Zach Johnson didn’t need much convincing, but every once in a while, he would get a text from Stewart Cink and all it would say was “top 10.”

The joke being, Johnson, famously one of the shorter hitters on the PGA TOUR, ought to just make the jump to PGA TOUR Champions where his greatest inhibitor would suddenly become a strength. Johnson would laugh it off, but until this week, it hasn’t mattered. He wasn’t eligible.

Well, now he is. Johnson turned 50 on Feb. 24 and will waste little time in making the jump to the Champions Tour. He announced Tuesday that he will make his debut at the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational next week.

“I am invigorated to go out there and, you know, not take a head cover off on a par 4,” Johnson said with a chuckle. “I'm not taking it for granted.
I feel like I've earned my diploma, and I'm gonna make the jump to greener pastures, more or less.”

Then again, Johnson would like to make one thing clear. He doesn’t expect this to be easy. As he’s prepped for his Champions Tour debut, he’s received plenty of texts from family and friends who expect him to “dominate.” That’s the weird circumstances on the Champions Tour, in which its “rookies” are often top dogs because they are younger and freshly battle-tested from life on the main tour. Johnson fits this mold, having played at least 17 TOUR events for 22 straight seasons. Last year, he finished in a tie for eighth at the Masters. So, yes, he’s had many people tell him they expect him to clean up on the senior circuit, a la Bernhard Langer or Steve Stricker. Johnson would like to dispel that expectation right away.

“I think part of me is like, man, I still feel like I got a lot of really good golf in front of me, and I'd love to do that against the best,” Johnson said, referencing the PGA TOUR. “At the same time, one, I gotta stay healthy, and two, I'm gonna go compete against guys that have always been one, two, three, four, five, six years older than me. And 25 years ago, they were still that age gap, and they beat me a lot. So, why am I to assume that it's gonna be that easy? These guys are good.”

Cink and Darren Clarke relayed similar sentiments to Johnson in recent months. Johnson said those two have been the voices he’s leaned on in making this transition. They’ve helped him understand how to prepare, what to expect and where he should play. In particular, Clarke made it clear that Johnson needs to come out firing.

“He was pretty direct on that, like, 'Hey, you gotta bring your game,'" Johnson said. "And you gotta put the pedal down fast, because there's only three days. You have to putt well. And I was like, 'Yeah, you know what? That makes sense.' I never looked at it that way.”

Johnson expects to play a full Champions Tour schedule in addition to “maybe three” events on TOUR. He still plans to play the John Deere Classic and won’t miss Davis Love III’s The RSM Classic. He also has his lifelong exemption into the Masters and can play The Open Championship until age 60. Otherwise, he is “going both feet in” on the Champions Tour. Johnson said he’s “never had so many tournament directors reaching out” to play in their events.

Johnson’s main priority now is keeping his body healthy. He’s played through an ongoing elbow issue for several years and has the occasional joint pain. Those aren’t going away. He’s excited to have the option to take a golf cart, but isn’t quite sure if he will use it beyond the early week pro-ams. He still likes the walk and prides himself on his conditioning. That being said, he’ll use it when he needs it. Assuming good health, he sees no reason why he can’t play into his 60s, though he’s not setting any sort of goals to be the next Langer.

"I don't have any idea,” Johnson said, "and I'm fully at peace with that. I know, well, whatever happens is supposed to happen. If the good Lord is like, ‘Hey, you can keep competing a decade from now,' well, then, I mean, I'm gonna welcome that.”

Johnson has a long list of tournaments he’s excited to play. The Champions Tour hosts the Principal Charity Classic in Johnson’s home state of Iowa. He’s in love with Firestone Country Club, a long-time PGA TOUR stop that’s now on the Champions Tour schedule. And he’s yearning to get another crack at Gleneagles, host of The Open Championship in 2026. His last memory there was getting “shellacked” by Team Europe in the 2014 Ryder Cup. He’d like to right that wrong. Down the line, he would love to host his own tournament – as current Champions Tour stars Stricker and Jim Furyk do. “Discussions have been there,” Johnson said, though he stressed it’s been “very, very preliminary.”

First, he’s excited for the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational next week. He expects it will feel a little different, but “competition is competition.” It’s now just the start of a new competitive era for the 12-time TOUR winner.

“I hope there's jitters,” he said. “I hope there is, because then I know I'm feeling the right things.”