In May 2007, Ryuji Imada finished second to the then newly crowned Masters champion Zach Johnson at the AT&T Classic, played on the TPC Sugarloaf course in Duluth, Georgia, when he hit his second shot into water fronting the green on the first playoff hole. The US$583,200 he claimed for that finish was over one-third of his earnings of US$1,414,864 in 2007 in 32 events.

Despite having won over US$3 million on his PGA Tour career, Imada entered the 2008 season with no victories in 88 starts.

In January, at the Buick Invitational, he played well but could only come within eight shots of Tiger Woods to finish second to the world No.1. For Imada, it was another peak in his fine career that was getting better each year.

He repeated the second place finish at the Pods Championship in March, this time to Sean O'Hair. Then, in his return to Sugarloaf, it looked as if he might repeat history and fail yet again to notch his first PGA win, as he was tied with tour veteran Kenny Perry, at that time, was one of the tour's hottest players.