Johnson is congratulated by Phil Mickelson.

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So much for the theory that the Masters is all about big-hitting these days. Zach Johnson proved that it is not.

Augusta National at its most difficult threw up a surprise champion - the lowest placed player to win since the world rankings started in 1986 and the most unexpected since Tommy Aaron in 1973 - who not only failed to make a green at a par five in two shots all week, but did not even attempt to.

Johnson's average driving distance in the tournament was 265 yards. It put him 57th of the 60 players who survived the halfway cut.

The three worse than him? Well, they were 55-year-old Ben Crenshaw, 53-year-old Craig Stadler and 43-year-old Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Yet the 31-year-old won by two - and amazingly he won making 11 birdies and five pars on the long holes and playing the other 14 in 12 over par.

"I don't hit it far, I can't overpower a course, but I think I am mentally tough. And I had a game plan that I stuck to," said the American after being helped into a green jacket by last year's winner Phil Mickelson.

Johnson, who made his Ryder Cup debut in Ireland last September and conceded the putt to Darren Clarke which sparked such emotional scenes, is up from 56th in the world to 15th as a result of his first major win, achieved with a one over total that matched the highest in the event's history.

It was only the second US Tour victory of his career. He had never finished higher than 17th in any other major and his best finish all year had been ninth.

But it was not as if all the big names had disappeared by the time it came to the closing stretch. Tiger Woods shared second place with South Africans Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini.

A Woods eagle on the 13th was heard by Johnson as he was about to pitch over the water on the 15th. He parred it, then birdied the 16th from 10 feet and after bogeying the next kept his nerve to chip dead from beside the final green.

With Woods unable to birdie any of the last five - he found the lake on the 15th and a bunker at the 17th - England's Justin Rose was the one who had the best chance to force a play-off.

A tee shot to within three feet of the flag on the 16th gave him his fifth birdie in nine holes, but needing one more in the last two to tie, the 26-year-old paid the price for a wild drive down the next with a double bogey six and slumped to fifth.

Two double bogeys in the first three holes had contributed to his downfall as well, of course.

Johnson's triumph repaid the faith shown in him by a group of businessmen from his home state Iowa who gave him financial support in the early struggles of his professional career.

From leaving the amateur ranks in 1998 it was not until the end of 2003 that he made it on to the main circuit.

"I didn't have any money and was on the Hooters Tour. I never imagined being in this position in the slightest," he said.

"I thought those were the best days of my life right there. Chicken wings and everything.

"But with that financial backing I got better and better every year. Looking back on it, it's amazing where I came from.

"I'm Zach Johnson and I'm from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. That's about it - I'm a normal guy.

"I didn't look at the leaderboards. I guess ignorance is bliss sometimes. After 15 my caddie said we had a couple of shots lead and I was able to maintain my focus and maintain an even keel.

"I stuck to my guns. I played my own game."

Johnson - a 200-1 shot before play started on Thursday - also felt "there was certainly another power that was walking with me and guiding me" on Easter Sunday.

"I felt like regardless of what happened today my responsibility was to glorify God and hopefully He thinks I did."

As a result there is a place for him in the Masters as long as he wants it and financially he and his wife Kim and their 14-week-old son Will are set up for the rest of their lives.

The Ryder Cup also provided Johnson with some inspiration.

Seeing Clarke cope so magnificently with the death of his wife Heather only six weeks earlier puts things into perspective for Johnson when he lost to the Ulsterman in the singles.

"As Tiger said, it's one thing for him to play, but to play how well and how hard he played this week is extremely inspirational," he said after the match.

"It was a lot of emotion, obviously more for him, and I could have had my A-plus game and I'm not so sure I could have beat him. The gods were on his side."

Seven months on they were with Johnson. He could not quite believe it and nor could those looking back down the fairway to see where his drives finished.

Final collated scores (US unless stated, par 72):

289 Zach Johnson 71 73 76 69 (£664,054)

291 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 73 76 73 69, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 76 76 70 69, Tiger Woods 73 74 72 72 (£275,459 each)

292 Jerry Kelly 75 69 78 70, Justin Rose (Gbr) 69 75 75 73 (£190,188 each)

293 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 77 68 75 73, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 75 70 73 75 (£118,975 each)

294 David Toms 70 78 74 72 (£106,986)

295 Paul Casey (Gbr) 79 68 77 71, Luke Donald (Gbr) 73 74 75 73, Vaughn Taylor 71 72 77 75

296 Ian Poulter (Gbr) 75 75 76 70, Vijay Singh (Fij) 73 71 79 73, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 71 80 74, Jim Furyk 75 71 76 74

297 Stewart Cink 77 75 75 70, Tom Pernice 75 72 79 71, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 76 77 72

298 Mike Weir (Can) 75 72 80 71, John Rollins 77 74 76 71, Mark Calcavecchia 76 71 78 73, Lucas Glover 74 71 79 74

299 Stephen Ames (Can) 76 74 77 72, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 75 70 81 73, Phil Mickelson 76 73 73 77

300 Adam Scott (Aus) 74 78 76 72, Davis Love 72 77 77 74, KJ Choi (Kor) 75 75 74 76

301 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 77 73 79 72, Fred Couples 76 76 78 71, Yang Yong-eun (Kor) 75 74 78 74, Charles Howell 75 77 75 74, Scott Verplank 73 77 76 75, Dean Wilson 75 72 76 68, Lee Westwood (Gbr) 79 73 72 77

302 Angel Cabrera (Arg) 77 75 79 71, Tim Herron 72 75 83 72, JJ Henry 71 78 77 76, Brett Wetterich 69 73 83 77, Rod Pampling (Aus) 77 75 74 76, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 72 75 76 79

303 Sandy Lyle (Gbr) 79 73 80 71

304 Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 79 72 80 73, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 79 73 76 76, David Howell (Gbr) 70 75 82 77, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 74 75 78 77, Bradley Dredge (Gbr) 75 70 76 83

305 Jeff Sluman 76 75 79 75, Craig Stadler 74 73 79 79

306 Brett Quigley 76 76 79 75

307 Carl Pettersson (Swe) 76 76 79 76, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 79 72 76 80

308 Rich Beem 71 81 75 81

309 Ben Crenshaw 76 74 84 75, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 74 77 81 77, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 77 75 77 80

310 Arron Oberholser 74 76 84 76

311 Billy Mayfair 76 75 83 77

313 Fuzzy Zoeller 74 78 79 82