That old Zach Magic
Johnson lands the Claret Jug, £1.1m and a big kiss
A TEARFUL Zach Johnson made history at St Andrews by winning the 144th Open Championship after one of the most thrilling final days major golf has ever seen.
At one stage as many as 10 players were in contention before Johnson eventually defeated louis Oosthuizen and Marc leishman in a fourhole play-off.
It made him only the sixth man to have won the Open at St Andrews as well as the Masters.
As Oosthuizen missed the putt on the final hole of the play-off that might have kept the contest alive, Johnson refused to watch and revealed he was reciting a psalm to himself to stay calm.
‘ I feel blessed to be the champion,’ said the 39-yearold, who fought back tears after the win and was quickly congratulated by Jordan Spieth, whose own hopes of winning his third major of the year had evaporated on the final green.
‘I feel honoured to be part of the history of this game and to don my name on that trophy, especially with the names before me. Humbling and surreal are two words that
come to mind.’ Johnson joins Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods in having won majors both on The Old Course and at Augusta. And he revealed he had been reciting
Psalm 27:14 to himself throughout the five days and 76 holes of a weather beaten tournament that became the longest Open in history. He said: ‘I was doing it all day, all week. “Be patient, wait for the Lord. Be courageous and brave. Yes, be patient, wait for the Lord”. ‘Just a little thing to help along the way. It got me down to my priorities. ‘I’m just a guy from Iowa that has been blessed with a talent. This isn’t going to define me. I’m going to savour this. I’m humbled by this. But my legacy should be my kids, my family.’ Just as humbling was that 21-year-old wonderkid Spieth buried his own disappointment at only just missing a putt that might have put him in the play-off and waited to congratulate the winner. Johnson said: ‘He said congratulations and that he was proud. He’s a really good friend of mine. He’s 18 years younger, I can’t describe the magnitude of what he was going through. We haven’t really seen that with the exception of Tiger. He’s a phenomenal talent and I’m telling you right now, he’s a better person than he is golfer.’ Spieth admitted that seeing his bid to rewrite the record books end ‘was really tough’, but insisted ‘I’m going to go home and reflect — it won’t hurt too bad. ‘I think the way that I played this week would have won the US Open by more than just a shot. There was some fantastic golf in the final round — that doesn’t always happen.’