The Golf Blog: Zach Johnson wins playoff at John Deere Classic, beating Troy Matteson after wild finish
The Golf Blog says: Zach Johnson won his second tourney of the year, coming from 4 shots back at the start of Sunday. It looked like Zach would win in regulation, walking up the 18th fairway with a 2 shot lead. But, seconds later, Troy Matteson made a monster eagle putt on 17–the ball circled around the hole until it finally fell in. What a putt! The eagle tied Matteson for the lead at -20. Matteson made things interesting on the final hole: he had to scramble out of the trees with his approach and had a decent look at birdie, but missed.
The first hole of the playoff was weirder than weird. Both players hit their approach shots into the water and ended up making double bogeys. They went back to the 18th for the second hole of the playoff. Zach hit his driver back into the same fairway bunker he hit on the first hole of the playoff. But the ball at least was in the middle of the bunker, giving Zach a better lie. Matteson hit his driver well, just into the first cut of rough.
Zach, however, nailed his approach out of the bunker and the ball ended up about 8 inches from the hole. Matteson left his approach a good 20 feet away, and he failed to make the birdie putt. That left Zach with what may be the easiest putt to win a tournament. With the victory, Zach pulled into second in the FedEx standings, right behind Tiger Woods.
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