Sometimes It Takes Some Time To Make It

Zach Johnson wins Masters

He shoots final-round 69 to beat Tiger and two others by two strokes

BY MARK HERRMANN
mark.herrmann@newsday.com
http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/ny-spmasters0409,0,4478358.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

April 8, 2007, 10:07 PM EDT

 

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Zach Johnson always has been more than the regular guy from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that he claims to be. He is a good investment, too. That was true when he paid off the people who backed him on tour, and it was true Sunday, when he forced everyone to take stock of the golfer he has become.

What he did Sunday was no regular feat. The player, who became a pro in the 1990s because a lot of people in his hometown chipped in $500 checks, did more than win the Masters. He did the seemingly impossible: passing and holding off Tiger Woods.

"They say a giant has to fall at some point, and maybe that's the case," Johnson said, after shooting 3-under par 69 to finish at 1 over. "It's all very surreal in that respect.

"I was sitting in the locker room, waiting for Tiger to hit his second shot on 18," he said, wearing his size 40 regular (what else?) green jacket. "I'm like, 'He's done stranger things.' "

Not this time, though. Woods didn't eagle the 18th from the fairway, just as he never did rattle Johnson, the normal guy who had an extraordinary day.

When Woods grabbed the lead on the front nine -- he never had lost a lead in a major on Sunday -- Johnson didn't buckle. When Woods evoked a roar by making eagle on the par-5 13th hole at Augusta National Golf Club, Johnson briefly backed off his approach shot on the par-5 15th, and kept doing what he was doing.

"I knew if I just kept doing what I was doing, staying in the present and putting well, I had a chance," Johnson said, after beating Woods, Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini by two.

What has brought him to this point is that he always has kept doing what he was doing. He admittedly wasn't the best golfer on his high school or college team. He once believed that receiving a check from a Hooters waitress on a mini-tour represented "the best days of my life ... Chicken wings and everything."

Sunday, he received a green jacket from defending champion Phil Mickelson. And Johnson can have wings or anything he wants as host of the Champions Dinner next year.

His triumph over Woods might not be as much of an upset as Iowa club pro Jack Fleck beating Ben Hogan at the 1955 U.S. Open, but it's close. "I do know he is the name in Iowa, as far as golf goes," Johnson said of Fleck.

Now there is a new big name. It is that of a normal 31-year-old with one previous PGA Tour win. It is someone whose father, Dave, a chiropractor, wears a cap that says "Zach's Dad" and "I Taught Him That" (the latter a reference to plumb-lining putts). It is a guy whose biggest concern Saturday night had been about who was going to get up with his 14-week-old son Will.

"It's really funny how your perspective changes when you have a kid," said Johnson's wife, Kim (who volunteered to let Zach sleep in). She added they couldn't make it to Easter services, which is not to say the occasion slipped their minds.

"We just know that we're blessed," Kim said, adding that their faith is vital to them. "I think it is the key to his golf. It keeps his priorities straight."

He didn't become overwrought on a wild day, during which there were five solo lead-holders. He didn't get nervous when Woods was ahead or chasing him. Johnson claimed he didn't look at the leader board as he made a conservative birdie on 13 (he didn't go for it in two) or rolled in birdie putts on 14 and 16.

Johnson just kept casually walking alongside Augustan Vaughn Taylor (7 over), a close friend since the Hooters Tour days. "He's a big-time guy and he never gives up," Taylor said. "I think he showed in the Ryder Cup how much guts he has. He showed it today, too. I struggle a little bit with my attitude, and he's a good influence on me."

The new Masters champ lives in Florida, but he knows where he came from. "I feel very privileged, very honored," he said, "just in awe of all the support I had."

His investors got their money back, and then some. So when someone mentioned he has been kind of anonymous, Kim said, "He's well known in Iowa."

And now, everywhere else.