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Check that. It wasn't over.
Oblivious to the sight of Woods's name on the leaderboards, because he was not looking at the leaderboards, Johnson went three-under the rest of the way. Woods bogeyed 6 and 10 but eagled the par-5 13th hole, at which point the great one was still two shots behind Johnson.
Afterward Johnson talked about staying in the moment, which meant keeping his head down, adhering to the old Satchel Paige maxim, "Don't look back — something might be gaining on you."
Desperate to make something happen, Woods tried to slice his second shot around a tree and onto the green on the par-5 15th hole, but he hit it in the water and had to work hard to save par. Three more pars and it was over.
It was the first time Woods had led a major on Sunday and lost.
"They say a giant's got to fall at some point," Johnson said, "and maybe that's the case. You know, it's still very surreal in that respect. I was sitting in the locker room waiting for Tiger to hit his second shot on 18. Before he hit it, I'm like, 'He's done stranger things.' The guy's a phenom."
Like Woods, Goosen could manage only pars to close, six of them. The two-time U.S. Open champion looked to be heading for his third major title until he three-putted the par-3 12th hole to go to three-over, where he finished.
Johnson mentioned in his press conference the old cliche that the Masters doesn't begin until the back nine on Sunday, and that one proved correct. Among those with a chance to win, his 34 on the homeward half was matched only by Kelly, who was fighting a chest cold all week (playing in shirtsleeves Saturday couldn't have helped) and elated to register his first top-10 in a major.
So was Sabbatini, who threw his visor and putter skyward after making a coast-to-coast putt for eagle on the par-5 eighth hole. That got him to 2-over for the outright lead, but he gave back a shot with a missed three-footer on nine and could manage only an even-par 36 on the back nine.
"That's a phenomenal round," Sabbatini said of Johnson's 69, even though he and Goosen had matched it. "Everyone says the first time you're in contention in a major, nerves come into it. I think as long as you focus on what you're doing and you don't think ahead, you're going to be fine. Zach's proof of that. He's a very level-headed golfer."
He's also a realist. When he got hot in the Wednesday par-3 tournament, Johnson was aware of the fact that no one has ever won that funfest and the Masters in the same year. But he decided to pull out all the stops because, he decided, he had a better chance to win the par-3 than the tournament.
Until he took the lead for good on 13, who would've argued? Until he followed that up with two more birdies on 14 and 16 to get to even par, raising the possibility that the winner might actually shoot under par after all, who would have picked him over Tiger?
After Johnson bogeyed 17 just to make it interesting, and then got up and down for par on 18, Taylor saluted his friend's tenacity. Surely, Taylor said, Johnson had just played 18 holes in the company of Superman, or at the very least Superman's brother. Surely no mere mortal could have done what Johnson did, could have refused to blink at Tiger's roar.
Johnson wasn't having it.
"I'm Zach Johnson, and I'm from Cedar Rapids, Iowa," he said, when asked to state his identity. "That's about it. I'm a normal guy."
A normal guy with a funny coat.
