AUGUSTA, Georgia (AP) -A strange week at the Masters saved the biggest surprises for Sunday - unheralded Zach Johnson won the green jacket, and he had to beat Tiger Woods to get it.
Johnson pulled away from Woods and the rest of the pack with three birdies in a crucial four-hole stretch along the back nine of Augusta National, closing with a 69 for a two-shot victory and only the second of his career.
The 31-year-old self-described "normal guy" from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is the least accomplished Masters champion since Larry Mize chipped in to beat Greg Norman in a playoff 20 years ago, but this was no fluke. Even as some of the thrills returned in the final round, Johnson kept his calm.
And there wasn't anything Woods could do about it.
"This is very surreal - very, very surreal," said Johnson, who was on the Nationwide Tour four years ago and has not won in the big leagues since 2004 at the BellSouth Classic. "I didn't think it would be this year, but I had no idea."
Woods looked like a lock for his fifth Masters and third straight major when he took the lead after a short birdie on the second hole, only this major didn't work out like so many others. Johnson and three other players came after him, and this time Woods was the one who backed off with sloppy mistakes - a broken club, shots that either found the water or the bunker and too many putts that stayed out of the cup.
It was the third time Woods lost a lead during the final round of a major, and the first time he ever failed to get it back.
Johnson finished at 1-over 289, matching a Masters record last set in 1956 for highest winning score. And it ended a streak of the winner coming out of the final group at Augusta National every year since 1991.
"He played beautifully," Woods said. "Look at the round he shot out there, the score. He did what he needed to do. He went out there, grinded away, made shots he needed to make."
The week featured bone-dry conditions, more bogeys than birdies, frost coating the manicured lawn in the morning and one last peculiar sight - Woods walking up to the 18th green with no one left behind him on the course and no trophy waiting for him at the end.
He closed with a 72 and tied for second with Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini, who each shot 69 on a day when the course finally allowed something that resembled those fabled charges on the back nine.
Johnson did it the old-fashioned way.
So much for that theory that the Masters is only for the big boys. Johnson didn't try to reach any of the par 5s in two all week, yet he played them better than anyone with 11 birdies and no bogeys.
