Mental toughness secures Johnson's place in the big time  PGATOUR.com Interactive Producer DULUTH, Ga. -- As the calendar turned to April, Zach Johnson was just another up-and-comer on the PGA TOUR, a promising young player with one victory to his name. Less than two months later, the former Drake Bulldog has confirmed his place among the Big Dogs. Johnson became the top dog at the AT&T Classic Sunday, edging former Georgia Bulldog Ryuji Imada on the first hole of sudden death. The victory is his second at TPC Sugarloaf in four years but, more importantly, comes on the heels of his big breakthrough at the Masters just up the road in Augusta.  Zach Johnson now has three wins in the state of Georgia. (WireImage)
For a fresh-faced Iowa boy, he seems to have a thing for Georgia. "I guess I need to find some property here," he joked. Hey, maybe not. That commute from Cedar Rapids seems to be working out pretty well. Another thing that's going well is Johnson's rise into the ranks of PGA TOUR royalty. With his win Sunday, he climbs into fourth place on the FedExCup points list behind Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh; becomes the fourth multiple winner on the 2007 PGA TOUR, joining those same three superstars; and is looking ever more like a lock for the U.S. Presidents Cup team this fall. Johnson credits his streak of success this spring to the time off he took over the winter, when he stayed away from the TOUR longer than ever before and focused on improving every aspect of his game. "I spent seven weeks at home in the off-season," he said. "I've never spent that much time at home before. I put a lot of work in, and it is really paying off now." In that down time, Johnson put extra effort into sharpening his skills and, especially, in improving the mental side of his game through his work with mental coach Morris Pickens. In the past, "I really put too much focus into each shot, or too much merit into every shot," he said. "I was too focused on, 'Okay, if I birdie this hole, I can do this' or 'If I make this putt, I can move up here.' "Now, my focus is more on the process and the routine of each shot rather than the outcome," he explained. "As a result, I see my outcomes tighten up and be a lot better. In other words, I don't care where [an individual shot] goes. I'm going to give it 110 percent -- every putt, especially -- but if I make it or miss it, I'll do the same thing again on the next one. "I've got a circle, if you will, with every shot. It starts with making my decision, then it goes into my routine, and then it goes into the execution of my shot," he said. "I accept where it goes. I relax and go on to the next shot. I just do that every shot." Executing those shots just seems to come more naturally to him in Georgia, though, seeing as all three of his PGA TOUR wins have come in the Peach State. Johnson sees that as something of a fluke, and believes it is partly the result of Augusta National and TPC Sugarloaf playing somewhat like the courses on which he was raised in Iowa. "The greens are similar to what I grew up on," he said, adding that this year both Augusta National and TPC Sugarloaf "played hard and fast. I don't overpower golf courses, and [when they're fast], I don't have to. It's more precision in the fairways, then controlling the distances with your irons. For the most part, I did that well." Johnson also believes spring is his best time of the year. "It's when I see my hard work in the off-season peak," he explained. "I've always been an April to May, early June player. I did it on the Nationwide Tour. I've done it out here." He certainly did it this week. He entered the final round at a 10-under 206, three shots behind co-leaders Imada and Troy Matteson, and played most of his final round paying no attention to what the leaders were doing -- focusing on his process, not his outcome. Midway through the back nine, however, Johnson had processed his way to 13 under, thanks largely to three straight birdies around the turn. He took his first good look at the leaderboard on No. 15, he said, and wasn't surprised to see he was right in the mix, along with Imada, Matteson, Camilo Villegas and Matt Kuchar. "At that point, I was hitting good shots, felt like I was reading putts well and hitting them on my line," he said. That's what I usually do." Playing in front of Imada, who held a two-shot lead at one point midway through the back nine, Johnson was in a position to apply pressure. He did just that, first with a birdie on the par-4 15th and then another on the par-5 18th that wrapped up a tidy 5-under 67 and put him in the clubhouse at 15-under 273. Imada, trying to become the first Japanese-born player to win on the PGA TOUR since Shigeki Maruyama in 2003, bogeyed No. 14 about the time Johnson was birdieing No. 15 to fall to 14 under. He missed a makeable birdie try on No. 17, but birdied the final hole for a 2-under 70 and to force the playoff. The two returned to the long, downhill No. 18 for the first hole of sudden death. Johnson hit his drive into the fairway, while Imada hit his to the edge of the left rough. Playing aggressively, Imada went for the green with his second shot but found the pond in front of the green. Then, somewhat surprisingly to everyone expecting him to play it safe, Johnson also chose to go for the green -- he had, remember, won the Masters by famously laying up on the par 5s at Augusta National. But here he pulled out a 4-iron, dropped it nicely on the green and two-putted for a birdie and the victory. "[He and caddie Damon Green] thought about laying up, but I had a perfect lie, perfect yardage. It was really a pretty routine shot," Johnson said. "I felt like, you know, Ryuji plays well. Who's to say he can't [hole out with his wedge after taking his drop]? Who is to say I can't make par laying up?" And, he admitted, he got a kick out of being able to go for most of the par 5s this week after feeling like he had to play so conservatively at the Masters. "I went for a lot of the par 5s in two this week," he said with a smile. "[Sugarloaf and Augusta National] are just two totally different golf courses in that respect for me. I'm able to get the ball in certain areas here that I'm not at Augusta. As a result, I could be aggressive on my second shots." True enough, eight of his 19 birdies on the week came on the par 5s, and he birdied the 18th four of the five times he played it, including the playoff. But he was even more pleased with his ability to be patient and persevere through the tough stretches, such as on Saturday, when he felt like he gave away a potentially excellent round with some poor putting. But then again, thinking like that is what the old Zach would've done. The new, improved Zach shrugged off the frustration he felt Saturday afternoon, worked on his putting before his final round, kept his head down and plowed his way through the final round. "I'm not a firm believer in expectations," he said, knowing that very few people expected him to win the Masters and, even with a Green Jacket in his wardrobe, not that many expected him to win again so soon until he forced his way to the front on the back nine. "You get caught up in expecting to do this or expecting to do that, things go astray." Things have hardly gone astray for Johnson this season. He's made 11 cuts in his 12 starts this year, and has two wins and a total of four top-10s in his pocket before the calendar turns to June. He already has June -- and the U.S. Open -- on his mind, though. Thanks to the results his bulldog mentality is producing, he's as hot as any player in the world not named after a big cat. And he'll tee off at Oakmont next month as a certified member of the Big Dogs.
. |
PGATOUR.com is part of Turner - SI Digital, part of the Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network 