Masters champ back on TOUR after brief break  PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Zach Johnson doesn't need to be wearing that signature Green Jacket of his to attract attention. The recent addition to his closet certainly has increased his profile, though. "I did (get recognized) before, but they always called me Joaquin," the reigning Masters champion, who bears a striking resemblance to the actor named Phoenix, said, laughing.  Zach Johnson has been a busy man since winning the Masters. (Greenwood/WireImage)
"It's probably a little bit more, a little bit more frequent. But it's very congratulatory and very nice, so I appreciate all that. It's a little different. I'm getting used to it. (It's) a good thing to get used to." Johnson is also getting accustomed to the extra tugs on his time that come with major championship victories. That degree in business management and marketing from Drake may come in particularly handy now. A whirlwind trip to New York the day after he held off Tiger Woods to win the Masters included appearances on the "David Letterman Show" and "Live with Regis & Kelly." And just last week he taped a segment that will air soon on "Oprah" which he called "one of the hits" that told him life would never be quite the same. "There were a couple surprises on (Oprah)," the delightfully unassuming Johnson said with a cautious smile. "It was brief, which is probably a good thing, considering I'm pretty boring for an hour show I would think." Then there was Tuesday's pre-tournament visit to the media center at the Wachovia Championship. Considering he has missed the cut each of the three times he's played Quail Hollow, Johnson wouldn't have been tops on the list prior to last month. The 31-year-old from Iowa, the father of a four-month-old son, enters the $6.3-million Wachovia Championship on the heels of a two-week break. Of course, the 2003 Nationwide Tour Player of the Year is quick to point out that he's not exactly well-rested. "I've taken the last two weeks off from golf, but I really haven't taken much time off," he explained. "Sleep has been fairly nonexistent, especially with a 16-week-old baby. But any chaos or issues or commitments we've had have been obviously very good ones. It's just hard. It's been just getting used to it. Still probably hasn't sunk in completely. "Fortunately I've got a great team, and whatever comes about, we'll take it head on and I'm sure we'll work through it and learn from it." Inside the ropes, though, Johnson's life is much more normal. He contended at the Verizon Heritage the week after the Masters and eventually finished sixth, which was his third straight top-10 of the season. "I played well those two weeks and even the week prior to that I played, and that confidence right there hopefully will bring momentum, and in this game momentum is huge, especially on this TOUR," Johnson said. "The thing is you can play really good out here and miss the cut, you can play really good out here and not even come close to winning. I've done that a million times. There's just too many good players." "I think those two weeks in particular will certainly help me throughout the year. The man who accounted for 1 ½ points in his first Ryder Cup has risen to the rarefied air of 15th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He's 11th in the FedExCup standings and seventh on the PGA TOUR money list with more than $1.8 million in this career year. Johnson hopes to ride the momentum as long as he can. A concerted effort to work on his game during the offseason put the two-time TOUR champion in position to realize some of his goals and he's just beginning to reap the rewards. "My instructor kind of put it best, I think," Johnson said. "He said a lot of things we've been working on, it's going to probably take a month, two months before it surfaces. With my game, for whatever reason, I tend to hit my stride kind of early mid spring, and I'm hoping that stride is going to be here for a while." That being said, Johnson isn't quite sure why he hasn't played better in early May at Quail Hollow. The George Cobb design that was redesigned by Tom Fazio in 1997 and 2003 is a tree-lined, old-style golf course that should reward shotmakers like Johnson. Yet, he has a stroke average of 75.33 and back-to-back 80s among his six rounds there. "It's like a U.S. Open out there right now almost," said Johnson, who prospered on an Augusta National layout that was similarly penal. "Why I haven't played well here, I have absolutely no idea. I love it. It's one of my favorites on TOUR." This is the third time in four starts, though, that Johnson has come to Quail Hollow after taking at least one week off. "For me it usually takes me until the second week I play to get kind of back in my rhythm," he admitted. "Hopefully I can do it this week and then I can lead into (THE PLAYERS Championship). "I just love this place. I mean, this course, you hit a bad shot, you're going to get penalized. That's the way it should be." |
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