Sports

Remember Zach?

Scott Chancey

AUGUSTA – Zach Johnson stood along one of the par-3 greens at Augusta National Golf Club on Wednesday with his most prized possession from last year.

If you think it was the green jacket he earned by shocking the golf world and winning last year’s Masters, try again. He positioned his 15-month-old son, Will, near a hole and it seemed a perfect putt.

Ready. Aim. Go.

Not quite. It missed its mark, but Johnson lined his son up again, steadying his aim and it could not have been more perfect.

This past year could not have been more perfect for what once was just a guy growing up in Iowa with a golf bag and a dream. He won a grand slam event, his alma mater Drake reached the men’s basketball tournament and he remains as down-to-earth as he was way back when.

Hard to believe, considering what he did last April at Augusta National Golf Club. Having only won one previous PGA Tour event at the time, Johnson did the unthinkable – holding off four-time champion Tiger Woods while laying up on all the par 5s, no less.

Johnson went from playing small-city tours (Albany native and Nationwide Tour player Josh Broadaway beat him on the Hooters Tour for his first-ever professional win) to working his way up and taking advantage of the opportunity in brutally dry and windy conditions all week at Augusta.

“Well, in a lot of respects, it seems like it was yesterday,” Johnson said. “More respects it seems like it was probably about 10 years ago.”

When Johnson and his family drove to Augusta National during this past weekend, fatherhood seemed to be as draining as the game of golf itself.

“My first day back was Sunday night, and we drove on up, me and the family,” Johnson said. “Had a baby that was not being very cooperative, and I and my wife (Kim) both had headaches as a result, pulled into Magnolia Lane, felt pretty good.”

For someone from Iowa, Johnson has had quite a bit of success in Georgia.

His other two PGA Tour wins were in Duluth (2004 BellSouth Classic, 2007 AT&T Classic).

Johnson, however, has seemed more an afterthought at this year’s Masters than the defending champion. The hype surrounding Woods has made sure of that.

Not that someone like Johnson minds. He DOES have a stronger golf pedigree than many give him credit for, having been on both the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup Teams. He doesn’t let those who say last year’s Masters win was simply a fluke bother him.

“I don’t get caught up in the negative stuff,” Johnson said. “I can’t. If anything, the negative things said, I kind of twist them around and turn them into a positive, and in this regard, I think, you know, like I said, I went out and won again, and then I had a couple other decent finishes, played pretty well in the Presidents Cup and somewhat nearly won The Tour Championship.”

Whatever the conditions will be this week, whatever the talk that this year’s Masters is Woods’ to lose, Johnson can embrace one thing.

In this instance, I AM talking about that green jacket.

“It is what it is,” Johnson said. “I don’t care. I won a major in Tiger’s era, who cares. … They can say what they want.”

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