FORT WORTH, Texas — Zach Johnson won the Colonial for his first victory since also winning at “Hogan’s Alley’’ two years ago, pulling ahead yesterday when Jason Dufner finally faltered.
On the 18th hole, Johnson was assessed a two-stroke penalty for failing to replace his ball to its original position after marking it to move out of the line of Dufner’s putt.
The penalty left him with a 2-over 72 and a one-stroke victory.
“I’m going to focus on the positives, because I hit a really solid putt and it’s a good thing I made it,” said Johnson, who forgot to move the marker back before his final five-foot putt. “No harm, no foul. It was my fault.”
Even with the penalty assessed before signing his scorecard, Johnson’s 12-under 268 total was enough to edge Dufner, who closed with a 74. Tommy Gainey was a distant third at 7 under after a 67, a stroke better than Jim Furyk.
In what was essentially a match-play final round for the winner’s plaid jacket, Johnson took command at the 414-yard 15th hole. Dufner’s approach hit the left side of that green then rolled into a ditch, leading to a triple bogey that put him four strokes back after Johnson’s par.
It was the eighth PGA Tour victory for Johnson, who won $1,152,000. The 2007 Masters champion’s record streak of 15 consecutive under-par rounds at Colonial ended.
Dufner’s only two PGA Tour victories came in the last four weeks, a stretch when he also got married.
After winning last week at the Byron Nelson Championship, he was trying to match Ben Hogan, his hero, as the only players to win both PGA Tour events in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the same year. Hogan did it in 1946, when the tournaments weren’t played in consecutive weeks.
“Pretty good run, today obviously a little disappointing to play that poorly and not kind of a chance there at the end,” said Dufner, insisting fatigue didn’t come into play. “I feel pretty good actually. . . . I just played really poorly today.” Rickie Fowler, who in his previous two starts got his first PGA Tour win along with a runner-up finish at The Players Championship, shot a 69 and was in a group of five players tied for fifth at 275.
Dufner and Johnson were tied at 14 under going to the back nine after Dufner’s double bogey at the 386-yard par 4 ninth hole, where his approach from 103 yards hit just short of the green and rolled back into the water.