This could just be beginning for upstart Johnson
Tiger turned pro in 1996, won a Tour event within weeks and won the Masters the next April. Johnson, after graduation from Drake, started at the bottom, the Prairie Golf Tour (first stop, Lincoln, Neb.) and moved slowly, to the Hooters Tour, the Nationwide Tour and finally the PGA Tour in '04.
"Comparing me to Tiger," said Johnson, who had only one other victory on Tour, "obviously I struggled. ... But I am secure, and to say it's a struggle is maybe a little misleading. I feel like professionally I am where I want to be.
"I'm playing a game for a living, and comparing myself to arguably the most phenomenal athlete, especially in golf, that the world has ever seen, is maybe a little bit misleading. ... But I felt I was good enough to take home a green jacket."
He also was good enough to have two rounds under par in a Masters in which Tiger had none.
Woods actually had the lead for a brief while but couldn't come up with the shots we've expected him to make. And then, even after an eagle-3 on 13, complete with the roar that reverberated while Johnson was about to hit on 15, Johnson never wavered, emotionally or strategically.
Johnson never once tried to reach any of the four par 5s in two, supposedly the way to beat the course, but he was 11 under on the par 5 holes.
"I had a good game plan," said Johnson. "I know how to approach every pin."
Johnson was tearful seconds after he won, when Woods failed to hole a fairway shot on 18 he needed to tie, and Zach grabbed his 14-week-old baby son, Will, and hugged his wife, Kim.
"I had prepared myself for a playoff," he said. "It was an emotional roller-coaster out there."
While playing the Hooters Tour in '01, Johnson attended a Masters practice round with Vaughn Taylor, another Hooters member who grew up in Augusta and who finished 10th in this year's Masters.
"My mouth was agape," Johnson said. "I was in Augusta. You don't see that on the mini-tours."
But we now see Zach Johnson as a Masters champion. He earned it.
