He isn’t the longest, he is not the most dazzling, he isn’t very intimidating but good-guy Zach Johnson from Iowa now holds the Claret Jug in his eager arms.
The man from Cedar Rapids won the 144th Open Championship at St. Andrews on the longest of long days Monday. He survived wind, rain, cool temperatures and a host of hungry challengers, including the boy-wonder, Jordan Spieth.
Johnson won the Open Championship by going low early on the Old Course with birdies on six of the first 10 holes. He would fall two shots behind Marc Leishman with two to play but came up with a clutch 20-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole to post a 15-under par score, 273. He then had to wait almost two hours to see what was in store for him.
Leishman bogeyed the 17th, then parred 18 to join Johnson at 15-under.
It was then Spieth’s stage. Spieth holed an incredible 30-footer for birdie at 16 to get to 15-under then shocked the golf world by missing a seven-foot par putt at the difficult Road Hole. At 18, Spieth wedge second shot spun off the green. He still nearly made birdie but his closing hole par left him a shot short of a playoff with Johnson and Leishman.
Then it was Louie Oosthuizen’s turn. The winner of the 2010 Open at St. Andrews made par-saving clutch putts at 16, 17 then calmly birdied the 18th to make the playoff a threesome.
The playoff was staged over 1, 2, 17 and 18. Johnson and Oosthuizen both birdied the first, Leishman three-putted for bogey to immediately fall two back. He would never recover. Johnson birdied the second to get one ahead of Oosthuizen.
At the 17th, all three made bogeys, sending Johnson to the last hole with a one-shot lead.
The former Masters champion hit a nice second that left him just 12 feet to close it out but he would miss, opening the door for Oosthuizen, who had about eight feet to send it to sudden-death. But it wasn’t to be for the South African and Johnson had his second major, shooting 66 to tie Leishman for the day’s low round.
“I can’t, I’m at a loss for words,” Johnson said, exhaling with a huge sigh. “I hate that,” he said, referring to Oosthuizen missing the makable birdie putt at 18. “I’m grateful, humble, thankful, honored. The Claret Jug means so much. And here at the home of golf. I’m in awe.”
The key for Johnson was the clutch 20-footer at the 72nd. “Let’s just hit a good putt,” he said he told himself. “The rest is history.”
