin of victory is the biggest lead since Woods’ 1997 victory.

Sunday’s victory has been a long time coming for the South Carolina native – Johnson has led four previous majors after 54 holes only to come up short. Johnson also tied for second in the 2019 Masters.

“Well, just growing up so close to here, it’s always been a tournament that since I've been on Tour, since I played my first Masters, it’s been the tournament I wanted to win the most,” said Johnson, who grew up around an hour northwest of Augusta National.

“You know, being close the last couple years, finishing second last year to Tiger, this one was just something that I really wanted to do,” he added.

Johnson’s journey to the green jacket also came through a coronavirus diagnosis that left him quarantined for over 10 days in October. Despite Johnson’s stacked resume, the commanding win is his first and only major championship since the 2016 US Open.

Trailing Johnson the whole day were the 27-year-old Smith and 22-year-old Im, a Masters rookie, who both came in at three under par on Sunday, but were unable to narrow the gap with Johnson.

The atmosphere of this year’s Masters was upended by pandemic-related delays. The massive crowds were gone and Johnson's victory was greeted by a cheerful, but relatively subdued crowd of club patrons, family and staff at the 18th hole.

Meanwhile, defending champion Woods played solid golf through all three rounds until Sunday when he carded a catastrophic seven over par on the par three 12th hole – his worst score in PGA Tour history.

Woods’ ball rolled off the green into the river on his tee shot and again on his second shot. He then hit the bunker on the far-side of the green and his ball rolled off the green again from the bunker.

But the 15-time major winner followed up the disastrous 12th hole with a string of five birdies on his last six holes to finish at one under par for the tournament.

“You’re so alone out there and you have to figure it out and you have to fight,” Woods said following his round.

Augusta National’s typically ferocious greens returned to speedy form on Saturday and Sunday after players capitalised on unusually receptive and rain-drenched greens earlier in the tournament.

American Bryson DeChambeau came into the tournament as one of the most talked about players in golf history, with a disruptive style of hard-hitting drives that nabbed him a US Open victory in September.

While DeChambeau brought long drives to the iconic Augusta National course, he had poor accuracy, a lacklustre short game and some bad luck with a lost ball that nabbed him a triple bogey in round two.

The 27-year-old was among the favourites to win the Masters this year, but on Friday and Saturday he nearly missed the cut.

In post round interviews DeChambeau said he has been feeling “dizzy” and “disoriented”.