Firm, fast course yields high score, new champ
Starting in 2002, when nearly 300 yards were added to Augusta National Golf Club, a question was asked repeatedly during Masters Tournament practice rounds:
What will the winning score be if the course plays firm and fast, with no rain?
Rain softened the course, preventing a definitive answer.
There is one now, and it's shaded in green (which signifies over-par scores on Masters' leaderboards).
During a week where the only water the course saw came from Augusta National hoses, Zach Johnson won the 71st Masters with 1-over-par 289.
With a cumulative 75.881 scoring average, it was the fifth toughest Masters.
Complicating scoring were cold weather and a wicked and strong northwesterly wind that kept the greens firm and fast throughout.
The 289 matched the highest winning score in tournament history, and it was 19 shots higher than Tiger Woods' record score a decade earlier.
Johnson's final-round 3-under-par 69 was one of just eight rounds in the 60s during the tournament. It allowed him to come from four shots off the pace after 54 holes. He was the first golfer in 17 years who didn't win from the final Sunday group. Johnson was in the third-to-last group.
It was fitting that a surprise winner (Johnson was ranked 56th in the world at the time and had one PGA Tour win) emerged on the 20th anniversary of Larry Mize's victory. And like Mize, Johnson won in a tough scoring year (285 got in a playoff in 1987).
"I felt like I've been blessed and I'm good enough to take home a green jacket," Johnson said. "That's what I was trying to tell myself the entire time."
Johnson never looked at the giant leaderboards during his final round, which featured 2-under-par 34 on the back nine.
"I guess ignorance is bliss sometimes," he said.
The short-hitting Johnson (he ranked 57th in driving distance among the 60 players to make the cut) took a page out of 2003 champion Mike Weir's yardage book.
Weir, who is also on the short side off the tee, never hit a par-5 green in two shots in his winning year.
Neither did Johnson, who played the percentages.
"I had a good game plan," said Johnson, who relied on his wedge and putter to play the par-5s in 11-under. "I know how to approach every pin, and I think that's what's most important on the par-5s."
Johnson set a dubious record for a champion with 16 bogeys, but he never made a double bogey, which is saying something under the strenuous conditions.
He also became the first player to beat Woods in a major championship after Woods was in the lead at some point during the final round. Woods, who was seeking his third consecutive major and fifth Masters title, led after five holes in Round 4.
For once, he couldn't hold it, and he ended up with 72 with just one birdie and an eagle. He tied for second place for the first time at Augusta National, finishing two shots behind Johnson.
It was the first time since Woods was an amateur in 1996 that he failed to break par in at least one round in the Masters. He was undermined by poor finishes in the first and third rounds, where he finished bogey-bogey both days.
"That basically cost me the tournament," said Woods, who shot 73-74-72-72.
Johnson took the lead for good in the final round with a birdie on the par-5 13th hole, making a 10-foot putt. The lead grew to two shots with a seven-foot birdie on No. 14.
Johnson went up by three shots with an eight-foot birdie on the par-3 16th, a hole he had three-putted for bogey in each of the previous three rounds.
"Well, I guess I got my redemption," Johnson said. "I thought, 'If I make this putt, I'm going to be tough to beat.' "
He followed that with a bogey on No. 17 and a scrambling par on No. 18.
For the final round, Johnson hit 10 fairways and 12 greens and needed only 27 putts. For the week, he tied for second place in driving accuracy (45 of 56 fairways hit), tied for fourth in greens in regulation (44 of 72) and tied for 10th in fewest putts (112).
"I think Zach was emotionally a lot sharper than everyone else," said third-round leader Stuart Appleby, who shot a final-round 75 to tie for seventh place, four shots behind Johnson. "Zach knuckled down and got it done."
Reach David Westin at (706) 724-0851 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.
