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AUGUSTA (Georgia), April 9: Zach Johnson, defying all the odds, held off a late challenge by four-time champion Tiger Woods to claim his first major title by two shots at the US Masters on Sunday.
Two strokes off the pace overnight, the 31-year-old American fired a three-under-par 69 at a sun-drenched, fast-running Augusta National to finish on one-over 289.
Johnson, whose only previous PGA Tour victory came at the 2004 BellSouth Classic, reeled off three birdies in four holes from the 13th to take control.
Although he bogeyed 17 after missing a four-foot putt, he displayed strong nerves to get up and down from beside the green at the last and save par.
Johnson equalled the highest winning Masters total set by Sam Snead (1954) and Jack Burke junior (1956).
The Iowa native became Augusta's most surprising champion since Larry Mize in 1987 after a week that yielded the fourth highest scoring average (75.881) in the tournament's history.
Leading final-round scores:
289 – Zach Johnson (US) 71, 73, 76, 69.
291 – Retief Goosen (South Africa) 76, 76, 70, 69; Rory Sabbatini
(South Africa) 73, 76, 73, 69; Tiger Woods (US) 73, 74, 72, 72.
292 – Jerry Kelly (US) 75, 69, 78, 70; Justin Rose (Britain) 69, 75, 75, 73.293 – Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 77, 68, 75, 73; Stuart Appleby (Australia) 75, 70, 73, 75.
294 – David Toms (US) 70, 78, 74, 72.
295 – Paul Casey (Britain) 79, 68, 77, 71; Luke Donald (Britain) 73, 74, 75, 73; Vaughn Taylor (US) 71, 72, 77, 75.
296 – Ian Poulter (Britain) 75, 75, 76, 70; Vijay Singh (Fiji) 73, 71, 79, 73; Tim Clark (South Africa) 71, 71, 80, 74; Jim Furyk (US) 75, 71, 76, 74.—Reuters
