It was a scene from the pages of history, which at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial tends to suggest that Hogan was its author. But this one was written by another legend from the same era and oddly re-enacted at the conclusion of an altogether strange afternoon on Sunday.

For the record, Zach Johnson won, which was less of a surprise than the fact that Jason Dufner lost. More on that momentarily.

Fifty-five years ago, at the '57 British Open, Bobby Locke won by three only for officials to learn later that Locke had forgotten to return his ball marker to its original position after moving it a putter-head to clear it from Bruce Crampton's putting line. He then putted out from the wrong place.

Locke could have been disqualified, but the Royal and Ancient ultimately decreed that "with his three-shot lead and no advantage having been gained, the equity and spirit of the game dictated that he should not be disqualified."

The equity and spirit of the game were not applicable at Colonial Country Club on Sunday, when Johnson carried a three-stroke lead into the final hole and similarly moved his ball marker a putter-head away to clear a line for Dufner, then forgot to replace it.

(Getty Images photo)

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. - For three nights running, Roger Chapman has eaten dinner with a book and his thoughts at the Grande Mere Inn in nearby Stevensville.

He was planning a fourth visit Saturday night. And why not?

Chapman's third round of the 73rd Senior PGA Championship was his best yet at the GC of Harbor Shores, a brilliant, seven-under 64 that put him at 14-under and five strokes ahead of John Cook after 54 holes.

The Englishman's 54-hole total of 199 matched the championship record held by Sam Snead, and his ball-striking today would have been something the Slammer would have admired. Chapman, utilizing what he described as the best iron play of his life, peppered the flagsticks throughout the day and holed a pair of 25-foot birdie putts to boot.

"It was pretty special," Chapman said. "Coming here I had no real expectations, but I knew I was playing OK and everything the first three rounds has gone really well for me."

He has hit 48 of 54 greens through 54 holes, the type of golf that makes one wonder why he only won once during his long European Tour career.

That victory, in the 2000 Brazil Rio de Janeiro 500 Years Open over Padraig Harrington in a playoff, came on his 472nd start. He never won again, and at 53 is still looking for his first win on the European senior circuit after playing a truncated schedule on the Champions Tour last year.

At Harbor Shores, Chapman has looked like he is on cruise control. "He's swinging the club beautifully, and his distance control has been spot on," said Cook, who was grouped with Chapman Saturday. "And he's used those ridges [on the greens] perfectly. It really was a great round to watch. If he keeps swinging the way he is right now, it's going to be tough. Somebody's going to have to shoot something very low."

Harbor Shores has a lot of trouble, but so far Chapman has avoided most of it with rounds of 68, 67 and today's course-record tying 64. His challenge will be to stay clear of it again tomorrow, even with the comfortable cushion starting the day. After Cook at nine under, Steve Pate and Hale Irwin are tied for third place, seven shots behind the leader, with Joel Edwards another stroke back in fifth place.

"There's a lot of trouble out there," Cook said. "If you don't quite have it, it can make you look silly."

Through 54 holes, Chapman has simply looked superb.

-- Bill Fields

(Photo by Getty Images)

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. -- When Hale Irwin got to the Senior PGA Championship this week and heard so much carping from his peers about the severe greens at Harbor Shores, it reminded him of a championship long ago.

"Well, it reminds me a lot of Winged Foot in '74," Irwin said. "There were a lot of disgruntled players in '74, and 70 percent of them were out of the tournament before the tournament even started."

The dogged Irwin, of course, survived Winged Foot's rigors in 1974 to win the first of his three U.S. Opens. Through two rounds of the Senior PGA, Irwin is in the thick of contention at age 66. He matched his age Friday in a remarkable ball-striking display that moved him to five-under 137, in third place, two shots behind Roger Chapman and John Cook.

"He played behind me and I knew he got off to a good start and it looked like he was making birdies on every hole," Cook said. "And I go, 'Oh my God, look at this, we're battling around there just trying to make pars and here's this 66-year-old just whipping our butts.'"

Irwin three-putted the par-5 ninth hole (his 18th) for his lone bogey of the day. He missed six birdie putts inside 15 feet on a day that could have truly been something to talk about. "I really didn't putt very well," Irwin said, "I just played very, very well."

Irwin's shotmaking was personified by a beautiful, cut 5-iron on his 11th hole, a 176-yard par 3, where his ball chased back to within five feet of a rear hole location. He has only had one top-10 finish this season on the Champions Tour (in the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf with partner Ian Baker-Finch) but is inspired by the tougher challenges at the senior majors.

"These are exacting golf courses and they require exacting shots," Irwin said. "And that's the way it should be and why I think there are some of us that look so forward to these kind of events. And if I can do well in them, exel in them and have a chance the last day, then - I hate the term - that's what it's all about. That's why we continue doing what we do and continue trying to push that bar beyond where some people might stop. I just don't believe in that. It's just not in me to do that."

At Valhalla GC last year, Irwin made a spirited run at his fifth Senior PGA Championship, sharing the 54-hole lead before closing with a 73 to finish two shots out of the Tom Watson-David Eger playoff won by Watson. Now, with two rounds to play at Harbor Shores, Irwin is right back in the mix.

"He's such an inspiration," said Cook. "Hale just keeps getting it done."

-- Bill Fields

Jason Dufner is not sleepwalking to stardom, though his demeanor might suggest otherwise. If he weren't an Auburn man, one might conclude that he is an adherent of the old Bear Bryant line, that when you get to the end zone, act like you've been there before.

He's now gotten to the end zone twice in three starts, the second coming when he holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the HP Byron Nelson Championship on Sunday to beat a 'Bama man, Dicky Pride, by a shot.

Photo by Getty Images.

"Jason won by one, but we've got the national title, big man," Pride said, showing more emotion for finishing second than Dufner did for winning, perhaps for good reason. Pride, 41, had been 354th in the World Ranking and has now earned a return to the PGA Tour full-time.

"All my buddies on the Nationwide Tour?" he said. "Guys, I love you, but I'm staying out here."

Meanwhile, Dufner, 35 and following a nondescript start to his career, is now, in fact, sprinting to stardom, this victory carrying him to No. 14 in the World Ranking and evoking a hint of a smile in the aftermath. His two PGA Tour victories have come in the last month, in between which he got married. Presumably, though not undoubtedly, he smiled in the wedding photo.

A group of citizens from Benton Harbor, Mich., that calls itself Occupy the PGA plans to protest at the Senior PGA Championship at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores next week and has sent a letter to the PGA of America demanding 25 percent of the tournament profits as "partial compensation for stolen land and water" and to help close budget deficits in the city.

The protest organizer, Rev. Edward Pinkney, said that his group does not plan to interrupt play. "We don't want to cause a tremendous disturbance," he said Friday, "we just want to make them sit down with us."

Pinkney said he expects only 300 to 400 protesters to show up on Wednesday, but on Saturday, "we're expecting thousands and thousands of people to show. The main thing we want to accomplish is that we want them to come to the table and sit down with us -- the PGA, along with Harbor Shores, Whirlpool and KitchenAid."

KitchenAid, which has headquarters in Benton Harbor, is the presenting sponsor. Whirlpool is KitchenAid's parent company.

"Benton Harbor is $5 million in the red," Pinkney said. "Our goal is that we can knock off some of that $5 million if they decide to come and help the city."

The letter Pinkney sent to the PGA of America last week was in care of David Charles, senior director of championships for the organization. It demanded "cancellation of the tournament in Benton Harbor. Failing that, we hereby make the following demands on the 2012 Senior PGA:

-- "Transfer 25% of the 2012 Senior PGA profits to the citizens of Benton Harbor as partial rightful compensation for stolen land and water and for the purpose of meeting budget deficits and building affordable housing for the people of Benton Harbor.

-- "We call on each of [the players competing in the tournament] to hear the grievances of the people of Benton Harbor and either withdraw from the tournament or show their support for the demonstration planned for May 23-27, Occupy the PGA.

-- "Acknowledge in an announcement at the Senior PGA event that the people of Benton Harbor have been exploited in numerous ways...including the theft of public park land for private profit and the complete undermining of democratic structures by the installation of an Emergency Financial Manager [in Benton Harbor]."

Julius Mason, senior director communications for the PGA of America, provided this statement regarding the planned protest:

"The PGA of America is excited about it collaboration with a broad section of Benton Harbor in bringing the 73rd Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid to this community, and its positive impact on its citizens. The residents of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph have welcomed the Senior PGA Championship as an opportunity to showcase the area's vibrant history, culture and economic transformation on a national stage."

As for security, "The safety and security of our players and spectators is our No. 1 priority at each of our events. The 73rd Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid is no exception."

Professional golf tournaments tend to provide economic boosts to communities and help fund charities in them, as Mason noted in an email exhange.

"Golf is a big job provider in the State of Michigan where more than 50,000 people make golf their career," he wrote. "So too does the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid which created more than 250 temporary jobs for people in this community. We're pleased with our work with the Consortium for Community Development to identify and train qualified individuals for positions requiring certain skills. We hope to see this lead to some of these individuals securing future full-time positions in a related field following the Championship.

"Golf and charity are intertwined at every level and our PGA Foundation, in conjunction with [the] Championship, will deliver hundreds of thousands of dollars of support for local charities including the Boys and Girls Club of Benton Harbor. The PGA of America will also collaborate with The First Tee of Benton Harbor on-site during the Championship.

"Golf is very proud of its positive environmental impact as well managed open green space that provides jobs, tourism, tax revenue, recreational benefits and uses national resources efficiently. The 530-acre Harbor Shores development, a former brownfield and Super Fund site, is a prime example of how golf can improve a community's land assets."

Pinkney said the Occupy the PGA movement already has proven successful. "They've been giving away tickets," he said, claiming responsibility. "Regardless what happens, we've already basically won this battle. Now they have to realize how serious we are and we're also going to be planning for 2014."

The Senior PGA Championship is scheduled to return to the Golf Club at Harbor Shores in 2014. The course was designed by Jack Nicklaus and was partially built on a portion of Jean Klock Park that the city sold to the Harbor Shores developers. Three of the holes are on park land that Harbor Shores leases from the city.

UPDATE: Jeff Noel, corporate vice president communications and public affairs for Whirlpool and the president of Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment, said in an email that Pinkney has never requested a meeting. "I am always happy to meet with any local community leader...Unfortunately, despite our seeing each other occasionally in the community, Reverend Pinckney has never requested a meeting with me or our organizations," Noel wrote. "If he did, I would welcome the chance to discuss the benefits of the Sr. PGA Tournament as well as ways in which the Harbor Shores development and the not for profit organizations associated with the project have helped raise over $7.5 million to build 3 new facilities for the Benton Harbor Boys and Girls Clubs and First Tee and have provided the private matching funds to help build and or renovate over 600 affordable homes in the community."

Noel also noted that two Harbor Habitat for Humanity homes "are currently under construction near the golf course thanks to volunteers, funding and land donated by Whirlpool Corporation and Harbor Shores."

-- John Strege

It was an odd Sunday at the Players Championship, one in which the final-round focus was bookended by men responsible for the most groans and grins.

The winner by a smile was Matt Kuchar, whose two-stroke victory at the TPC Sawgrass buttressed the notion that he is a major champion in training.

Kuchar, 33, has become an assembly line mass producing top 10s -- 20 in the previous two seasons (which would explain his grinning year to year) and five already this year. More importantly for the months ahead, four have come in the most important tournaments with the strongest fields to date: the Players (first), the Masters (a tie for third), the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship (T-5) and the WGC-Cadillac Championship (T-8).

A month from now, Kuchar will be returning to U.S. Open at the Olympic Club outside San Francisco, where as an amateur in 1998 he tied for 14th and was tied for fourth through 36 holes. It doesn't make him a favorite, but he isn't a long shot, either.

Kuchar's happy nature, even on a TPC course capable of inflicting so much misery, gave the Players a happy ending that wasn't inevitable in the wake of the negative reaction to the man everyone was lamenting.

Related: Players tabbed as the next great American star 

Kevin Na dominated the weekend conversation at the showcase event of a tour that steadfastly declines to address the issue of slow play, as do many of the players responsible. Na, for instance, was graciously apologetic on Saturday for the pre-shot twitches that Johnny Miller described as "the heebie jeebies," and insisted he's working on correcting it. Is he? Six months ago, Na posted this on Twitter: "Trying my best to speed up. Working on a new pre shot routine. I am not playing so on purpose. Hope the viewers understand." It's a slow process, apparently.

Na, the 54-hole leader, attempted to quell the criticism by picking up the pace on Sunday, which might have contributed to a final-round 76 that left him in a tie for seventh.

A Claret Jug on a shelf at home is a nice conversation piece that counts for nothing in the wake of a slump. At the outset of play in the Valero Texas Open on Sunday, Ben Curtis would not have been a favorite, however the word is defined -- odds-on, fan or otherwise.

The two in pursuit, frankly, evoked more interest: John Huh, a 21-year-old rookie from nowhere by way of Korea and Los Angeles and a PGA Tour winner in only his fifth start; and Matt Every, 28, once the best player in college golf, whose performance only now is catching up to his confidence, a pot bust and tour suspension heretofore the most notable features on his professional resume.

Curtis, meanwhile, has never been a bonafide star, notwithstanding his victory in the 2003 British Open and a pair of wins in lesser events in 2006. A dismal 2011 placed him on the fringes of the PGA Tour, his exemption gone, his future, at 34, as uncertain as the day he joined the tour in 2003. He had not finished in the top 10 in any of his previous 44 starts, a span covering nearly two years.

A career resurrection is more than a consolation prize, invariably acquiring its own level of interest, and this is how it played out for Curtis on Sunday. He birdied the 18th hole at TPC San Antonio to win by two, a victory that scattered the demons and unleashed the emotions.

LPGA star Yani Tseng has been included on Time magazine's annual list, The 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Annika Sorenstam, her friend and the woman from whom Tseng bought her house in Lake Nona, outside Orlando, was commissioned to write the capsule. Sorenstam wrote:

"A rare talent with the ability to energize a new generation of LPGA fans, Yani will get even better as she gains experience. Her potential both as a player and as an ambassador for the game is limitless. While there's no way of knowing how many records she'll shatter, Yani's blend of skill, grace and work ethic will be a powerful force on the LPGA tour for years to come."

Tseng, 23, has become the most dominant player in golf, the winner of 15 LPGA events, five of them major championships.

Tseng, who is from Taiwan, was the only golfer to make the list, though Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were included in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

-- John Strege

Periodically, the PGA Tour reminds us that golfers come in all sizes and shapes, some of them more Hardy than Laurel.

The final-round of the RBC Heritage was one such occasion, its Sunday stage having had to be reinforced to accommodate the doughboys performing on it. Carl Pettersson, Colt Knost and Kevin Stadler -- each a side of beef, give or take a porterhouse -- finished first, third and fourth.

Photo by Getty Images

Without these occasional and refreshing reminders, some might conclude that the game is now played in a gym, that muscle is more important than muscle memory. Rest assured, it's still played between meals, as Pettersson so capably demonstrated. As for the downside, that these reminders reinforce the argument that golfers aren't athletes, adherents can take it up with Fat Jack, the greatest player ever.

Pettersson, meanwhile, is golf's reigning heavyweight champion by virtue of his fifth PGA Tour victory that carries its own weighty reinforcement. In 2008, Pettersson had one of his best years, winning the Wyndham Championship and $2.5 million. Then he inexplicably decided to join the fitness revolution, exercising and losing weight and following with his worst year (zero victories and less than $600,000 in earnings, 136th on the money list).

CBS' mandate in televising the Masters is rather simple, really. Don't mess it up. Uncannily, it is handed a remarkably entertaining script year after year, this one even featuring a character named Bubba and another nicknamed Shrek.

Bubba Watson won and Louis Oosthuizen (aka Shrek) lost, but CBS achieved its objective.

"Oh, my goodness, just a classic excuse to conjure up another piece of magic," Nick Faldo said eloquently, after Watson's second shot, a duck hook from the woods, on the second playoff hole, the shot that delivered victory.

David Feherty also shined on Sunday, starting with his unusual call of Oosthuizen's double-eagle at the second hole.

There was no television -- and therefore no commentary -- when Gene Sarazen made his double-eagle at 15 in the 1935 Masters, but had there been, suffice it to say that it would not have resembled Feherty's call:

"This one could be very nice...could be very nice...oh, come to papa, yes!"

Feherty ably summed up Oosthuizen's apparent unflappability in the heat of a Masters Sunday. "It was not meant to look this simple," he said.

"I'd just love to know his heartbeat," Faldo added.

But the star of this show was Watson, down to the Butler Cabin interview.

"I never got this far in my dreams," Watson said.

All in all, a performance worthy of the script with which it had to work.

A few objections, meanwhile

-- Phil Mickelson's conversations with caddie Jim Mackay are entertaining, but not at the expense of seeing another contender's shot. While the audience was listening to Mickelson and Mackay talking over the second shot at 15, Watson was hitting his tee shot at 16 and he hit it close. The roars gave it away.

-- Peter Oosterhuis said this about Watson: "He's the most creative player ever." Never say ever, notwithstanding Watson's magic on second playoff hole. Remember Seve?

-- Adam Scott made an ace on the 16th hole, but CBS did not show it until Scott was playing the 18th hole. Odd.

-- What happened to that man felled by Peter Hanson's drive on the eighth hole?