Zach Johnson
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. 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.
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."
Johnson, his wife Kim, and son, Will, reside in Orlando, Florida; Johnson and his wife are members of First Baptist Church in Orlando. 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.
Professional wins (17)
PGA Tour wins (5)
Nationwide Tour wins (2)
2003 (2) Rheem Classic, Envirocare Utah Classic
Other wins (10)
1998 1 Prairie Golf Tour event
1999 2 Prairie Golf Tour events
2001 Iowa Open, 3 NGA Hooters Tour events
2002 Iowa Open, 1 NGA Hooters Tour event
2006 Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (with Stewart Cink and Scott Verplank)
Major Championships
Wins (1)
Results timeline
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins.