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The 144th edition of the British Open grand major golf tournament was the longest in history due to the five-day length which was caused by bad weather. In addition, it also went down to a three-golfer, four-hole playoff to decide the winner. The players decided the winner by playing the first, second, 17th and 18th holes. When all was said and done at St Andrews in Scotland on Monday, July 20th, the Claret jug was handed to 39-year-old American golfer Zach Johnson.

The other two golfers in the playoff were Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa and Marc Leishman of Australia. American Jordan Spieth missed out on his chance at a Grand Slam tournament win when he fell short of making the playoff round by just one stroke. Johnson has now captured a pair of major titles as he also won the Masters tournament back in 2007. He won the British Open by one shot over Oosthuizen when the South African blew a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole. Leishman didn’t fare too well as the placed three shots behind Johnson.

For Oosthuizen, it was his second consecutive finish in the runner-up position in a major as he came in second behind Jordan Spieth by one shot at the U.S. Open this year. Spieth missed out on the playoff when he bogeyed the 17th hole as he failed to sink an eight-foot putt. Spieth was shooting for his third straight major as he won both the Masters and U.S. Open this year. He was attempting to win his third straight major of the year, which would have tied him with Ben Hogan for winning win the first three of a year.

Johnson sank a 30-foot birdie shot on the 18th and final hole in regulation time to finish the fourth round with a six-under par 66. Leishman had a chance to win it in regulation, but missed on his birdie putt. Oosthuizen managed a birdie as he shot 69 for the day and joined the other two in the playoff round. Johnson had a birdie on each of the first two playoff holes. He missed an 18-foot birdie putt on the last hole and Oosthuizen would have forced sudden death if he could have sunk his 12-foot birdie, but he missed.

Johnson, who hails from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has won an even dozen PGA events with two of them now being majors. After the win, he told the media, “I’m grateful. I’m humbled. I’m honored. This is the birthplace of the game, and that jug means so much in sports. I felt great. I’m just in awe right now.”