Darren Clarke closed out with a one-under 71 in testing final-round conditions in Iowa and it lifted him into a share of 12th place, but it was Zach Johnson who handled the weather best and won by four.
Clarke, a week after staging a successful defence of his American Family Insurance Championship – albeit with a different partner in the two-man team event – lost ground despite shooting a three-under 68 in round two and entered the final day without any real hopes of victory.
Two early bogeys rubberstamped that, but he responded to reel off three birdies in succession on holes six through eight, then parred the final 10 to end the day in red figures and at -9 overall.
It was enough to see the Dungannon man jump seven places on the leaderboard and remain at 10th in the Schwab Cup Rankings, but it was PGA Tour Champions rookie Zach Johnson who dominated on the final day.
The former Ryder Cup captain and two-time major winner started the round in a three-way tie for the lead at -12 with Brett Quigley and Scott Hend, but powered away thanks to three birdies on the front – after an early bogey – and a further four on the back, dropping one further shot, to win by four from Richard Green and Retief Goosen.
Johnson’s first PGA Tour Champions win came at the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational in his senior debut in March, but this one was particularly sweet as it was in his home town of Des Moines in Iowa.
“Pure gratitude. It’s times like this where you really reflect on, obviously, the journey, reflect on the people surrounding you and helping, encouraging you,” Johnson said. “That’s where I go. That’s where I go first; that’s where I go last, certainly.
“I mean, given this week and all that it entails being back home, then literally in a place I used to live, I felt like I had already won before I teed off. That honestly gave me a lot of freedom to just play. Hard to really encompass all the emotions in that regard, but a lot of peace.”
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