European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 10, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 38 stars and stripes tuesday april 10 2007 Johnson eludes charging Woods by Eddie Pells the associated press Augusta a the Golf world caught a glimpse of a differ ent Tiger Woods one who coughs up majors on weekdays gets the Lead on sunday and then lets it go and staggers to the finish stewing Over what might have been a different masters Winner too by the name of Zach Johnson the a shucks kid from Cedar rapids Iowa was More than a beneficiary of the mistakes Woods made sunday and Satur Day and thursday Johnson earned it he shot a closing 3under 69 that included three birdies on the Back nine while Tiger was lurking grind ing trying to make a move Johnson wound up at 1over 289 for a two stroke Victory Over Woods Relief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini Matching the highest winning score in masters history this is very surreal Johnson said very very surreal surely Tiger would agree i had a Chance said Woods who shot 72 and stayed stuck on 12 majors four of them at Augusta but looking Back Over the week i basically blew this tournament on two rounds where i had Boge bogey finishes thais 4 Over on two holes you cant afford to do that and win major championships those four bogeys two each on thursday and saturday put Woods in comeback Mode for the final round when there were finally Good scores to be had on an Augusta National course that grew More forgiving after three brutal rounds of wind Sun and sky High scores Woods put up one of those Good scores it was an Eagle 3 on the par513th that pulled him within two of Johnson and sent one of those massive roars echoing through the Georgia Pines Guys like Johnson were sup posed to Start choking once they hear those roars which came All too Seldom by during this rugged week turns out Johnson want even looking at the scoreboard you know i backed off the shot maybe partially because of the roars said Johnson who was on the 15th Fairway at the time i assumed it was Tiger making an Eagle that was just an Assumption i didst really look at the Board Johnson responded with a Safe Par on 15 next he bit his tee shot on 16 to 12 feet for a Birdie to re store the Lead to three by the time he got to 17 it was just a mat Ter of playing it Safe and putting it away he made bogey there but it didst Cost him i think my mind Frame was very Clear the entire week especially today even on the Back nine Johnson said i was hit Ting solid shots and i Felt like if i Eisse Zach Johnson left receives the Green jacket from last years Champion Phil Mickelson after winning the masters sunday in Augusta a gave myself opportunities to make birdies i Felt like we could make some putts tigers last decent Chance to apply pressure came on the par5 15th when he tried to get to the Green in 2 that shot landed in the water however and when the tournament was Over Tiger want lamenting that shot so much As the strokes hed Given away earlier in the week Johnson gave away strokes too never More than during his  finish on Fri Day but he didst repeat his Clos ingole mistakes the Way Woods did when nobody else could take control of the tournament Johnson was in position to show he had the stuff to take it himself i think As Long As you focus on what youre doing and you dont think ahead youre going to be Fine Sabbatini said Zachs just proof of that Hes a very levelheaded golfer he needed to be on a week that will go Down As the most brutal in masters history some Calmer winds and less punitive pin positions sunday helped scores go lower than they had All week but in Many ways the damage had been done the winning score tied for the worst Ever and the average of 75881 was the highest in 41 years it sounded like the perfect spot for the worlds Best player to win again indeed Woods looked like a lock for his third straight major when he took the Lead after a Short Birdie on the second Hole but that s where the Story line changed Woods lost his Lead for the third time during the final round of a major and this was the first time he Ever failed to get it Back Stuart Appleby who had a on shot Lead Over Woods going into the last round recovered from a double bogey on his open ing Hole to join a fou Way tie for the Lead on the Back nine until he hit 7iron into Raes Creek on the 12th Hole and took double bogey masters shots scores finally fell masters from Back Page Jerry Kelly got things going by hitting a Utility club close on the par5 13th and making an Eagle that briefly got him in Contention a few groups later Padraig Harrington followed a Birdie on the par3 12th with an Eagle he could have Only imag ined a few Days earlier it helped that the people who ran the tight ship at Augusta National ordered enough water to fill the Ponds on the 15th Hole poured on the greens to soften them up they also made sure the sunday pins were in such a spot that balls could funnel to the holes the players had been careful All week not to criticize the course afraid perhaps that their playing privileges might be revoked mid tournament but they finally seemed to get the message that this was not the kind of course Jones would have wanted his name attached to a Back nine that bordered on unplayable the Day before was there for the taking balls that bounced Over greens on saturday now settled softly next to the Hole and Woods was Able to pull off the shot of the Day when an Iron to the 13th backed up some 40 feet Down the Hill and finished within Kickin Dis Tance they gave us a break which was Nice Woods said and gave us a Chance to go out there and score Woods didst take enough advantage of that Chance but the patrons in their folding chairs got the kind of sunday used to topped off by a near Hole none by Justin Rose on no 16 that made things interesting for a bit just when everyone thought it was Over the ending was Anticlimactic with Woods never coming close to making birdies on the final two holes to Force a tie even before Woods hit it into a masters sunday at Augusta National Golf club Augusta a purse Tea million in 2006 yardage 7445 pan 72 final Zach Johnson Rory Sabbatini Retief Goosen Tiger Woods Jerry Kelly Justin Rose Padraig Harrington Stuart Appleby David Toms Paul Casey Luke Donald Vaughn Taylor an Poulter Euse Zach Johnson reacts to making a Birdie putt on no 16 the key Hole in the final round of the masters greenside Bunker on the 17th Hole Johnson was kiss ing his infant son and accepting the congratulations of everyone around him it was hardly Mickelson leaping for Joy after get Ting his first major or Woods fearfully winning one for his father there might in fact never be a quieter or More unassuming Winner than the self described Normal Guy from Cedar rapids Iowa or excitement Hes not but at least there was some excitement sunday on the Back nine where this year the masters really did begin Tim Dahlberg is a National sports columnist for the associated press write to him at Vijay Singh Tim Clark Jim Furyk Stewart Cink Tom Pernice or Henrik Stenson Mike Weir John Rollins Mark Calcavecchia Lucas Glover Stephen Ames Geoff Ogilvy Phil Mickelson Adam Scott Davis love Mlej Choi Fred couples Robert Karlsson Yongwun Yang Charles How eff Iii Scott Verplank Lee Westwood Dean Wilson Angel Cabrera Tim Herron j j Henry Brett Wetterich Rod Pampling jeep milk a Singh Sandy Lyle Shingo Katayama m Angel Jimenez David Howell j Maria Olazabal Bradley dredge Jef Sluman Craig Stadler Brett Quigley Carl Pettersson Aaron Baddeley Rich Beem Ben Crenshaw Trevor Ummelman niclas fasth Arron Oberholser Billy Mayfair fuzzy Zoeller 71737669289 73767369291 76767069291 73747272291 75697870292 69757573292 77687573293 75707375293 70787472294 79687771295 73747573295 71727775295 75757670296 73717973296 71718074296 75717674296 77757570297 75727971297 72767772297 75728071298 77747671298 76717873298 74717974298 76747772299 75708173299 76737377299 74787672300 72777774300 75757476300 76767871301 77737972301 75747874301 75777574301 73777675301 79737277301 75727678301 77757971302 72758372302 71787776302 69738377302 77757476302 72757579302 79738071303 79728073304 79737676304 70758277304 74757877304 75707683304 76757975305 74737979305 76767975306 76767976307 79727680307 71817581308 76748475309 74778177309 77757780309 74768476310 76758377311 74787982313 Dynamo Galaxy tie in opener the associated press Houston Dynamo opened their defense of the mls cup against the los Angeles Galaxy on sunday night with a scoreless tie both goaltenders were Sharp throughout the season opening match for both clubs Pat Onstad made two saves for the Dynamo Joe Cannon acquired from the Colorado rapids during the four stops for the Galaxy Brian Ching missed a Chance to score for Houston in the 48th minute he took a pass from Brad Davis but his attempt sailed Over the crossbar in the 59th minute Onstad kept Nate Jaquias header out of the net with a diving save Houston cleared the ensuing Corner kick out of harms Way Houston defender Ryan co Chrane was ejected in the 76th minute when he pulled Down Rob Bie Findlay who appeared to have a Clear path to the goal on stad and the Dynamo survived the subsequent free kick to keep the game scoreless los Angeles had several chances to break the game open Early in the match Jaqua hit the out Side of the net with Onstad out of position just four minutes into the game Gobi Jones made a move to get around the Dynamo defense just two minutes later but his Pointblank shot was stopped by Onstad in the 12th minute the Dynamo countered with their first scor ing Chance As Brad Davis sent a shot from the top of the Box Landon Donovan then broke free on a Short breakaway just 90 seconds later but Onstad was there for the Stop the Dynamo won the mls cup with a 43 penalty kicks win Over new England in november mls scoreboard Eastern conference Chicago Columbus new York Kansas City do United new England Toronto pc w l t pts of a 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 000 010 010 010 Western conference cd chivas Usa Colorado pc Dallas Houston los Angeles real Salt Lake w i t pts of a 100320 100321 001122 001100 001100 001122 note three Points for Victory one Point for tie saturdays games Colorado 2 do United 1 pc Dallas 2 real Salt Lake 2 tie new York 0 Columbus 0 tie Chicago 1 new England 0 cd chivas Usa 2 Toronto pc 0 sundays game los Angeles 0 Houston 0 tie thursdays game pc Dallas at los Angeles saturday april 14 Columbus at real Salt Lake Kansas City at do United cd chivas Usa at Houston Toronto pc at new England sunday april 15 pc Dallas at new York Chicago at Colorado sunday Galaxy 0 Dynamo 0 los Angeles 0 00 Houston 0 00 Angeles Cannon Houston Onstad a16404