Zach Johnson

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Zach Johnson
Personal Information
Birth February 24, 1976 (1976-02-24) (age 32)
Iowa City, Iowa , U.S.
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight 160 lb (73 kg)
Nationality Flag of the United States United States
Residence Lake Mary, Florida, U.S.
College Drake University
Career
Turned Pro 1998
Current tour PGA Tour (joined 2004)
Professional wins 15 (PGA Tour: 3, Nationwide Tour: 2, Other: 10)
Best Results in Major Championships
Wins: 1
Masters Won: 2007
U.S. Open T45: 2007
British Open T20: 2007
PGA Championship T17: 2005

Zachary Harris "Zach" Johnson (born February 24, 1976) is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour and the 2007 Masters champion.

Contents

[edit] Biography

The son of a chiropractor, Johnson was born in Iowa City, Iowa and raised in Cedar Rapids, the oldest of Dave & Julie Johnson's three children. Playing many sports as a youth (baseball, basketball, football, and soccer), Johnson took up golf at age 10 and developed his skills at Elmcrest Country Club. He played #2 on the Regis High School golf team and led them to an Iowa 3A state championship in 1992, his sophomore year.

Following graduation from high school in 1994, Johnson enrolled at Drake University in Des Moines. As the #2 player on the Drake golf team, he led the Bulldogs to three NCAA regional meets and two Missouri Valley championships. Johnson received early inspiration when his uncle, Tom Harris, qualified for the 1975 NAIA national tournament. Johnson has admitted to not being the best player on his high school or college team, but was quoted in his Masters speech saying, "I just kept getting better every year."

Johnson turned professional in 1998 and played on the developmental tour circuit, including the now-defunct Prairie Golf Tour, the Buy.com Tour (now called the Nationwide Tour), and the Hooters Tour, where he won the final three regular-season events in 2001. In 2003, he topped the money list on the Nationwide Tour with then record earnings of $494,882, earning an automatic promotion to the PGA Tour. He won his first PGA Tour event at the 2004 BellSouth Classic outside of Atlanta. Johnson qualified for the 2006 U.S. Ryder Cup team, finishing 9th on the U.S. points list.

On April 8, 2007, Johnson won the Masters Tournament in Augusta by a margin of 2 strokes over Tiger Woods, Retief Goosen, and Rory Sabbatini. It was his first major title. His score of 289 (+1) tied Sam Snead (1954) and Jack Burke Jr. (1956) for the highest winning score at the Masters. His victory took him from #56 to #15 in the world rankings; he was the first outside the top 50 in the world rankings to win the Masters in the history of the ranking. After winning, he mentioned his Christian faith and thanked God, saying "This being Easter, I cannot help but believe my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ was walking with me. I owe this to him." [1]

Johnson, his wife Kim, and son, Will, reside in Orlando, Florida; Johnson and his wife are members of First Baptist Church in Orlando[2]. Johnson was raised a Catholic, but joined his wife's church prior to their marriage in 2003.

On September 4, 2007, Zach Johnson led the singing of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" during the 7th Inning Stretch of the Chicago Cubs baseball game at Wrigley Field.

[edit] Professional wins (15)

[edit] PGA Tour wins (3)

Legend
Major Championship (1)
Other PGA Tour (2)
No. Date Tournament Winning Score Margin of Victory Runners up
1. Apr. 4, 2004 BellSouth Classic -13 (69-66-68-72=275) 1 stroke Flag of Australia Mark Hensby
2. Apr. 8, 2007 The Masters +1 (71-73-76-69=289) 2 strokes Flag of the United States Tiger Woods, Flag of South Africa Rory Sabbatini,Flag of South Africa Retief Goosen
3. May 20, 2007 AT&T Classic -15 (71-66-69-67=273) Playoff1 Flag of Japan Ryuji Imada

1 Defeated Ryuji Imada with birdie on first extra hole.

[edit] Nationwide Tour wins (2)

[edit] Other wins (10)

[edit] Major Championships

[edit] Wins (1)

Year Championship 54 Holes Winning Score Margin Runners Up
2007 The Masters 2 shot deficit +1 (71-73-76-69=289) 2 strokes Flag of South Africa Rory Sabbatini, Flag of South Africa Retief Goosen, Flag of the United States Tiger Woods

[edit] Results timeline

Tournament 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
The Masters DNP CUT T32 1 T20
U.S. Open T48 CUT CUT T45
The Open Championship CUT CUT CUT T20
PGA Championship T37 T17 CUT CUT

DNP = did not play
WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

[edit] PGA Tour career summary

Year Wins (Majors) Earnings ($) Rank
2004 1 2,417,685 19
2005 0 1,796,441 39
2006 0 2,452,250 24
2007 2 (1) 3,922,338 8
Career* 3 (1) 10,645,713 70

* Complete through the end of the 2007 season

[edit] United States national team appearances

[edit] References

[edit] External links