Masters champ still has Georgia on his mind

Masters champion Zach Johnson won the AT&T Classic on Sunday, beating Ryuji Imada with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff.

Johnson, also the 2004 winner, closed with a 5-under 67 to match Imada (70) at 15-under 273 on the TPC Sugarloaf at Duluth, Ga.

In the playoff on the par-5 18th, Johnson hit his second shot above the pin, then rolled a 60-footer for eagle within 5 inches of the hole.

Imada could only offer a congratulatory handshake. His tee shot landed in the left-side rough and his 3-wood failed to clear the water in front of the green.

Seeking to become the third player from Japan to win on the PGA Tour, Imada lost a critical stroke with a drop that all but nullified his next approach, which landed 13 feet from the pin.

For the 31-year-old Johnson, scoring conditions the last four days were nothing like those at Augusta National, which endured a bitterly cold, windy Masters six weeks ago, when Johnson matched the highest score in the major’s history at 1-over 289.

Matt Kuchar (70), Camilo Villegas (71) and Troy Matteson (73) tied for third at 12 under.

LPGA Tour

Lorena Ochoa won for the first time since replacing Annika Sorenstam as the No. 1 player in women’s golf, and put an exclamation point on it by defending her Sybase Classic title at Clifton, N.J.

Ochoa caught front-running Sarah Lee and finished three strokes ahead, closing with a bogey-free 4-under 68 in the event that turned into match play after the top two distanced themselves from the field the day before.

The victory was the second of the season and the 11th of her career for the 25-year-old Mexican, the LPGA Tour’s top player in 2006. The $210,000 winner’s share pushed her earnings this year to $965,714.

Ochoa had a 72-hole total of 18-under 270 on the Upper Montclair Country Club in successfully defending an LPGA title for the first time in her career. She won last year’s event at the Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle, N.Y., another traditional, tree-line, small green course.

Lee, looking to become the fifth first-time winner on tour this year, shot a 73.

Champions Tour

Defending champion Brad Bryant staged another final-day comeback at the Regions Charity Classic at Hoover, Ala., then beat R.W. Eaks on the third hole of a playoff to become the first player to win the tournament twice.

Bryant sank a nearly 13-foot birdie putt on the 470-yard, par-4 18th hole after both parred the hole twice in the playoff. Seeking his first Champions Tour win, Eaks had to settle for another two-putt par from just above the green before Bryant’s winning putt from beside the hole.

European PGA Tour

Padraig Harrington became the first Irishman to win the Irish Open in 25 years, parring the first hole of a playoff to beat Wales’ Bradley Dredge at Adare, Ireland.

The 35-year-old Dubliner, the first Irish winner since John O’Leary in 1982, closed with a 1-under 71 to match Dredge (68) at 15-under on the Adare Manor course.