Players rounding out the top 5 were Sergio Garcia, now 0 for 71 in the majors, and Brandon Grace.
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Johnson suffered multiple near misses at major tournaments in recent years, most notably at last year’s US Open when he three-putted the final green to hand the win to Jordan Spieth.
Johnson, however, shrugged off the confusion and was just delighted to have finally landed a Major.
After finding out about the potential penalty on the 12th hole – and having to play the rest of his round with that in the back of his head – Johnson said he tried to focus on what was ahead of him. It’s going to be a tough few days.
On the final hole, Johnson was penalized two strokes for grounding his club in one of the many tiny and shallow bunkers on the course, dropping him into a tie for fifth instead of getting into a playoff with Bubba Watson and eventual champion Martin Kaymer.
“It feels great. Obviously I’ve been here a bunch of times and haven’t gotten it done”, Johnson said afterward. So I’m taking it as a positive and move on to the following weeks and just continue to prepare. It means the world.
To see Johnson’s wife Paulina there at the end, with son Tatum in tow, this year with tears of joy on Father’s Day was heartwarming.
This time around it came via an impressive fight back from a six-over opening round.
Lowry, who had just one three-putt green in his first 63 holes, had four three-putts on the back nine that kept him from staying with the steady Johnson.
Johnson played well enough so the delay didn’t matter, but golfers present and past appeared unified in their opinion that the situation was handled poorly.
When Johnson reached the 12th tee, Jeff Hall, USGA managing director of rules and competition, visited the 31-year-old to inform him that he could be assessed a penalty and that the matter would be discussed after the round.
An eight-foot gain at the ninth saw Johnson post a front-nine 33 and reach the turn in the share of the lead, only to take the outright advantage when Lowry bogeyed the same hole.
The controversy brewed throughout the round but Johnson’s fine play made the decision irrelevant, as he took a three-shot lead to the final hole.
“It’s not easy to get yourself in a position I got myself in today”, Lowry said.
“It wasn’t too disappointing, really”, Day said.
“But you can only learn from your mistakes, I always say it’s only a mistake if you don’t learn from it”.
“The ball moved. When we evaluated the video and discussed it with Dustin, we were comfortable that his actions near the ball were what caused the golf ball to move, and as a result he was penalised one stroke”.
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Australia’s world No.1 Jason Day looked like he might make a late charge to an improbable victory before the penultimate hole scuppered his chances.
