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By Dave Lagarde
PGATOUR.com Correspondent

If Richard Johnson was a whistler on the golf course his most apropos song selection during final rounds -- at least for the 2007 Nationwide Tour season -- would have been "Never on a Sunday.''

That's because Johnson and Sundays had a little history this year. And it wasn't the kind of history a golfer would have a tendency to brag about.

Richard Johnson had been in contention several times in 2007 before Sunday's win. (WireImage)

Prior to last week's last round of the Mark Christopher Charity Classic presented by The County of San Bernadino Johnson found himself in the final pairing of the final round on four occasions. For those of you scoring at home, they were the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic, the Utah EnergySolutions Championship, the BMW Charity Pro-Am at The Cliffs and the Oregon Classic.

Johnson, 35, got fitted for the collar. He went zero-for-four, finishing second twice, third and sixth. But good Welshman that he is, he took it in stride -- with good reason. He saw the solid play as progress rather than wilting under pressure at crunch time.

That's why it was easy for him to make the following claim. "I'm still able to laugh about it,'' he said. "I completely blew one of them (with a double bogey on the 71st hole in Pennsylvania) ... but these guys are so good that sometimes you can play good and still lose.''

And make no mistake, Johnson, who had suffered through a very patchy period in his career, was proud of the way he determinedly climbed back up a very slippery slope after his game had basically fallen off the face of the Earth.

"Yeah, it was bad,'' he said.

And so what did Johnson have to say late Sunday evening after playing in the final pairing at the Mark Christopher for the fifth time in 2007?

"This feels really good,'' he said.

Guess why?

Johnson won. In a playoff. With a beatific birdie.

It didn't completely wash away final round failures and the interminably long wait for victory No. 3, but Johnson, who owned two previous Nationwide Tour victories, was able to say, "I finally came through,'' with lots of conviction after dispatching Jeremy Anderson and Matthew Jones.

"I'm so happy for a lot of people who have been through all sorts of crap with me,'' he said.

The first person Johnson thought of was his bride of eight days. They were married during the Nationwide Tour's last bye week of the season and she had been there offering love and support during the lean years brought on by a broken wrist. That's when Johnson said his game "went to hell in a hand basket.''

So having his new bride and her immediate family in Rancho Cucamonga last week watching as Johnson got off the schneid in '07 made the triumph that much more special.

The timely victory was worth $94,500 of honeymoon capital, a haul that pushed Johnson to No. 4 among "THE 25'' and guaranteed his graduation to the PGA TOUR for his rookie season in 2008. It made all the hard work Johnson put in on reconstructing his game with Hank Haney disciple Mark Moore extremely satisfying.

Johnson sought out Moore's counsel following the 2007 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament. He wanted to change his ball flight (a fade) and his spin rate, which sent balls, even wedge approaches, caroming off greens. Now Johnson owns a high draw with a minimal spin rate.

"I've come full circle,'' he said. "I've done a 180. I can now stop wedges on greens and not worry about spinning them off the world.''

That's why Johnson looked at his final-round failures as mere hiccups along the way to a better game. He was getting more and more comfortable with his new swing and making money as he went. In fact, Johnson likely had locked up his PGA TOUR card with his second-place finish in Utah and a tie for sixth in Oregon.

That knowledge, Johnson said, made playing last week "a little easier.'' Nevertheless, when Johnson opened last week's final round with a double bogey, scoreboard watchers figured it was time for another crash and burn. Enter caddie Mike Harwood, who soothed the sting of the double by calmly telling Johnson a lot of golf remained.

Harwood also engaged his employer in conversation about anything but golf. And that meant the two talked soccer and rugby as they traversed the fairways leading to victory. The run to the top started with birdies on the fifth and eighth holes. Johnson then made just about every putt he looked at over the course of the back nine and playoff.

Johnson doesn't plan to rest on his laurels either. He'll play in two of the last three full field events and the Nationwide Tour Championship, looking to climb a little higher on the money ladder that could ease the pain of scheduling during his rookie season.

"Everyone has a lifetime dream of playing on the PGA TOUR and I can't wait to fulfill mine next year,'' he said.