“Motivation isn't that hard for me. I like being the best

Dustin Johnson recalls his often bumpy ride to the top of the world, which culminated in last year’s record-breaking Masters triumph

- Dustin Johnson

How does one Dustin Johnson celebrate the lifelong dream and fulfilled expectation of becoming a Masters Champion? By jetting off to the sun-splashed Caribbean, of course, and the island hamlet of Saint Barthelemy, known for white-sand beaches and haute couture shops and which borrows from French poet Charles Baudelaire’s Invitation to the Voyage in describing itself thusly: “There, everything is order and beauty, luxury, calm and voluptuousness.” These days, the same could be said of Johnson’s life, on the course and off it. Truth be told, the holiday was already planned a month prior to his record-setting victory at Augusta National in November. The shots just went down a little easier and tasted a little sweeter.

So, too, did dinner at swanky but casual-chic Le Tamarin, where verdant gardens provided the backdrop for Johnson, fiancee Paulina Gretzky, his caddie/brother Austin and his wife Sam Maddox, along with a handful of friends, to enjoy some 1959 Chateau Cheval Blanc, which goes for around $2,000 a bottle. Johnson was a long way from his humble beginnings at Weed Hill Driving Range in Columbia, South Carolina, but the easy vibe was befitting a low-key superstar of such immense talent.

“It worked out that it was more of a celebration,” Johnson tells Golf Monthly. “But we were going there either way.”