Dufner Gives the Tournament Away to Johnson Late in the Round

For most of round 4 of the Crowne Plaza Invitational, it seemed like match play (as the announcers put it) between Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson. The lead changed about 5 or so times; this really was a dogfight.

Early in the round, Tommy Gainey looked like he might've had a change with -9 as his peak. He then lost 2 shots on the 11th and 12th holes. Gainey ended up with a respectable 3rd place finish of -7.

On the 8th hole, Zach Johnson duffed his chip shot which resulted in a widened lead gap with Dufner leading -16 to -14. On the very next hole, Dufner gave Johnson a break when he had a wedge shot in the water. Dufner ended up swith a double bogey on that hole while Johnson par'd. They were then tied for the lead at -14.

The 11th hole was also in favor of Zach Johnson. He took advantage of the fact that Dufner ended up in the sand and shot a bogey. Johnson ended up with a birdie which widened his lead to -15 to -13.

The 12th hole brought some drama for Johnson. He had a tough fairway sand shot which hit the lip and was re-shot. Because of that extra shot, Johnson ended up with a bogey. Jason Dufner had a birdie bringing the score back to a tie at -14.

On the 14th hole, Johnson took the lead again at -15 to -14. Dufner then went on to make a mess of the 15 hole where he had his 2nd shot of the day in the water where he ended the hole with a dreaded triple bogey widening Johnson's lead to -15 to -11. Johnson then bogeyed the 16th which brought the score to -14 to -11, still in Johnson's favor.

The last hole was where the game got really interesting. Jason Dufner shot a par and so did Johnson...except he didn't. He really had a double bogey. Johnson had to move his ball marker in order for Dufner to putt. Johnson then forgot to move it back to where it was. His caddie noticed and asked him, but after he had putt. Zach Johnson should thank his caddie for bringing that to attention before he signed his scorecard or he wouldn't have won the Crowne Plaze Invitational for the 2nd time -12 to -11.