Tearful Johnson Masters a major

The 31-year-old world number 56, rising brilliantly to the occasion, was the unexpected player to deny world number one Tiger Woods a chance to win a third successive major and 13th in all.

And while Johnson's one-over-par aggregate matched the highest in the tournament's history, his closing 69 was perhaps the greatest round he will ever play given that he was chasing his first major and had to overhaul Woods to do it.

Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini also held the lead on the final day, but the two South Africans finished joint runner-up with Woods - all three thanks to England`s Justin Rose double-bogeying the 17th after being only one behind with two to play.

Johnson had just one US Tour title to his name entering the week, had never been higher than 17th in any major and had nothing than better than a ninth place finish in all his previous events this year.

Yet on Easter Sunday this most religious of men found the inspiration and kept his head while others were losing theirs.

"I've dreamt about this for years and it certainly makes it more gratifying that I beat Tiger," commented Johnson after receiving his green jacket from last year's winner Phil Mickelson. "You may not know where he is on the course, but you can feel him.

"I don't hit it far, I can't overpower a course, but I think I am mentally tough. I had a lot of people giving me some good words of wisdom and I felt like there was certainly another power that was walking with me and guiding me.

"It is amazing what God can do. I tried to be non-emotional out there - that was one of my goals - and I just tried to stay in the present and go through my processes.

"I knew I could win on the major scene. I felt everything was ready and I prepared very hard."