Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Zach Johnson is a local kid who grew up dreaming about playing and winning the Utah Open. That dream came true Sunday afternoon. The former Cottonwood Colt, Southern Utah T-Bird and current assistant pro at Davis Park in Kaysville, Johnson erased a three-shot deficit in the final three holes at Oakridge Country Club to claim the $21,000 first place check at the Siegfried & Jensen Utah Open.
"Wow! Speechless!" Johnson said moments after raising the trophy. Johnson trailed Jessie Mueller of Mesa, Arizona by three strokes as he stood on the right rough on the par-5 16th. No problem! Behind a tree, Zach needed to hit a shot more than 250 yards to the green to give himself a chance at Eagle if he had any thoughts of winning the tournament.
With his fairway wood, he curved the ball around the tree and it ended up 18 feet away from the cup. "I told my brother, who is my caddy, that we didn't come here for second place," Johnson said. He stepped up and drained the eagle putt to cut the lead to one. After Mueller Bogeyed 17 and 18, Zach Johnson had won the biggest tournament of his life.
