Golf: Johnson survives to win Pebble Beach

PEBBLE BEACH - Dustin Johnson became the first player in 20 years to win back-to-back titles at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am after making a short birdie putt on the final hole today for a one-shot victory over David Duval and J.B. Holmes.

Johnson closed with a 2-over 74, the highest final round by a Pebble champion since Johnny Miller in 1994. And he became the first player since Davis Love III in 2003 to win at Pebble Beach with a birdie on the last hole in the final group.

Paul Goydos, who started the final round level with Johnson, had a one-shot lead until taking a quadruple-bogey 9 on the 14th hole.

The last time Johnson won he was declared the winner after 54 holes because of rain.

He hammered the tee shot on the final hole today, put his approached into a simple lie in the front bunker and blasted out to just over 3 feet. Johnson lightly pumped his fist when he made the putt, becoming the first player in seven years to win with a birdie on the 72nd hole from the final group.

"It's such a gorgeous hole," Johnson said. "If you miss it a little left, it's not so pretty."

Johnson, 25, is the first player since Tiger Woods to come out of college and win in each of his first three years on the PGA Tour.

His birdie ended the hopes of Duval, who last won at the Dunlop Phoenix on the Japan Golf Tour at the end of the 2001 season and has fallen so far that he is playing this year on sponsors' exemptions. He closed with a 69, the first time since the 2001 Buick Challenge that he shot in the 60s for an entire tournament.

The real heartache, however, belonged to Goydos.

Despite giving up some 50 yards off the tee, Goydos had a one-shot lead with five holes to play until he wound up on the wrong side of the par-5 14th green and took a quadruple-bogey 9 to end his hopes.

Duval didn't have the length to reach the 18th, and his third shot came up just short enough to spin down the slope to 30 feet. He missed the putt, then headed to the putting green with his children looking on.

Holmes couldn't reach the 18th because he was in the right rough, and he missed a 12-foot birdie putt.

Johnson finished at 16-under 270. He is only the fifth player to win back-to-back at Pebble Beach, and the first since Mark O'Meara in 1990. Johnson moved to No. 2 in the Ryder Cup standings, and joins Sean O'Hair as the only Americans in their 20s with three wins.

- AP