Weird week, but 'normal' champion
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- "Biggest thing in the history of Iowa sports?"
Wow. That's what I've been told.
We know this much: You sure can't get any more Iowa than Zach Johnson. Born in Iowa City, raised in Cedar Rapids, and higher educated in Des Moines (a 1998 Drake grad). And, yes, he loves his Hawkeyes, even if he didn't go there.
"I'm a Midwestern guy," he pointed out. "I'm just Zack Johnson, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A normal guy."
Most of the time, perhaps. But "normal" guys don't get fitted with green jackets at the conclusion of the Masters. That's an honor reserved for special people. And it's seldom been more of an honor to be a Masters champion than it was this week, when the course and Mother Nature conspired to humble the world's greatest golfers, including one Eldrick "Tiger" Woods, who struggled (by his exalted standards) so badly from start to finish that he wound up with 15 bogeys, as opposed to 10 birdies and one eagle.
But Tiger had his chances yesterday, as did several others. Stuart Appleby began the day as the leader, but Woods, Rory Sabbatini, and Retief Goosen all spent some time atop the leaderboard on this wild Masters Sunday before the normal guy from Iowa seized the lead with a birdie 4 on the 510-yard 13th and held it to the end, never allowing anyone to get closer than two strokes.
"Today was a day of perseverance and patience," he said. "I felt coming in that my game was good, and that I'd have a chance to move up the board."
His only other victory on the PGA Tour came in 2004 when he won the
Still, nobody was picking the 31-year-old, probably because he hasn't gotten off to what you'd call a dazzling start this year, his best finish a T-9 at Doral. "That was my first top 10 this year," he said, "and, for whatever reason, my year starts to pick up when we hit the East Coast. My putter really started to come around."
Make a note. The normal guy from Iowa is more comfortable on the East Coast than in Hawaii, California, or Arizona.
Make another note. The normal guy from Iowa was a man with a plan. He played Augusta National's four par 5s in 11 under, and that was with the unshakable idea that, under no circumstances, would he attempt to hit any of those greens in two.
He admits he was tempted to deviate from the plan yesterday when he got to the 13th.
"I hit a good drive, and that's where it got questionable," he said. "I had 200 to the front, and I certainly could have gotten to the green, but we had prepared to lay up in most cases, and I laid up with a 7-iron and hit a good sand wedge 8-10 feet below the hole and knocked it right in."
Johnson is going to enjoy being the Masters champ, no doubt about that. And he is also going to be a popular champion, no doubt about that, too.
He's got the appropriate reverence for the place, having first set foot on these hallowed grounds in 2001 while on a moonlighting trip from the Hooters Tour. "Vaughn Taylor, a local guy [who had a pretty good Masters himself by tying for 10th], a really good friend of mine, he was able to scrounge up some tickets for me and some of my buddies and we decided to take advantage of it. I had told myself I'd never come here unless I played. But I had the opportunity, so it was like, 'I'm going to come; there's no question.' "
As for the peer approval, listen to Sabbatini. "He's got a great sense of humor," said the South African. "He's just a very down-to-earth person. He doesn't get ahead of himself. He's a quality person. That's the only way you can put it."
Johnson is certainly not one of the Tour's anointed. People back home will tell you he was a much better soccer player than golfer in high school. He was no better than the No. 3 player on the Drake team, but on the basis of charm, or something, he did not lack for local support when he decided to become a professional.
"I was backed by a lot of people," he said. "I was persuaded to give it a shot. I really didn't want to go back to school. I really didn't want a job. The one thing I kind of clinged to was the fact that every year, in high school and college, I improved and felt like, you know, if I could get the necessary finances down, I'm going to give this thing a shot for two or three years and see where things go. And if I keep improving, then we'll see how far it takes me."
He may be the only Masters champion to finish one of his rounds (Friday) with bogeys on 16, 17, and, 18, prompting him to say he'd been "Augustasized." That turned what was really going to be a good round into a disappointing 1-over 73. Then he survived a hang-on-for-dear-life 38-38--76 Saturday to find himself in a T-4 situation entering yesterday.
But he happens to be one of the growing number of Tour players who engage the services of a sports psychologist, in this case one Morris Pickens. So was he focusing on the dismal Friday finish or the so-so Saturday? Nope. He was thinking that he had shot a 1-under 71 Thursday, and there was nothing to prevent him from doing that again, or perhaps shoot something even better.
He did such a good job of focusing on the moment that he didn't even know he was in the lead until two holes after he had gone ahead. "My caddie, Damon Green, was the one looking at the board and keeping his eye on things," Johnson said. "From the fans I could kind of tell that I was close to the lead, if not in the lead. I didn't know where I stood, even after 14 [another birdie that put him up by two], but after 15 he said, 'We've got a couple-shot lead.' "
He sure did, and ended up shooting a 69. And now the normal guy from Iowa will have a year to decide the menu for next year's champions dinner. I'm betting on pork something.
Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. His e-mail is ryan@globe.com. 
