Zach Johnson’s final day magic victory for old school style

Paul Dunne was not the only man to miss out on history at St Andrews last night as Jordan Spieth’s shot at golfing immortality went begging but for all the disappointments The Open Championship still managed to conjure up a very special conclusion.

That an American named Johnson should become the R&A’s 144th Champion Golfer of the Year would not have been too much of a stretch to imagine halfway through this weather-delayed major but the fact that it was Zach rather Dustin Johnson who lifted the Claret Jug at the ancient links yesterday evening gives hope that this sport has not completely been lost to bombers taking advantage of the latest technology.

On the links that gave us the game of golf and the legends of its famous sons Tom Morris, senior and junior, the Old Course delivered something of an old school champion for 2015 in Zach Johnson, who shot a final-round six-under-par 66 to tie with 2010 winner here Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa and Australia’s Marc Leishman and then emerged victorious from a four-hole play-off.