We're asking whether the Cedar Rapids native's run to the Masters title was the story of the year to sports fans here in the Cedar Valley? Sports writers Kelly Beaton and Sean Hylton clash on the subject:

Up through the end of November, my response might have been a different one.

The incredible season that Northern Iowa's football season enjoyed seemed destined to take the cake. A No. 1 ranking, an unprecedented undefeated run through the Gateway Conference and top seed in the Division I-AA, er, FCS playoffs had the Panthers enjoying a dream season.

But, even with Mark Farley earning the Eddie Robinson Award as the top FCS coach in the nation, the quarterfinal defeat to visiting Delaware preserved Zach Johnson's spot atop my list of the biggest sports stories in the Cedar Valley.

Now, I realize Cedar Rapids isn't considered part of our Cedar Valley (even though they share the Cedar River with us). But I would argue that Johnson's victory resonated so deeply with all Iowans that it was the biggest story in the state, whether you lived in Cedar Falls, Sioux City or Shenandoah.

And, despite the layers of snow and ice chasing us into our homes these days, the reason Johnson's Masters championship remains warm and fuzzy in our minds is that he accomplished what was unthinkable at the time: He overcame the great Tiger Woods. Eldrick, who had won all 12 of his previous majors by protecting fourth-round leads, finally met his match last April.

As a columnist recounted recently on ESPN.com, "Johnson didn't exactly come out of nowhere to win the Masters, but Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is only a few miles closer."

Johnson showed the final-round focus usually displayed by Woods, collecting three birdies over four crucial holes on the back nine to become the Masters' most unlikely champ in 20 years.

After all, the mini-tour veteran had missed the cut in three of the four majors in 2006, and the only reason he found himself in the 2007 Masters was his lone victory on the PGA Tour, a non-descript 2004 win in the BellSouth Classic. As Iowa golf aficionados knew, Johnson wasn't even the best player on his Drake University squad.

So, his victory left national columnists waxing poetic about the mystique of Iowa and its cornfields, and how the two seem to be a magical mix that produced greatness once before with Kurt Warner's rise to fame.

Johnson went on to win the AT&T Classic, took second in the Tour Championship (shooting a near-magical round of 60), won $4 million for the year and finished seventh in the Fed-Ex Cup standings.

With apologies to a remarkable run by the Panthers' football team, Johnson's feat featured a better closing performance on a bigger stage, while making us realize it's really a small world after all.