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By Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents

Zach Johnson sat in the back seat of the large black SUV, a cell phone pressed to his ear, as the car pulled up to the private terminal at Augusta Regional Airport on Monday.

The interviews had already started, and it was barely 9 a.m. As soon as he was finished with "Mike & Mike in the Morning," the Masters champion got out of the SUV and walked over to his wife, Kim, who was holding that hard-earned Green Jacket.

The much-coveted coat was carefully draped over a hanger -- and shielded from the elements by a white trash bag. You know, the kind with the red cinch-strap across the top.

Zach Johnson on Late Night with David Letterman. (CBS)

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"We weren't prepared for him to win the Masters," Kim Johnson said with a slightly embarrassed shrug of her shoulders and a big smile. Her husband simply laughed and called the makeshift garment bag "low profile -- kind of like me."

The black sandals on her feet showed Kim wasn't exactly prepared for the upcoming trip to New York City, where the temperatures were in the mid-40s, either. "I'll have to hit Macy's," she said. Another big smile.

The Johnsons were about to embark on a whirlwind visit to the Big Apple that would see Zach do six interviews within a two-hour and 10-minute span on Cold Pizza, ESPNews, the Dan Patrick Radio Show, CNN International, Jim Rome and CNN Headline News.

Not to worry. "I'm hungry, thirsty, tired, but I've got a lot of energy -- does that make sense?" Johnson said minutes before the plane took off. "I feel like I could take on the entire University of Texas football team."

He read the "Top 10 List" on the David Letterman Show Monday night and appeared on "Regis & Kelly" Tuesday morning before heading for Hilton Head, S.C., where Johnson will play in the Verizon Heritage. The visit with "Regis & Kelly" was a particular favorite.

"I was almost jumping up and down this morning when we found out," said Kim Johnson, who had already tried to get tickets for a taping when she and her sisters take a trip to New York later this year.

"Zach said, 'You don't even care that I won the Masters, do you?'"

Johnson's improbable two-stroke victory on Sunday was embraced by fans everywhere who identified with the unassuming nature of the self-proclaimed "normal" guy. The fact that he held off the game's No. 1 player, Tiger Woods, spawned even more respect.

"It's amazing what faith can do and trusting in God can do and trusting in yourself can do," Johnson said. "And being on Easter makes it that much more special."

Within minutes of Johnson's arrival at the airport, Rory Sabbatini, who held the lead at one point Sunday and would tie for second, climbed out of his own courtesy car. Both he and his wife immediately came over to hug Johnson and offer their congratulations.

Before he could get into the terminal, Johnson had posed for a photo -- Kim obliged the eager fan and took the picture -- and signed two yellow Masters pin flags. Then he walked into the pilot's lounge and settled into the black leather sofa for more questions.

Since Phil Mickelson helped Johnson into the Green Jacket on Sunday, the champion has had more than 100 text messages -- "some from numbers I don't even recognize," he said -- and the voice mail on his cell phone was full.

The governor of Johnson's home state of Iowa called. So did NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, who attended the same Cedar Rapids high school Johnson did.

"We had talked to each other briefly in Phoenix," Johnson said. "He just said 'congratulations,' and that he liked the way that I represented myself and what I said, based on our faith."

Johnson also had two other important conversations on Sunday -- one with his mother, who watched the Masters with family at home in Cedar Rapids, and the other with his father, a chiropractor who was in his son's gallery at Augusta National.

"(My mom) was just beside herself -- jabbering," Johnson recalled. "I could barely get a word out -- or a word in, for that matter. We just said, 'I love you' and that's all we really needed to say.

"One thing (my dad) told me yesterday ... gosh, you're going to get me emotional -- is that he didn't care what I shot. He said, 'I'm proud of you more as a person than anything.' That's what stands out for me."

Johnson proved a standout in his TV appearances, too. Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama was among Letterman's guests, and he actually came up to Johnson's dressing room to meet the Masters champion.

Asked whether he thought Obama was looking for votes in the Iowa Caucus, Johnson laughed. "My vote counts in Florida," the Lake Mary resident said.

Johnson read the "Top 10 list" with a smile and without stumbling, despite the fact that he doesn't like to be the center of attention. "I was more nervous about 'Regis & Kelly' since they were asking me questions," he said. "Reading a cue card is not that hard."

Kim Johnson got to meet Kelly Ripa, but Pat Sajak was subbing for Regis Philbin, who had heart surgery recently. Both had a photo taken with actress Halle Berry, who had also been on the Letterman show, and met "Good Morning America" anchor Robin Roberts.

Monday night offered a chance for the young couple to relax and refuel after the hectic 48 hours. The only negative? "I was on cloud nine," Kim said, "and then it hit me" -- that was her first night away from her 13-week-old son, Will.

Kim's mother was taking care of her grandson and the couple's 2-year-old Yorkshire terrier, Hogan. Ironically, the only other major champion from Iowa is Jack Fleck, who beat Ben Hogan in the 1955 U.S. Open.

"But I'll get to sleep the whole night," Kim said, thinking on the bright side.

Johnson plans to play at Harbour Town this week and take the next two tournaments off. He'll then embark on a stretch where he plays five in a row, which is not something he normally does.

"But the schedule's different and with the other incentives, obviously, the FedExCup and whatnot, it just feels like something I should probably do," Johnson said.

Johnson has one more national teleconference to do on Wednesday, and then he can settle back into playing golf again. As much as he thrives on competition, though, he's not sure exactly how he'll react when he tees it up on Thursday in the first round of the Verizon Heritage.

"I feel like it's a good course for me," Johnson said. "Emotionally, am I going to be into it? I don't have any idea. I'm going to try to put emotions aside and just go back to work.

"I love the area. I have a lot of friends who are playing there. My wife's birthday is on Thursday. We'll have fun. We'll go about things as normally as we can. We're pretty normal people."

Who just happen to have a Green Jacket on a hanger in a white trash bag, that is.