AUGUSTA, Ga. — Whenever a major golf championship has an unexpected winner, it’s only natural to wonder: Is the guy really that good, or did he just have a week where all the planets were aligned? We’re still, for instance, waiting for Paul Lawrie to follow up on his 1999 British Open title. He hasn’t had a top 10 in a Slam since. The same question has been raised about Angel Cabrera, last year’s U.S. Open champ, not to mention Rich Beem and any number of others.
It’s certainly the category Zach Johnson finds himself in as he defends last year’s Masters crown. Is Johnson truly capable of joining the game’s elite, or was 2007 — with its two victories and nearly $4 million in earnings — merely a career year? He hasn’t, after all, been tearing up the PGA Tour of late; he’s yet to be in serious contention this season despite making eight cuts in eight tries, and his tie for ninth at Doral is by far his best finish.
So you can understand why, as he practiced at Augusta National earlier this week, he was so anxious to get going. “I just couldn’t wait for Thursday,” he said yesterday. “I was probably ready last week. I don’t usually get first-tee jitters, but I had them on [the first hole], and I had them on [the second hole]. It’s good to know I still have feelings.”
It’s comforting, too, to know that the understated Iowan still has game. In the first round of the rest of his Masters life, he shot a 2-under 70, which put him just two strokes behind the leaders. To make it even sweeter, his gallery included the governor of his home state, Chet Culver. Yes, Mr. Johnson is very popular in Corn Country these days, more popular even than his alma mater’s basketball team, the Drake Bulldogs.
“To see [Culver’s] face, I was a little bit surprised,” Johnson said. “Taking time out from his schedule to come here, that’s a little shocking. The beauty of the governor is that he’s not only a fan, he’s an admirer of sports. But the support he’s given me and all the other athletes from the state is, you know, what [Iowa] is all about.”
Ordinarily, a governor’s unannounced appearance would be the highlight of any player’s week. But Johnson had an equally memorable Tuesday, when he hosted the annual Champions Dinner. This meant he got to compare green jackets with the heroes of his youth — and to choose the menu to boot.
He settled on “Midwest corn-fed beef [and] ahi tuna” as the entrees, with some kind of corn concoction as a side dish — “casserole, pudding, souffle, whatever you want to call it … it was awesome. So there was an assortment, some Florida flair with some Midwest home cooking.”
Speaking of home cooking, Augusta is beginning to look mighty homey to Johnson. The course has gone through many incarnations, and this latest lengthening and toughening has dramatically changed its personality. Judging from the scores the past two years, it’s no longer a layout that can be overpowered by the big hitters. In fact, it seems to reward caution as much — if not more than — daring.
Johnson won last year by laying up on the par 5s, once considered sacrilege, and putting his corn-fed brains out on the greens. No dummy, he’s following the same strategy this week — and yesterday it again worked like a dream. He ran in a 15-foot birdie on the first hole to get himself started, sank an improbable 40-footer on No. 5 — a putt that “broke about three or four different ways,” he said — and was off on another excellent Masters adventure.
Clearly, the work he did with putting coach Pat O’Brien after a less than successful West Coast swing has gotten him sorted out. He’s not missing many short ones anymore, and he’s beginning to hole some long ones. And the timing couldn’t be better, because his “game plan,” as he puts it, at Augusta “is to make putts.”
Let the record show that for the fourth time in the last five rounds here, Johnson outshot Tiger Woods (who opened with a 72 yesterday and — please note — hasn’t broken 70 since the third round in ’05). Let the record also show that the 32-year-old defending champ doesn’t necessarily buy into my idea that he still has something to prove, that some folks are still reserving judgment on him.
“I don’t know who is [questioning my ability],” he said. “I think that anybody who tees it up this week, for the most part, they are playing here for a reason. Either they have won here or they can win here. There’s not a surprise guy on the leader board or a surprise guy in the field as far as I’m concerned.”
Rest assured if Johnson keeps playing Augusta the way he’s been playing it, he’ll settle any arguments about his place in the game. Gov. Culver might even want him for a running mate.
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