Zach Johnson produced his own personal episode of “Myth Busters” at the Masters on Sunday. And a tournament that was short on drama, and long on bad shots and bogeys, was redeemed by a self-described “normal guy from Cedar Rapids, Iowa,” even as great players crumbled all around him.

Read Athlon's recent Q&A with Zach Johnson

Myth No. 1: Tiger Woods can’t be beaten when he gets the Sunday lead at a major championship, especially at Augusta.
Woods had been 12-for-12 in majors when he held the 54-hole lead, and while he wasn’t in that position this week, he had worked his way into the final group on Sunday. And after a short birdie putt on the second hole, he was in the lead, at which point the rest of the field was supposed to begin quivering uncontrollably while Tiger marched toward the inevitable, his fifth green jacket.

But Johnson didn’t quiver. He didn’t flinch. Call it a function of not actually having to play with Tiger if you must, but give the guy credit. This was back-nine pressure at Augusta National, and Johnson was playing as if it were the Knoxville Open on the Nationwide Tour. His steely resolve belied his lack of experience on the big stage, as clutch birdies at 9, 13, 14 and 16 gave him a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.

Given some identical opportunities, Tiger couldn’t produce. He missed remarkably similar putts at 14 and 16 to the putts that Johnson had confidently drained moments earlier.

Stuart Appleby, Woods’ playing partner, had a front-row seat for Tiger’s performance, one that hardly drew raves from the affable Aussie. “I’ve seen too many highlight reels where he's done things out of nowhere," Appleby said. “It was just meant to be Zach's day. Tiger probably played the worst today out of anybody, because he has so many extra gears. But he was fighting the course, and it was tough for him. It was hard work, and he knew it, too. He just couldn't milk enough out of his round.”

Myth No. 2: Short hitters can’t win the Masters.
Ever since the tournament fathers lengthened the course to a big-shouldered 7,445 yards, the conventional wisdom has held that only the longest hitters can excel at Augusta. Johnson put the kibosh on all that. His average driving distance of 265.0 was a full 10 yards shorter than the field’s average and 15 yards shorter than Woods’ average of 280, a rather pedestrian figure by his standards.

The key to Johnson’s victory was his ability to dominate the par-5s without going for a single one in two shots. You read that right; Johnson was 11-under on the par-5s for the week while laying up on every single one of them. It was an unconventional game plan for Augusta National, to say the least, but it worked.

“I had good lay-up numbers,” Johnson understated. “I had a good game plan on how to approach every pin. I don’t have many wedges into many of the holes here, so I was able to take advantage of good numbers.”

Myth No. 3: Relative unknowns don’t win the Masters.
Sure, several guys have made the Masters their first major championship win. But those guys — names like Phil Mickelson, Mike Weir, Mark O’Meara and Fred Couples — were known quantities. Despite making the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 2006, Johnson is more likely to be confused for actor Joaquin Phoenix than for a champion golfer.

It requires years of seasoning, of learning the quirks and nooks and crannies of Augusta National, before a player can contend — or so went the conventional wisdom. Johnson showed up for his third Masters, with a missed cut and a T32 in his two previous appearances, and won the thing.

Let’s give the last word to the man-myth himself, Tiger Woods, who could only marvel at Johnson’s ability to overcome the conditions. “He played beautifully,” Woods said. “Look at the round he shot out there, the score. He did what he needed to do. He went out there, grinded away, made shots he needed to make.”

Notes
• Tiger Woods is still chasing Jack Nicklaus in a number of categories when it comes to major championships. Woods’ T-2 finish marked only the third time in his career that he has been a runner-up in a major; Nicklaus finished second in majors a staggering 19 times, meaning that Woods is still 22 short of Nicklaus’ 37 top-two finishes in majors. Also, Tiger’s eagle on No. 13 in the final round was only his fifth at the Masters; Jack made eagle 24 times during his career at Augusta.

• Saturday’s third round was one of the most brutal in major championship history. It was as if a U.S. Open had broken out. Saturday's scoring average was 77.35, the third-highest all time for a single day at the Masters. The two higher third-round averages were 78.565 in 1956, and 77.580 in 1952.

• Need evidence of the volatility of the FedExCup standings this early in the season? Johnson vaulted from 68th in the standings to ninth on the strength of his Masters win.

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