Johnson Overcomes Struggles To Secure Final Kaulig Companies Championship

Akron, Ohio– Zach Johnson battled a left miss off the tee and some alignment issues, but some timely shots and birdies down the stretch made him the Kaulig Companies Championship winner in the PGA Tour Champions’s swan song, at least for the time being, at Firestone Country Club.

Johnson’s total score of 15-under par was the lowest in Firestone’s eight editions hosting this tournament and lowest on tour this season.

Sunday’s win was by six shots, tying the largest margin of victory since the event was played at Firestone. Steve Stricker won the 2021 edition getting the better of fellow Wisconsinite Jerry Kelly.

This is Johnson’s third PGA Tour Champions triumph and first major championship, as he moves to second place in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.

“I’ve loved (Firestone) since I first stepped foot on it,” Johnson proclaimed. “I just think it fits me — it fits my eye, but it fits me in the sense that you can’t fake it around here. May have looked like that a little bit today, but you have to execute shots. It requires, for me, every aspect of my game to be on and I love it. (The win has) been a long time coming. I think I’ve had a few opportunities to win here back in the day, but hopefully more, I’m a glass half full on that one.

“My game’s good. It didn’t look like that probably for a lot of the day, but it is good. I kept telling myself that like you know what you’re doing, just get the ball in the fairway and execute. That was easier said than done. Thankfully, I had a cushion. Thankfully, I played great the first three days.”

Johnson’s miss off the first tee led to a water hazard and immediately tested his resolve as his lead was cut to a shot.

A bounce-back birdie on the second hole negated Miguel Angel Jimenez’s result, an early assist towards Johnson’s cause.

While both and third member of the group Cameron Percy all birdied the fourth hole, this also would be pivotal for Johnson as he faced a testy bogey putt, to where he called in his caddie for an additional read.

“I feel like I did that a lot with him,” Johnson said of bringing his caddie in. “I tend to overread putts, he tends to slightly underread putts, we know our tendencies. I’m trying to find something, and he said ‘if you hit this thing to the middle of the hole, it’s in.’ That was nice, it was nice to have that assurance and I would say confidence.”

The putt fell right in the heart of the hole and he confidently strode towards the hole.

Two holes later he would record another birdie after Jimenez knocked one to within close range.

“Maybe (Cameron Percy’s) putt helped a little bit on the speed, but I had that read prior to him even putting it, at least in the vicinity,” deduced Johnson. “There was some movement to it, but it was one of my better putts too, especially since Miguel had it in there a foot-and-a-half. That was nice.”

On the ninth hole, he went up-and-down from the bunker while the Spaniard saved a bogey, bringing the lead back to the original four shots.

Despite battling aspects of his game, Johnson was missing in the proper spots and his ability to scramble and more important keep his patience made it so he could not be caught.

“Right out of the box (one) was actually a really good five,” Johnson detailed. “Thankfully it wasn’t that long of a putt, but I ran to the next tee. I told my caddie, in a very odd way it kind of felt good. I mean, it felt good, like I’m alive. Yesterday was just so cookie cutter easy, it was good to actually get
some electricity going and get some feeling going in a really bizarre way.”

“The next hole was perfect, a tap-in birdie, two great shots. I had 25 feet probably for eagle, 20 feet, I’m not sure. Then after that I don’t think I hit a fairway till 13. That’s one of those where I’m hedging my bet on the tee. I’m not finding the fairway. I’m hitting the middle of the face for the most part, but I’m not finding the fairway. Hedging my bet in the sense that pin, the right side of the fairway is terrible, stay left. All of those feelings, all of those mental sentiments were going through my brain. The first nine holes, even the first 11 holes maybe, course management was a big factor in my scorecard.”

Johnson briefly brought the lead back to five shots with a hole out from off the 11th green but gave two shots back on 12 as the putter which appeared to be the strongest club in his bag faltered on consecutive holes.

Jimenez could not take advantage and dropped a shot. With Jimenez’s falling down the leaderboard, a couple of other pursuers worked their way up.

The first was Boo Weekley. While he made light of maturing on the golf course, he did fire off three birdies on the back nine and started that run with one on the ninth hole. His 1.56 putts per green tied him for second in the field.

“I didn’t hit many fairways the last two days, but I made a lot of putts,” summarized Weekley. “That’s what kept me in the game this week, putted the ball really well and my caddie helped me read the greens really well. We just executed on that end of it and everything panned out like it should. I didn’t even know I was in second place, I thought I had tied for third or something.”

Weekley’s back nine started with a 15-foot effort the swept and dribbled in. Once that feel, he knew he could string birdies together and just kept the line.

As a result of his play this week, Weekley improves to fourth in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.

While he freely admitted that Firestone has had his number, this time it was Weekley who could have the last laugh.

“This place has always beaten me up,” he reflected. “This is the first time I’ve beat it up; it really is. You look at all the years I’ve played here; this is the first time I beat it up.”

The other, Rory Sabbatini compiled a four-under round allowed him to tie for the biggest jump of the day, improving his placement by 18 shots to take solo third place.

Sabbatini tied atop the field by hitting 14 greens during Sunday’s round.

“As the week’s been going on, my ball striking, I’ve been cleaning it up,” analyzed Sabbatini. “I haven’t been playing a lot of golf, so I came back, was working on driving at first, then I was working on putting, then I was working on short game. Then I realized I need to do some work on my middle irons, so I did some work on that this week. Obviously, Firestone par 3s, obviously a lot of mid to long irons. You know, a lot of these holes you’re just hitting 5-, 6-, 7-irons into these greens. I put the work in this week and as the week went on, progressively they got better. Started to see my lines nicely and gave myself a lot of opportunities.”

Despite Johnsons’s struggles, which included hitting seven greens, tying him for 67th of 74 players, he found a way to finish with gusto.

He found a birdie on 16 as the roar deafened across Firestone’s back half of the course. Johnson then found another birdie on 17 and from 18 chipped in from off the green, his second such effort within a nine-hole stretch and secured the victory in style.

The crowd roared in approval as Johnson once again froze. Both Jimenez and Cameron Percy, who still had putts to roll, came over to congratulate the Iowan on his victory.

“They get it, they know how hard it is out there,” exclaimed Johnson. “They’re good dudes. Cameron Percy might be the nicest guy on the face of the world. He’s just so kind and just a great competitor. Miguel’s resume is deep, but he gets it. I’ve competed with him too many times.”

As previously reported, this is the final edition of the Kaulig Companies Championship. On record, Firestone Country Club has been working behind the scenes to bring professional golf back to Akron, but no official word has been given. This tournament will be moving to Newport Beach Country Club, be played in March and be called the Hoag Classic.

“Certainly, more sweet than bitter,” said Johnson of his comments following the win. “I’m the ever optimist. I feel like this place and its history, it withstood the test of time. This northeast community of
Ohio, all of it, I feel like they deserve a championship. Hopefully those that are significantly smarter than me can put something together in the future whenever that may be. You know, I just hope somebody can play here at some point, whether it’s the PGA TOUR, the Korn Ferry, whomever. Us again on the Champions Tour, that would be amazing, too. I just think it deserves it; I think the community deserves it.”

PHOTO GALLERY

All photos: Pittsburgh Golf Now/Colston Cooper