James Driscoll didn’t see where Zach Johnson’s approach landed on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff yesterday.
He didn’t have to … thanks to the gallery, he heard it. The crowd got even louder when Johnson sank the birdie putt to successfully defend his Texas Open title and end Driscoll’s unlikely final-round surge from eight strokes back in San Antonio. Johnson’s win capped a wild shootout in which seven players stood within a stroke with four holes left. Johnson followed his third-round 60 with a 70 to match Driscoll at 15-under 265, then hit the 6-iron approach in the playoff to set up his sixth career PGA Tour win. “I feel very lucky,” said Johnson, who earned $1,098,000. Paul Goydos had a one-stroke lead with two holes to play, but closed with two bogeys for a 69, leaving him a stroke back along with Bill Haas (65), who birdied five of six holes on Nos. 11-16 but missed a 6-footer the par-3 17th. Irish amateur Shane Lowry won in his first PGA European Tour start, beating England’s Robert Rock with a par on the third hole of a playoff in Baltray, Ireland. Lowry, who missed a 3-foot putt on the final hole of regulation, matched Rock with a closing 1-under 71 and 17-under 271 total. Lowry, 22, became only the third amateur to win on the European tour. Keith Fergus won the rain-shortened event in Hoover, Ala., shooting his second 6-under 66 for a three-stroke victory over Gene Jones (66). Fergus waited out the second long rain delay in two days, then finished the second round in steady drizzle for his second Champions Tour win of the year. South Korea’s Ji Young Oh won her second career LPGA Tour title, finishing with a 2-under 70 for a four-stroke victory over Norway’s Suzann Pettersen (74) in Clifton, N.J. Oh, 20, had a 14-under 274 total and earned $300,000. Pettersen finished with a 74. Michelle Wie and Paula Creamer had 73s to tie for third at 8 under.
Bob Rosburg, who won the 1959 PGA Championship and spent three decades with ABC Sports calling the shots from the golf course, died. He was 82. The PGA Tour said Rosburg died Thursday at home in Palm Springs, Calif. Obituary, Page B-3.