About Zach

Zachary Harris “Zach” Johnson (born February 24, 1976) is an American professional golfer who has 12 victories on the PGA Tour, including two major championships, the 2007 Masters and 2015 Open Championship played at the Old Course at St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland.

In 2023, Johnson will captain the U.S. Ryder Cup squad against the Europe team in Rome, Italy.

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 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 NGA 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.”

Six weeks after winning the Masters, Johnson won the 2007 AT&T Classic in a playoff over Ryuji Imada. Following the win, Johnson moved to a career-best 13th in the world rankings. His next PGA TOUR victory, and first outside the state of Georgia, came at the 2008 Valero Texas Open. Johnson won the Sony Open in Hawaii in January 2009, and successfully defended his title at the Valero Texas Open in May with a playoff victory over James Driscoll. With a third-round 60, Johnson became the first player to shoot 60 twice on the PGA TOUR, having done so previously at the 2007 Tour Championship. The win was Johnson’s sixth on tour. Other highlights in 2009 include a tie for 2nd place at the John Deere Classic and a solo 3rd place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He finished the season ranked a career best fourth on the money list.

His 2010 season on the PGA TOUR got off to a slow start, but his luck turned with a victory at the 2010 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, his seventh PGA Tour win. In 2011, Zach had four top 10 finishes, with his highest being a tie for third at the John Deere Classic. In 2012, he finished second at both THE PLAYERS Championship and the RBC Heritage tournament and won both the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial and the John Deere Classic, giving him a total of nine career wins on the PGA TOUR. Zach also qualified for the 2012 Ryder Cup team, which was played at Medinah Country Club in September.

On July 20, 2015, Johnson beat Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman in a 4-hole playoff to win the Open Championship at St Andrews for his 12th PGA Tour win and second major. He became only the sixth golfer to win majors at Augusta and St. Andrews, the others being Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, and Woods.

Zach and Kim have three children, Will, Wyatt and Abby Jane (AJ) and reside in St. Simons Island, Georgia.