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<\/a><\/p>\nIf things work out, Johnson still hopes to play in the John Deere Classic and the RSM Classic, two PGA Tour events he cherishes, but he\u2019s ready for the next step in an exceptional career that includes 12 PGA Tour victories, including the 2007 Masters and 2015 Open Championship. He will continue to play the Masters and is eligible to play the Open until he is 55.<\/p>\n
Johnson excelled through fortitude and doggedness, using those traits to underpin a game built not on one overriding talent but on a collection of skills. He played in the height of the Tiger Woods era and had sustained success, winning major championships at Augusta National and St Andrews.<\/p>\n
Never the longest nor the strongest, Johnson had the gift for saving shots and scoring. He won the Masters by shooting 1-over-par 289, evidence of both the cold, difficult conditions that year and his own tenacity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t exceed my dreams because I didn\u2019t have any dreams that got that far,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat\u2019s just being brutally honest. \u2026 I exceeded any and all expectations because I didn\u2019t know what to expect.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is any personality trait I\u2019m really grateful for, it\u2019s that I\u2019m still thinking about what I have to do to get ready for next week. I always operate right where my feet are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson made two starts on the big tour this year, making the cut in both, but the days of fortysomethings being consistent contenders have waned.<\/p>\n
Which lands Johnson in south Florida this week, entering the next phase of his competitive life where 54-hole, no-cut events are the rule and dinners out with old friends are more commonplace than before. It won\u2019t surprise anyone if Johnson immediately becomes one of the most consistent achievers on the Champions tour.<\/p>\n
Over the past two seasons, Johnson managed just one top-10 finish \u2013 a T8 at the Masters last year \u2013 and he could feel the calendar turning toward his 50th birthday. Johnson made two starts on the big tour this year, making the cut in both, but the days of fortysomethings being consistent contenders have waned.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt became pretty apparent there are certain venues, there are certain stretches on the calendar where it\u2019s going to be really difficult for me to win or even put myself in place to have the opportunity to win,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember when I was in my 20s and my 30s I wanted to be on the PGA Tour until I was 50. There was a time when I thought, I don\u2019t want to go play the Champions tour. Now, I can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Fred Funk was 48 when he won the 2005 Players Championship. Stan Badz, PGA Tour via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Johnson was 29 when he played alongside 48-year-old Fred Funk when Funk won the 2005 Players Championship. He saw Vijay Singh win 22 tour events after turning 40 and Davis Love III win on tour as a 51-year-old.<\/p>\n
Johnson believes he was the oldest player in every tour event he has played the past two seasons and the reality of that was hard to ignore.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess it\u2019s a distance thing. I haven\u2019t gotten any shorter. If anything, I\u2019ve gotten a little bit longer since I was 26. So I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s distance or the kids that are making that transition from amateur to pro golf, it\u2019s such a small step now. They\u2019re more prepared now. But I\u2019m grateful I still had a place to go to work. Looking back, I\u2019m probably one of the outliers,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
During a 30-minute phone conversation, Johnson makes the point multiple times that he doesn\u2019t take any of his success for granted. He has worked hard for what he has achieved and he intends to continue working in the new phase of his career while understanding his own good fortune.<\/p>\n
He talks about a sketch commemorating his 2007 Masters victory that includes him seeing his family behind the 18th green. He recalls getting home to Sea Island, Georgia, around 4 a.m. after winning the Open Championship and meeting some friends at a Waffle House \u2013 the Claret Jug in hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I really take from [the 2023 Ryder Cup] are the guys I was around. They\u2019ve had a lot of arrows shot at them. Some of that is probably on me and I didn\u2019t deflect things appropriately but they were a team. They were great. They loved being together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson captained the American Ryder Cup team in Rome in 2023 and, while the Europeans won again, he says he is not burdened by the defeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWay more fond memories than the opposite. You know what you signed up for. There are two outcomes associated with it. You may not fully understand the ramifications of it but you understand what you are signing up for,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith anything that doesn\u2019t go how you envisioned it, you can second guess this and regret that. There are things I would probably like to have altered or changed and I\u2019ve said that a lot because we lost. At the same time, had I done that would we have won because our opponent played great?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I really take from it are the guys I was around. They\u2019ve had a lot of arrows shot at them. Some of that is probably on me and I didn\u2019t deflect things appropriately but they were a team. They were great. They loved being together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, it\u2019s on to the next chapter for Zach Johnson and he goes there with a smile.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 Global Golf Post LLC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zach Johnson plans to make a full commitment to the PGA Tour Champions. Logan Whitton, Courtesy Augusta National…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,8693,87204,101,56,54,55,68230],"class_list":["post-460510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-pga-tour","tag-pga-tour-champions","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-zach-johnson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Zach Johnson plans to make a full commitment to the PGA Tour Champions. Logan Whitton, Courtesy Augusta National<\/p>\n