What they said: Zach Johnson

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SONY OPEN AT HAWAII: Transcript archive

MARK WILLIAMS: 67 today, 3 under, but your round has eight birdies and a little hiccup at 17. We would like to hear about that and the rest of your day obviously.

ZACH JOHNSON: Thanks. Yes, I mean the day, it's one hole. There are 17 other holes. Today was good. A lot of positives. I hit my driver really, really well again. I kept it in front of me and missed very few fairways. I gave myself a lot of chances to birdie which was nice. I made some good putts. I made probably close to a 30 footer on 15 and a 20 some footer on 16.

But I missed about a four or five footer on 12. So that one kind of evened out.

I 3 putted one hole in there, No. 1, I think it was for bogey. But then I came back and I rebounded again with some birdies.

I really saw my lines nice today and putted well. Certainly finishing with birdie birdie after that hiccup in the middle of the round, it was nice.

MARK WILLIAMS: Questions?

Q. What happened on 17?

ZACH JOHNSON: I made about a 2 footer for a 6.

Q. What happened in the bunker?

ZACH JOHNSON: I'm just kidding.

Q. I saw you hit into the bunker.

ZACH JOHNSON: I hit it in the sand, and I hit it in the other trap yesterday and it had a lot of sand in it. And based on what I was feeling at my feet, I was expecting there to be a lot of sand, and I hit concrete essentially.

And then I bladed it out of there, not very high and it plugged in the next one. The plug lie I couldn't advance it all the hole otherwise it would have gone back in the same trap. I just tried to be safe. Actually hit a good shot out of there and then hit a poor chip. It was a tough putt, tapped in for a 6. It was pretty easy.

Q. Which bunker were you in today to start with?

ZACH JOHNSON: The second right one.

Q. I actually never saw the hole, what was your only option on the second one? Where was the pin?

ZACH JOHNSON: The pin was 17 on about 4 from the right, and I hit it in the left bunker over the green. The first sand shot, to get it within ten feet, under normal conditions was that not that hard of a shot. I had a great lie. There was nothing underneath it. I saw rocks fly up.

Q. Your second bunker shot across the green which way did you have to aim?

ZACH JOHNSON: I hit it back toward the tee almost.

Q. It's a triangle on ShotLink how it went?

ZACH JOHNSON: That's pretty accurate, yes.

Q. When you end up with a day like this, what part of you is looking at eight birdies and what part of you is looking at 17?

ZACH JOHNSON: Neither. I'm not looking at any of that quite honestly, scores are scores. I'm just looking at did I execute? There was a couple of hiccups there. I mean, 18, I hit a great tee shot, had an absolutely horrible lie about six inches up the fairway. That's a birdie hole. If I get that ball in the fairway, I'm probably making a 4. I had a great chance of making a 4, and I made a 5.

One, I was still fuming from 18 and 17, I 3 putted. After then after that I rebounded. So what I'm looking at is not necessarily the scores I made, the eight birdies or the triple, I'm looking at the fact, under pretty tough conditions, and then obviously under significant mental duress, I rebounded nicely, that's what I'm looking at.

I'm sure it's easy to look at my card and say, wow, it's colorful, one. And 2, I made a lot of birdies. It's hard not to look at that. However I got to focus on the fact I executed really nice coming down the stretch. I put the past behind me and stayed in the present.

(Palmer enters room)

Q. He did clarify, it was not a program, by the way, if you lost sleep over that. It definitely was not a program. It must have been a newspaper?

ZACH JOHNSON: Yes, probably was.

Q. I'm sure it wasn't my story.

ZACH JOHNSON: Well, it's funny you mentioned it and other people mentioned it too. It was a bizarre.

MARK WILLIAMS: Back on track, you mentioned the rebound after the first hole, 17 and 18, what did you do, did you do something specifically to focus? Did you do something that you are trying to do?

ZACH JOHNSON: You know I try to take some deep breaths. It's hard. I really just tried to say, okay, the only thing I can do right now is go through my routine, pick my line, pick my target, whatever shot I'm hitting.

The second shot I hit on No. 2 was a good one. I hit a pretty poor tee shot, but it turned out okay. It was in intermediate cut, and I hit a 6 iron that was perfect. I hit it to about 12 feet right of the hole. A solid shot, solid read and solid putt. That really turned my attitude around a little bit.

MARK WILLIAMS: Does Damon say anything to you in that situation?

ZACH JOHNSON: Yes, he is a quiet guy. I more or less kind of set him up to say something. I did on 18. I just said, Damon, I'm about ready to explode. I never would explode. I mean I was close. What's the volcano here? I was close to being the volcano.

Q. What would that look like?

ZACH JOHNSON: I'd probably kick my feet once or twice, maybe, you know.

Q. What did Damon say in response?

ZACH JOHNSON: Buddy, it's Friday. We talked about it, you know, you have gotten some good breaks in the past.

One thing that was hard for me to swallow, the sand was so inconsistent, but it's not through the green, it's hazards. That's part of the golf. That's why I said, Damon, it's hard for me to swallow the fact that I hit a good tee shot and then divot.

It's hard for me to swallow that I hit into one sand trap and then 20 yards from that sand trap is another sand trap that's totally different. But that's just the way it is. Anybody out here, it's hard for us to grasp that.

Q. It must have been thrilling to walk across the green and look down in the bunker and see the lie??

ZACH JOHNSON: Yes, it was great. It was a low blade and it plugged. How does that happen?

Q. I wasn't listening closely on 18, when you just went into the rough, you were in a divot?

ZACH JOHNSON: No, I'm just talking generally.

Q. I'm sorry, okay.

ZACH JOHNSON: You hit it into a sand trap on the same hole, (inaudible) you hit it in the fairway, it might be in a divot. Just bad breaks. It just the way it is and that's just golf. It's hard to accept, but I have to, you know.

Q. Which one out of all of this, the bad bunker on 17, the fact that you then turn around and hit a good drive and are kind of hosed at 18, it sounds like the bad drive at 18 is really what set you off because you hit a good drive?

ZACH JOHNSON: Yes, I think you're probably right, just because I I hit a bad shot on 17. I hit the wrong club first and foremost. But I hit a bad tee shot, tee shot, which based on the tee shot I really, really could have accepted a bogey.

But 18, kind of chapped me up a little bit. For the most part, it is exactly how Damon and I drew it up. Maybe we misjudged the wind, or misjudged we misjudged the roll.

All three of us were through the fairway. You just couldn't tell, you couldn't tell from the tee box.

It was like when I punched out a hybrid, and it went 104 yards down the fairway. So that probably set me off, yes, more than anything.

Q. One other point to this, you could have gone the other way just as easy as going

ZACH JOHNSON: Yes, you mean if I would have made a 4 there or something like that?

Q. You could have gone the other way after making a 5 and 3 putting 1?

ZACH JOHNSON: Yes, Damon said that walking off of our 18th hole, No. 9. He just goes, most guys would have thrown it in. I've never thrown it in, but I've been really anxious to be off the golf course. At that point I was getting close.

Q. Do you think it mattered that you played this golf course well, you're defending here versus maybe someplace elsewhere you don't have this success?

ZACH JOHNSON: Yes, not only that. I'm walking off one green, and I'm 4 under, and I think the lead was at seven, eight or nine. I'm trying to be (inaudible) and practical, it's Friday. I've been six shots going into the back 9 of a golf tournament and won. Not on the PGA TOUR. But I've done that. Let's just get down to earth. I think I was digging a grave into hell at that point.

Q. Do you play a lot with Davis at home?

ZACH JOHNSON: No. Yes, I probably play with his son more than I play with him. Yes, on occasion we do. Jonathan, myself, Davis, occasionally Lucas, Arsneds (phn), for the most part we're just practicing. We will go play. If I'm going to play, it's usually nine holes, maybe one of those guys, and we will take one of the pros inside, a buddy of ours and go play nine holes or something like that.

I don't play a whole lot when I'm home. If there is a big game we will do it. That's rare.

Q. I just wonder where his game is right now.

ZACH JOHNSON: It looks great.

Q. Did you ever play in a Ryder Cup with him?

ZACH JOHNSON: No. I think he was fairly close in '06, that's the only one I played in. No, I have not.

Q. Can you get back to him?

ZACH JOHNSON: Can he? Is that a rhetorical question? Yes, absolutely. We were just commenting today, Damon and I, and Fultzie (phn) was out there with us. I remember I met with Davis on December 15th or 16th. We just had a meeting in the morning with some guys. He was leaving that day for Idaho. He has been there since December 16th up until Sunday of this week. I'm assuming he doesn't practice in Idaho. And it looked pure. He says he is a little rusty, and I'm sure he is. He is hitting it great, he's putting it great. He missed putts today that looked like they should have gone in. He just looks really solid. Everybody talks about his golf swing. It still looks really, really good. It's fun to watch. And he has a lot of fire too. I know he wants to make that team.