07/12/26 06:05:00
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07/12 18:04 CDT Zach Johnson wins at Firestone for first senior major title
Zach Johnson wins at Firestone for first senior major title
AKRON, Ohio (AP) --- Zach Johnson won his first PGA Tour Champions major in the
final event at Firestone Country Club, closing with a 2-under 68 for a six-shot
victory Sunday in the Kaulig Companies Championship.
Johnson had a 63 in the third round that staked him to a four-shot lead
entering the final round, and even with a pair of bogeys in his opening four
holes, no one came particularly close. Johnson chipped in from 20 feet on his
last hole.
"I love this place. I love it," Johnson saod. "I've loved it since I first
stepped foot on it. I just think it fits me. It fits my eye, but it fits me in
the sense that you can't fake it around here. May have looked like that a
little bit today, but you have to execute shots."
It was Johnson's third win in his rookie season on the 50-and-older PGA Tour
Champions, allowing him to close the gap on Stewart Cink in the Charles Schwab
Cup. The victory makes Johnson eligible for The Players Championship next year.
Johnson finished at 15-under 265. He won a week after skipping the U.S. Senior
Open to play in the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic, where he tied for ninth.
"My game's good," Johnson said. "It didn't look like that probably for a lot of
the day, but it is good. I kept telling myself that like you know what you're
doing, just get the ball in the fairway and execute. That was easier said than
done. Thankfully, I had a cushion. Thankfully, I played great the first three
days."
Boo Weekley closed with a 66 to finish alone in second at 9-under 271, followed
by Rory Sabbatini, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medalist from Slovakia, who
had a 66-66 weekend. Cink finished fourth with a closing round of 68.
"I didn't hit many fairways the last two days, but I made a lot of putts,"
Weekley said. "That's what kept me in the game this week."
Johnson's previous best finish at Firestone was runner-up by five shots to
Hideki Matsuyama in 2017 when it was a World Golf Championships event. That WGC
moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 2019 and became a PGA Tour Champions site.
The Kaulig Companies' sponsorship is ending, and the tour is leaving Firestone
for Newport Beach, California, next year to play its fifth major.
"It's kind of bittersweet if it really truly is the last year," Johnson said.
"I hope it's not."
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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