Richard S. Johnson gets first PGA Tour victory

Richard S. Johnson knows there was one shot that gave him the confidence to win his first tournament on the PGA Tour.

“It all started out with that first day. I made that hole in one and all of a sudden I felt like I could make some birdies. I haven’t had that feeling for a while,” said Johnson, who had struggled the last few years on tour.

Johnson birdied three of his last four holes Sunday to shoot six-under-par 64 and win the U.S. Bank Championship by a stroke over Ken Duke. He finished at 16-under 264 on the 6,759-yard Brown Deer Park Golf Course to win the $720,000 first prize.

Johnson, the sixth golfer from Sweden to win on tour and seventh first-time winner this season, had to go through qualifying school last fall to get his tour card back and he had made the cut in only three of 10 events this season before coming here.

Johnson got the birdies when he needed them the most, first sinking a birdie putt of about 12 feet on the par-four 17th-hole to break away from a tie with Duke at 14 under. He then birdied the par-five 18th from less than two feet.

Dean Wilson (65), Chad Campbell (65) and Chris Riley (66) tied for third at 13-under.

Kenny Perry closed strongly with a 64 to get to 12 under and finish tied for sixth. He had been criticized for skipping the British Open to play here after winning three of his last five tournaments including last week’s John Deere Classic.

Perry had chosen to play in Milwaukee because he felt he had the best chance of picking up points so he can make this year’s Ryder Cup team, which is played in his native Kentucky. He said his finish vindicated that decision.

“I accomplished my goal,” Perry said. “I wanted to top 10 it. I told my people, I told my friends. I said, ‘If I can just go there and have a good top 10, I’ve accomplished my mission.’”

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Second-year LPGA golfer Ji Young Oh won her first tournament Sunday, sinking a six-inch putt for par to win the State Farm Classic in a playoff over rookie Yani Tseng at Springfield, Ill.

A day after the tournament lost its marquee player, Michelle Wie, to disqualification, the sudden-death playoff injected life into what had been an ordinary final round.

Oh and Tseng finished regulation at 18-under par.

Tseng, the leader coming into Sunday, chipped her third shot over the green and into the rough, then pitched her ball to about six feet from the cup.

But Oh’s third shot, from just inside the rough, left her with the tap-in that gave her the win.

Oh, who spoke English with reporters for much of the tournament, resorted to an interpreter after the overtime because she said she was floored by the win.

“I would love to do this interview in English,” she said through the interpreter, “but my mind is totally blank.”

Tseng, who shot a 66 in each of the first three rounds before her even-par 72 Sunday, said after her loss that her nerves got the best of her Sunday.

“I really feel nervous,” she said. “It’s my first time (to open a round) at the top of the leaderboard.”

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R.W. Eaks was the runaway winner in the Champions Tour 3M Championship at Blaine, Minn., posting the lowest score in the tournament’s 16-year history.

Eaks shot a seven-under 65 in the final round to finish with a 54-hole total of 193, four shots better than Ed Dougherty’s finish in 2000. Gary Hallberg and Bernhard Langer tied for second at 17-under 199 for the tournament.

Eaks, who had one top 10 finish in 14 previous events he completed this year, led by as many as six on the front nine at the TPC Twin Cities, but back-to-back birdies by Gene Jones cut the lead to two on 14.

Jones bogeyed 16 and double-bogeyed 17. He finished at 16 under, seven shots back.

Ron Streck (70) finished at 15 under, and Mike Goodes (66), Tom Kite (65) and Rod Spittle (65) finished at 14 under. Jones, Goodes and Spittle were Monday qualifiers.

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Kevin Marsh of Henderson, Nev., held off Tim Hogarth of Northridge by two shots to win the 109th Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur Championship by two shots at Saticoy Country Club in Somis.

In what became a two-man battle of former national champions, the 35-year-old Marsh – the 2005 U.S. Mid-Amateur and 1996 SCGA Amateur champion – shot three-over 75 and finished at three-under 285. The 40-year-old Hogarth – the 1996 U.S. Amateur Public Links and 2004 SCGA Amateur champion – finished with 74, and at 287 was the only other golfer under par for the championship.