Johnson seizes the Crowne at Colonial
Zach Johnson claimed victory at the Crowne Invitational with a record tournament score of 21-under-par yesterday. In doing so, the American denied England's Brian Davis a maiden win on the PGA Tour.
Former Masters winner Johnson came home six-under-par at Colonial to finish 21-under in total, three strokes ahead of Davis, who finished in second place. The 34-year-old, who won at Augusta in 2007, carded successive rounds of 64 on Saturday and Sunday to secure victory.
Jeff Overton and Ben Crane were tied for third place on 17-under-par, while Scott Verplank and Bryce Molder were a stroke further back on 16-under. US Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin also had an encouraging showing, tying for seventh place with a score of 15-under. And Scotland's Martin Laird had a decent showing, tying for 12th place on 13-under.
England's Paul Casey was a shot further back on 12-under-par, having carded an error-free 66 on Sunday, four birdies and no bogeys seeing the player finish tied for 13th place. But Tim Clark, the South African who has finished as runner-up here for the last two years in a row had a disappointing weekend by his standards, finishing five-under for the competition in joint 56th place.
Justin Rose, another Englishman who has underachieved (he is yet to win on the PGA Tour) could only finish on level par after a damaging third round when he treble-bogeyed both the 5th and 9th hole. On Sunday he was more consistent, three birdies and three bogeys ensuring he finished tied for 71st place.
That was still a good deal better than Ian Poulter, who followed up his poor showing at Wentworth last week by carding two double bogeys on the back nine yesterday - and finishing with a reverse-flourish, finishing the par-four 18th with a quadruple bogey. That saw the Englishman finish dead last of all the players who made the cut, ending the day six-over-par 76 - and the tournament seven-over.
Phil Mickelson had started the tournament with the possibility of overtaking Tiger Woods as No. 1 in the world, had the 39-year-old won here; in the event, Mickelson didn't even make the cut. The theory doing the rounds right now is that without Woods in the field to get Phil fired up, the world No. 2 just can't deliver his best golf.
Maybe we'll see if there's any truth in that this weekend - both players are contesting the Memorial this week, Woods making his latest comeback after pulling out of the Players Championship earlier this month with an injured neck.
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