The Hyundai Tournament of Champions demanded a simple recipe from its champion: stay clean of bogies and go on a birdie run or two. Zach Johnson followed the recipe for most of the four days and moved into the top 10 on the FedEx Cup standings with his one-shot victory at Kapalua.

Johnson made three bogies in his opening 67, then settled down with 15 birdies against just two more bogies during his final 54 holes.

Johnson had to feel a bit frustrated after his third-round 74, in which he made a single birdie.

“I feel like I left quite a bit out there,” he said. “At the same time, I didn’t feel like I played that bad either. Hit some good shots I didn’t get anything out of, didn’t make any putts today and a couple errant drives that cost me on the back nine. Just didn’t get much out of it.”

Whatever work he did on the practice range post-round Sunday and pre-round Monday did the trick, as the Iowa native made four birdies in a five-hole, back-nine stretch to pull away from his pursuers.

Although golfers like Billy Horschel (66 on Monday) and Kevin Streelman (seven birdies in round 4) made early charges up the leader board, it was Jordan Spieth who provided the final threat to Johnson. Not until Spieth’s pitch to the 72nd green failed to fall for eagle could Johnson breathe easy and accept victory congratulations. For Spieth, it was yet another brush with victory for the one-time tour winner. Spieth had averaged five birdies per round for the first three days and had to feel discouraged after making only two birdies through the first 16 holes on Monday. The young Texan found another gear along the finishing stretch, finishing birdie-birdie to overtake Streelman for second place.

Johnson flew under the radar throughout the weekend. Despite holding a three-stroke lead at the tournament’s midway point, Johnson had to cede attention to defending champion Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar and wunderkind Spieth. When he retreated a bit during Sunday’s third round, Johnson fell even farther from the spotlight. Would it be Spieth, or Webb Simpson, or perhaps 2013 PGA champion Jason Dufner? Simpson bogeyed two of his first four holes and could make but five birdies the rest of the way, finishing tied for third. Dufner was in the mix until No. 17, when he made double bogey after a visit to the native grasses. Dustin Johnson never found a Monday groove, bogeying his first two holes of the final round and five birdies against three more bogies the rest of the way.

The Tour moves over this week to the island of Oahu for the Sony Open at the Waialae Country Club. The defending champion, Russell Henley, finished 27th this week at Kapalua.