Injured Zach Johnson in contention at Sony Open in Hawaii

Youth is the name of the game at the Sony Open in Hawaii, the first full-field event of 2025, where 29 of the 30 players who earned PGA TOUR cards on the Korn Ferry Tour last season are teeing it up.

Then there’s Zach Johnson, whose right arm was a welter of kinesiology tape as he carded his second straight 66 to reach 8-under par and get in contention.

“I’ve got tennis elbow of golf,” said Johnson, who will turn 49 next month.

Johnson turned pro in 1998, before Aldrich Potgieter and more than a few others were born. Johnson is making his 510th TOUR start and has 12 wins, among them the 2009 Sony Open. He didn’t fight to keep his card last fall because he elected to watch his son play high school football.

“I'm not going to miss a Friday night light,” he said.

On this Friday, though, Johnson holed out for eagle with a 9-iron from 158 yards at the par-4 third hole. He made three birdies, just one bogey, and is in the top 10 in the field through two rounds in Strokes Gained: Approach.

With roughly half the field still out on the course, Johnson was one shot off Japan's Kensei Hirata (63) early second-round lead and tied with Sepp Straka (66) and Lee Hodges (64).

The Sony has reminded of the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup captain’s ability with a club in his hands, provided he can find a way to swing without pain.

“I had some really good consultations,” Johnson said of his elbow. “Really good orthopedic advice that I've taken, so the measures have helped. … I have compression braces and things like that that work OK, but the KT tape seems to be the best. I'm very encouraged.

“Best it's felt in probably months,” added Johnson, whose last top-10 finish came at the 2021 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. “And I'm playing three weeks in a row so need to take care of it.”

That kind of stretch is a big ask these days, and not just physically. Johnson no longer has fully exempt status on TOUR and thus has been writing and calling tournament directors to ask for exemptions.

“I've never been in this position, so I don't know what's more effective,” he said.

Never?

“I played at the John Deere Classic before I had status, 24, 25 years ago, whatever it was,” he said, “and I think I wrote a letter there.”

At Waialae Country Club his clubs have been making his case for him.