2012 Crowne Plaza Invitational: Jason Dufner, Zach Johnson Ready to Duel

The final round of the 2012 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial tees off today, and leaders Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson are preparing for what will likely be quite the duel later this afternoon. If Dufner can hold on and capture the win today, it will be his second consecutive win and third this year in less than a month.

Dufner put himself into leading position with a 4-under 66 yesterday, en route to holding a one-shot lead over Johnson as both players finished at 15-under and 14-under, respectively. Johnson made up a stroke on his deficit to Dufner heading into Saturday’s third round, when Dufner was sitting atop the leaderboard at 10-under and clear of Johnson by two shots.

Dufer also won last week’s Byron Nelson Championship for his second career victory on the PGA Tour -- a championship that also took place in the Dallas-Forth Worth area. If Dufner is able to hold on for the victory this afternoon, he will be the first player since Ben Hogan in 1946 to capture back-to-back titles in the Texas area.

Johnson, on the other hand, has been in this situation before at the Crowne Plaza Invitational. In 2010 he was able to capture the plaid jacket in impressive fashion, and he looks to have a repeat performance this afternoon, facing Dufner in today’s final pairing. Winning today would be the eighth career victory for Johnson on Tour, and he also has a Masters championship on his resume.

No other golfers in the field are close to either Dufner or Johnson, as no players are better than 7-under for the tournament. The stage is therefore set for either player to capture a historic victory at the tournament honoring the legendary Ben Hogan.