Sure, Zach Johnson is a major champion golfer, but you could argue his victory Sunday in the John Deere Classic was his most impressive so far.

And he is at least on equal footing with fellow Cedar Rapids Regis graduate Kurt Warner as the Metro area’s most decorated athlete ever.

Johnson won his ninth PGA event Sunday in dramatic fashion, carving a second shot 6-iron out of a fairway bunker to mere inches on the difficult par-4 18th hole. Johnson made his birdie on the second playoff hole, sending Troy Matteson to a difficult second-place finish.

Johnson won a major championship in 2007, The Masters, by shooting a 3-under-par 69 in the final round and winning the tournament by two strokes over Tiger Woods and Rory Sabbatini. The pressure of winning a major, especially your first, is immense. Perhaps there is no comparison to performing on a major championship stage like that.

But if there is such a comparison with a regular tour event, perhaps it came Sunday.

Johnson started the final round four strokes behind Matteson. Also in the way was Steve Stricker, who had won the JDC three straight years and faced his own level of pressure in trying to join a select group in winning a PGA event four straight years.

Stricker and Matteson had their own demons, but there was a huge weight on Johnson as well.

Zach didn’t have his regular Tour caddy, Damon Green, on the bag for the first time in more than 170 events. Green was playing in the U.S. Senior Open tournament in Michigan, where he tied for 17th and finished in the top 20 for the second straight year. Johnson’s caddy at the JDC was Mike Bender, a former Tour player himself who serves as Johnson’s swing coach.

Johnson wanted to win the JDC badly because he was the so-called local favorite, a Cedar Rapids native hailing only a little more than an hour from the course in Silvis, Ill. Johnson has been on the board of directors of the JDC for many years.

Johnson was on the 18th green when Matteson canned a 60-foot eagle putt on the 17th green to tie the lead. Zach’s birdie putt from the fringe on the 18th grazed the cup. Johnson tapped in for a 65, his 16th straight round in the 60s at the JDC.

Matteson and Johnson went to the 18th hole again for the first playoff hole, and both struggled. Each hit their second shot into the water guarding the green to left. Both made double bogey.

With the victory, Johnson rose to No. 2 in FedEx Cup point standings behind Tiger Woods and No. 3 in money earnings this season. He all but solidified his place on the U.S. Ryder Cup team by moving into fifth in the standings. And he certainly will improve upon his No. 17 spot in the World Golf Rankings when they are updated this week.

The comparison to Warner as the Metro’s most decorated athlete? You can make a real good case for either.

Warner went from obscurity to a Hall of Famer. He was a Super Bowl most valuable player, a two-time NFL most valuable player and the holder of numerous regular season and postseason records.

As great as Warner was, Zach Johnson is building a case to rival him. Football and golf are two different sports. The career of a golfer is much longer than a football player. The comparisons are difficult to differentiate. One is a team game, the other a purely individual endeavor.

At the very least, Zach Johnson’s body of work is becoming something pretty special.

Two guys like that coming out of the Metro area? Tell me you saw that coming.

(Mark Dukes is former sports editor of the Cedar Rapid Gazette. He is co-host of The Gym Class radio show weekdays from 3-4 p.m. on KGYM-AM 1600 and FM-106.3.)