The last time the golfing world heard much of Zach Johnson, a 31-year-old from Iowa, it was a wet September in Ireland and he was being roundly pilloried as one of the “faceless rookies” on the United States Ryder Cup team. Faceless no more, he emerged from the throng of a packed and fast-changing leaderboard yesterday to win the 71st Masters, the least-known champion since local man Larry Mize 20 years ago.

Justin Rose made a fast, late burst to challenge Johnson and got to within one shot until he hit a wayward drive on the 17th, while Tiger Woods failed to mount the sustained challenge that had been expected of him, finishing in a three-way tie for second place, two shots behind.

Only six years ago, Johnson came to Augusta National with a bunch of friends as a spectator. Yesterday he left as champion. Like so many of his American peers, Johnson values his religion above his golf. “Easter Sunday is more important than Masters Sunday to me,” he said on the eve of the final round. But to judge from his celebrations, Masters Sunday is a pretty decent occasion, too.

“I have dreamt about this for years,” Johnson said. “I never peeked at the leaderboard until the 17th and realised I had to play solidly and go on from there. I bogeyed 17 but executed well from there. I stuck to my game plan. I was reading the greens well and putting well.”

If this was a superb day for Johnson, it was a good one for Augusta National, too. After three days of attritional golf, battle-weary players and galleries numbed into silence by the cold winds and short supply of genius shot-making, yesterday delivered a late supply of much that had been missing, a slew of birdies and eagles and an extraordinary finish when it seemed that any one of six players could pull out of the pack and claim the title.

Stuart Appleby started with a one-shot lead and surrendered it on the 1st hole. Thereafter, Johnson, Rory Sabbatini, Retief Goosen and, of course, Woods all held it briefly, but no one could cling on to it. Too hot to handle, it was passed around like a hand-grenade with the pin pulled out.

As the names rose and tumbled up and down the leaderboard, the expectation was always that Woods would move only upwards. In his 12 major victories he had always led at the start of the fourth round and had never successfully come from behind, but yesterday morning his ability and experience towered over the other players who seemed in contention.

What this tournament had lacked from the first day, however, was a player to string together a run of birdies and make a real charge at the title. Goosen was just that man.

His score on Friday night was so high he nearly missed the cut. On Saturday he started tied for last place, hit the best round of the day, a two-under-par 70, and followed that with consecutive birdies yesterday on the 2nd and 3rd, then the 7th and 8th.

While Goosen moved upwards, though, Woods went in the other direction. His personal battle to master his game was one that he was losing until he eagled the 13th. But at that stage, his charge was too late and Johnson appeared to be racing ahead. Johnson birdied the 13th and 14th and, when he followed that with another birdie on the 16th, he had suddenly built a three-hole lead.

Only briefly did this seem unassailable for, at last and out of nowhere, there arrived the British challenge. The names of Luke Donald and Paul Casey had both flashed briefly up on the leaderboard and faded almost as quickly. Rose, however, had the most bizarre of days. Two double-bogeys in the first three holes seemed to rule him out of contention, but when he birdied the 15th and 16th, he was suddenly one shot off the lead.

However, Rose’s challenge would finish on the 17th and all that kept Johnson waiting thereafter was Woods’s march up the 18th. He needed an unlikely eagle and as soon as his second shot stayed up, Johnson knew he was the champion.