Steady As He Goes

An East Texas man recently pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine months in prison for stealing Justin Leonard's identity, but it's clear that the dude should have employed a better lawyer because the results of last week's Valero Texas Open proved conclusively that Zach Johnson is the perpetrator.

Nobody has owned La Cantera GC like Leonard, whose 12 PGA Tour titles include a trio of Texas Open victories, the most recent coming in 2007. The native Texan also has been runner-up twice at the San Antonio stop that is among the oldest on tour, dating back to 1922, but the former British Open champion has been nullified since Johnson rode into town for the first time last fall and painted it red in a two-stroke victory.

Last Sunday, just seven months after that triumph, Johnson was at it again, showing off a minus touch that is a prerequisite for success in the Texas Open. Buoyed by an impeccable third-round 60, the Iowa native returned to the scene of the sublime. With a 10-foot birdie putt on the first sudden-death playoff hole, Johnson turned back a feisty James Driscoll for his sixth tour triumph and second of the season.

The victory last year was worth $810,000 and a shot of confidence that he rode to victory at the season's first full-field event, the Sony Open in Hawaii. This time, Johnson collected $1,098,000 and 500 points, redeemable toward the season-long FedEx Cup competition, which he now leads, having leaped ahead of Geoff Ogilvy and Phil Mickelson, the year's other two-time winners. In addition, he has all but booked a date for the Presidents Cup in October.

"Yeah, a lot of good things [are] coming out of this," said Johnson, 33, who entered the final round with a two-stroke lead and somehow was the last man standing despite an even-par 70. "Another learning experience. I certainly didn't play my best, but I hung in there, and I got a little lucky.

"I'm not sure if I won the tournament per se," he said, "but I certainly didn't lose it. I just kept myself in the game, and for that I'm proud."

He went out and won it in overtime, punching a 6-iron approach neatly under the hole at the par-4 18th and draining the birdie to turn back Driscoll. The latter had caught Johnson at 15-under 265 with a sterling 62, nearly 7½ strokes better than the field scoring average on a tricky day when the gusting winds came out of the north, opposite the prevailing direction. Johnson, who shot 261 last year, also benefited from a late stumble by Paul Goydos, who has struggled since his runner-up finish in the 2008 Players. Goydos, 44, held the first- and second-round leads, and his 13-foot birdie at the par-4 16th put him in front by one with two to play.

Pulled irons on the final two holes resulted in bogeys, however, and Goydos signed for 69 and 266 to tie for third with Bill Haas, who like Goydos opened the tournament with a nine-hole 29. Haas closed with 65. The omni- present Leonard was among seven players within a stroke of the lead with four holes left, but ended up in a four-way tie for fifth at 69-267.

"For 70 holes I did really good," Goydos said after his first top-10 of the year. "I didn't hit a good putt on 17 and didn't hit a good second shot on 18. And guys who play like that will [not win]."

Johnson didn't have his best stuff Sunday, and it appeared as if he was heading for another final-round derailment. Just two weeks earlier, the 2007 Masters champion held a two-stroke lead after 54 holes at the Quail Hollow Championship, but his advantage evaporated with an early triple bogey, and a 76 dropped him to T-11. At La Cantera he didn't let the round get away from him. The saving shot was an 18-foot par from off the green at the eighth following a flubbed chip.

"That one really could have deflated me," said Johnson, who had missed putts of reasonable lengths on the three previous holes. "That was a big putt; it just kind of kept me in the game."

Johnson put himself in the game with Saturday's 60, an impeccable bogey-free effort that tied the tournament record and was capped off in darkness after the second round was delayed for nearly five hours while a two-inch deluge drenched the course and unofficially ended a drought that had engulfed the region for two years. Johnson could barely see the hole when he lined up his 19-foot birdie try for 59, and he left it three feet short. But at least he was in, while 14 players, including Goydos and Leonard, had to return Sunday morning to complete the third round.

Johnson became the first player to shoot two 60s in PGA Tour history, his first coming in the third round of the 2007 Tour Championship. This effort featured a hole-out for eagle from 84 yards at the par-4 seventh and eight birdies, the longest from 25 feet. He missed only two greens and needed just 24 putts. "It was one of those zone rounds," Johnson said.