Zach Johnson is two-thirds of the way to a Georgia trifecta.
OK, no such achievement exists, but anything seems possible for the Masters champion in the Peach State.
“Yeah, I’m not sure what it is,” he said. “You know, for whatever reason, I’ve had success here.”
Johnson won the AT&T Classic in Duluth, Ga., on Sunday, beating Ryuji Imada with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff.
Johnson, also the 2004 winner, closed with a 5-under-par 67 to match Imada (70) at 15-under 273 on the TPC Sugarloaf.
In the playoff on the par-5 18th, Johnson hit his second shot above the pin, then rolled a 60-footer for eagle to within 5 inches of the hole. He now has his third PGA Tour victory, each of them coming in Georgia.
Imada’s tee shot landed in the left-side rough and his 3-wood failed to clear the water in front of the green.
Laying up was not an option, Imada thought, because with Johnson in the middle of the fairway, there seemed little chance his opponent would make par.
“I don’t want to second-guess myself,” Imada said. “If I laid up, it was going to be a tough shot regardless.”
Matt Kuchar (70), Camilo Villegas (71) and Troy Matteson (73) tied for third at 12-under.
LPGA: Lorena Ochoa won for the first time since replacing Annika Sorenstam as the No. 1 player in women’s golf, and put an exclamation point on it by defending her Sybase Classic title in Clifton, N.J.
Ochoa caught front-running Sarah Lee and finished three strokes ahead, closing with a bogey-free 4-under 68.
The victory was the second of the season and the 11th of her career for the 25-year-old Mexican, the LPGA Tour’s top player in 2006.
Champions Tour: Defending champion Brad Bryant staged another final-day comeback at the Regions Charity Classic in Hoover, Ala., then beat R.W. Eaks on the third hole of a playoff to become the first player to win the tournament twice.
Bryant sank a nearly 13-foot birdie putt on the 470-yard, par-4 18th hole after both parred the hole twice in the playoff.
European PGA: Padraig Harrington became the first Irishman to win the Irish Open in 25 years, parring the first hole of a playoff to beat Wales’ Bradley Dredge.
The 35-year-old Dubliner, the first Irish winner since John O’Leary in 1982, closed with a 1-under 71 to match Dredge (68) at 15-under on the Adare Manor course.
Former CU golfer Matthew Zions was three strokes back (71).
