Johnson Wagner wins 2008 SHO by two

Johnson Wagner toured Redstone Golf Club

Tournament Course in 63-69-69-71 for a 16-under-par 272 total for a two-stroke victory over Geoff Ogilvy and Chad Campbell.

It was Wagner's first PGA TOUR victory and earned him a berth in The Masters.

Wagner earned a $1,008,000 winner's check, the largest ever in Shell Houston Open history. His victory was sparked by a 9-under-par 63 in the opening round that tied the record established earlier in the day by defending champion Adam Scott.

Wagner first set the record at Redstone Golf Club -- Tournament Course in during the third round of 2007. It was later tied by Bubba Watson.

One doesn’t often see a former high school hockey player slip his foot into a glass slipper, but it happened Sunday at Redstone Golf Club as Johnson Wagner’s improbable journey continued. His next destination now is Augusta, Ga.

Wagner closed in 71 white-knuckled strokes to post a 16-under-par total of 272 and win the Shell Houston Open by two shots over Chad Campbell and Geoff Ogilvie.

He became the 13th player to win for the first time in Houston, but unlike some of his predecessors he overcame a star-studded field that included Phil Mickelson, No. 2 in the world, and four other men in the top 10. The Amarillo-born Wagner, who lives in Charlotte, N.C., ended a two-year run by Australians. Stuart Appleby won his second SHO in 2006 and Adam Scott beat him on the 72nd hole last year.

Ogilvie emerged as low Aussie, which may not be an official statistical category but should be in Houston, where his countrymen have won four of the last nine tournaments and eight overall.

A likable sort with an easy smile, Wagner didn’t pretend that his first PGA Tour championship wasn’t as pulse-pounding as one would expect. He had hardly begun his round when his shirt showed sweat and he reached frequently for a towel on the tee to dry his hand before swinging. “Those were normal things,” he said. “That didn’t have anything to do with pressure.” But other things did.

“I don’t know how I got through it,” he said. “I thought I’d get sick on myself a couple of times.”

One of those was at No. 18 tee. After stepping smartly around the Tournament Course all day, he discovered a traffic jam at the final hole. Waiting to play, he got to stare at a lake that must have looked like the Gulf of Mexico. He led by two, but that cushion could vanish in a flash if he drowned his Titleist. He banished thoughts of throwing away his first Masters appearance, but living in the moment isn’t always a beautiful thing. What was he thinking?

“Don’t hook it in the water,” Wagner said. “If you do hook it in the water, make it cross the land so you don’t have to hit the tee shot again. That’s about it.”

No pressure at all. He took the water out of play but found the bunker on the right of the fairway. From there, he hit out short of the green, chipped on and rolled in his putt. By the time it dropped his right fist was pounding the air in jubilation. In addition to his first victory and the Augusta ticket, he doubled his career earnings with the $1,008,000 winner’s check and jumped from No. 188 to No. 18 in the FedEx Cup points race.

Wagner shot 63, 69, 69 in the first three rounds and looked as poised as a grizzled multiple winner. On Sunday, he looked like a 28-year-old second-year tour player trying to hold together long enough to grind out a win. He began the day with a one-shot lead over Campbell and quickly wedged it to five with birdies on the second and fourth.

Campbell, playing with Wagner, made a note with grudging admiration. He made two early bogeys and he knew very well that many a leader in Wagner’s situation lapses into a match-play mentality, playing for pars. Campbell’s untested foe avoided that trap, but he did visit the sand on No. 6, taking a bogey. He got the shot back two holes later on the par-5 and turned in 34.

He bogeyed the 10th but again recovered the stroke, hitting the green on the par-5 13th from 260 yards and two-putting. That’s when things got interesting.

Wagner three-putted No. 14, the par-3, for bogey. “I knew the putt was going to be slow,” he said. “Just a bad putt.” Campbell, who had fallen back with a double-bogey when he found the lake from a fairway bunker on No. 8, had run off three straight birdies and his rally was beginning to look believable.

“I was pretty proud of myself for the way I fought back on the back nine,” he would say. His par on the 14th got him back to within two.

He birdied the par-5 15th but followed with a bogey to give Wagner a little air. The leader was doing deep-breathing exercises and making pars but on the 17th he must have forgotten to breathe. He certainly gave himself the sternest test of his short career. Wagner left his approach on the front of the green and a 60-foot putt up a ridge and onto the second level. He came up 11 feet short.

“I’ve been putting so well all week and I made so many birdie putts of that length and I just told myself to roll it right in the middle,” he said. “And it went in and I got pretty excited about it.”

On the next hole, after the wait on the tee during which his stomach flipped as he looked out at the lake, he got more excited still. “It was an incredible week from start to finish,” he said.”I was pretty tired after yesterday. I tried to stay up as late as I could and fall asleep but I woke up all through the night and then I woke up early this morning. I don’t want to do it all again right now.”