Sports

Golf

A victory for a family and for a dreamer too

By JOHN ROMANO
Published April 9, 2007

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ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: AP photo] The 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson receives his green jacket from Phil Mickelson.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - If you believe in the day, you believe all things are possible.

Which may explain an Easter Sunday at the Masters where faith was seemingly in short supply for everyone but the stranger from Iowa with the Bible scriptures written on either side of his ball marker.

Perhaps this is what you're thinking as Zach Johnson sobs just off the 18th green while holding the hand of his infant son.

As Johnson's father drops his head to weep on the shoulder of his daughter-in-law. As a quiet man's life changes before your eyes.

And you're thinking, perhaps, not every miracle is created equal.

Some are grand, and some are small. Some are significant, and others are personal. Some miracles are truly divine, and some just feel that way.

As a golfer, Zach Johnson is everything Tiger Woods is not.

Woods was an All-American at Stanford. Johnson was not even the best at Drake. Woods was handed millions in endorsements when he turned pro. Johnson had to sell $500 shares in his career to raise enough money to turn pro.

Woods is 31 and has won 56 PGA Tour events and 12 majors. Johnson is 31 and, before Sunday, had one PGA victory and no major stories.

And, yet, when the sun began to descend on the back nine of Augusta National, it was Johnson who played as if the 71st Masters was meant for no one but him.

"They say a giant has to fall at some point, and maybe that's the case," Johnson said of his back-nine duel with Woods. "It's still very surreal."

Up to this point, the journey by Johnson was hardly unique. Tens of thousands have similar stories of their humble beginnings as high school and college golfers. Many had flings on the so-called mini-tours at the bottom rung of professional golf. Hundreds have even reached the PGA Tour.

But, before Sunday, the idea of one of these faceless hackers staring down Woods at the Masters was ridiculous.

"Zach wasn't always the most dedicated guy," said Ben Poehling, a former Drake teammate and roommate. "I'd be at the library working on some paper for class and I'd come back to the apartment and he'd be in the La-Z-Boy in his boxers with no shirt on and the remote control in his hand.

"To see him out here winning the Masters is surreal."

So who imagined this possible? And how did it come to this point?

You probably need to return to the kitchen table at the home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Johnson told his horrified parents he wanted to play pro golf.

He really had no business believing it possible. He was a good golfer, but not great. The thing was, he wasn't ready to work for a living. And he did seem to improve his golf game at each new level.

The Johnsons weren't completely sold on the idea, but agreed to talk to business types at the local country club who might invest in Zach's career.

These investors footed the bill for Zach's stops on the Prairie Tour, the Hooters Tour, the Buy.com Tour and everywhere else he played. In return, Johnson handed over a percentage of his winnings to his stockholders.

"I thought those were the best days of my life right there," Johnson said of the times he got trophies from Hooters girls. "Chicken wings, and everything.

"But that's how I got better."

The mini-tours eventually brought him to Florida, where Johnson met his future wife Kim at the Orlando apartment complex where they both lived.

Together, they climbed through the ranks. It was Kim who helped Zach blend his faith with his golf game, crafting a ball marker to remind him of both.

For putts, it reads "Trust your line" along with the notation Proverbs 3:5-6 ("Trust in the Lord with all your heart ... and he will make straight your paths").

On the other side is "One shot at a time" along with Matthew 6:33-34 ("... do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself").

And that was how Johnson played Sunday. With faith, and without worry. When Woods dropped an eagle at No. 13 to move within a stroke, the crowd at No. 15 roared and Johnson had to step back from his shot.

He went on to par 15, and birdied No. 16 to increase his lead.

"He continually exceeds my expectations," Kim said. "I believe in him and I think he absolutely has the game and the ability and the skills to do what he's doing, but every time he has success like this, I know God has had his hand on us.

"We're just very blessed."

By the time Johnson reached No. 17, the buzz was audible.

Johnson's mother-in-law got a course official to give her a ride off No. 17 on a cart and she darted to her car in the parking lot. Explaining the situation to a local policeman, she got a motorcycle escort to the daycare at a church down the street where Johnson's 3-month-old son Will was staying.

Packing him in a blanket, and with the motorcycle's siren blaring, she raced back to the course where Zach was just about to walk to Butler Cabin to watch Woods finish his round on TV. With friends and family shouting, Johnson turned to see Will's arrival and stopped to kiss and whisper to his tiny son.

"It was an amazing experience," Johnson said. "Physically, mentally, I was fatigued. But seeing my family, my wife and my boy and my father and brother, it was just emotional. I was an emotional wreck. I was a slob."

Nothing had yet been won, and still everything was about to change.

For Woods, and maybe our perception of him. For the Masters, and those who dream of playing in golf's greatest tournament.

And for Zach Johnson, a man with enough faith to make you believe in the impossible.

[Last modified April 9, 2007, 08:09:58]

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