Johnson aiming for more major fun at U.S. Open

Rested and healthy after a relaxing vacation back home in Iowa, Zach Johnson is ready to try and tackle a treacherous Oakmont. But the Masters champion knows that preparation can take you only so far on such a venue.

By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents

OAKMONT, Pa. -- The first 30 hours or so after he won the Masters in April remains something of a blur for Zach Johnson.

That's why TiVo was created, though. Whenever he wants, Johnson can sit back and watch his network TV debut with David Letterman, Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, among others, during a whirlwind trip to New York City.

Imagine, then, what Johnson's life would be like if he wins the U.S. Open on Sunday. He's the only player with a chance at the Grand Slam this year, and he could become just the sixth to win the first two majors of the season.

Should Johnson prevail at Oakmont on Sunday, he would join Craig Wood, who won the Masters and the U.S. Open in 1941, Ben Hogan (1951 and '53) Arnold Palmer (1960), Jack Nicklaus (1972) and Tiger Woods (2002).

And the All-American boy from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, would need more than those wrap-around sunglasses to hide behind when he goes to Scotland next month to play in the British Open at Carnoustie. Ah, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Johnson comes to Oakmont this week quietly -- if a Masters champ can be quiet -- playing well after picking up his second win of the season at the AT&T Classic. He has a fairways-and-greens approach and a patient manner that should serve him well at the U.S. Open, too.

The strep throat that forced Johnson to withdraw from the Memorial Tournament two weeks after his second win of the season is a distant memory. Now the main concern is his long-time caddy, Damon Green, who is fighting the stomach flu.

"I feel good," said Johnson, who was the 2003 Nationwide Tour Player of the Year. "I don't know if you can prepare that well for this golf course but I'm as prepared as well as I think you can get."

Johnson says Oakmont should be a "remarkable test." He's especially wary of the perplexing and perturbing greens. The poa annua surface looks more lush than Bermuda or bent grass -- camouflaging the breaks and disguising the speed.

"All in all, it's going to be a speed test and one where you're going to have to make a lot of 3- and 4- and 5-footers for comebacks," said Johnson, who ranks 39th on the PGA TOUR in putting.

Finding Oakmont's pinched, narrow fairways should be easier for the man who stands fourth in driving accuracy than many others in the field this week. Johnson is accurate with his approach shots, too, hitting 65 percent of his greens in regulation.

The soft-spoken Midwesterner spent much of the last 10 days in Iowa at his parents' home, resting and recuperating. He played four of the six weeks following that Masters victory, and he thinks the whirlwind of activity simply caught up with him.

When he started feeling better, Johnson got in some practice at Elmcrest Country Club in Cedar Rapids where he learned to play the game. He eventually came to western Pennsylvania on Saturday to start his preparation for the U.S. Open.

"The Open is one if you can get here early, you can kind of get an idea of what facets of your game are more important or what facets of your game you need to work on," Johnson said. "Given that, the U.S. Open pretty much tests all facets and you've got to be on in all aspects.
 
"You know, I think in my preparation for this week, it's very much in line with Augusta. Driver is very important. Tee shots are very important, just like it is at Augusta, and, for me, wedges. For me I'm going to miss fairways, so I have to wedge it out and wedge it to the green. So tee shots, and just like Augusta, it's putting.
 
"Getting the speed down and making those 3 , 5 and 7 footers, whether it's for par or bogey. I think a lot of this golf course is positioning. It's giving yourself a chance at par and eliminating double."

Johnson did that extremely well at Augusta National. He contended the following week at the Verizon Heritage, too, eventually finishing sixth, and later shared 16th at THE PLAYERS Championship.

The win so soon in Atlanta was validating in some respects, Johnson admitted. He had picked up his first victory there in 2004, his rookie season, but he had gone winless over the next three years until the breakthrough at Augusta National.

"I think Atlanta certainly for me, spoke volumes, and it just gave me the reassurance that Augusta certainly was not a fluke," Johnson said. "Not that I ever thought it was. But, you know, you can you can get lucky at times. Maybe not a major, but Atlanta was huge in that respect.

"Given the competitive edge and playing still and competing at a high level, Augusta gave me the confidence to be able to do that one."

In the weeks following his Masters victory, Johnson says competing gave him a sense of normalcy. His favorite moment, though, had to be the party two weeks ago back home in Iowa for his family and friends.

"My wife, being the woman that she is, she surprised me and for the most part the entire Drake University golf team that I was a part of it and my coach were flown in and that was pretty cool," Johnson recalled.

"She put a little videotape together through PGA TOUR Productions and she really went out and went overboard on it, but that's just the way she is. It was just casual, laid back, just very much local, very much Cedar Rapids and Elmcrest where I'm from."

Another win on Sunday, and Johnson will find those moments harder and harder to come by, though.