Grant Me This: Johnson finds heaven at Augusta National
On Sunday, an Iowan found his field of dreams at the end of Magnolia Lane. But PGA.com's Grant Boone says Zach Johnson knows the difference between a golf tournament -- however prestigious -- and what is truly eternal.
By Grant Boone, Special to PGA.com
First off, let's get this straight: ya doesn't hafta call him Johnson, but ya does have to call him Masters champion.
Okay, so maybe Zach Johnson's two-shot victory at Augusta National Sunday afternoon, while eventful, didn't give Jim Nantz much to work with in terms of a classic call. It wasn't "a win for the ages" like Tiger Woods' in 1997. There was no pertinent question, like "Is it his time?" which Nantz wondered aloud as Phil Mickelson's birdie putt approached the 72nd hole before eventually curling in.
And yes, the early working title to this year's commemorative retrospective is Jim Nantz Remembers How Anticlimactic It Is When No One In The Last Two Groups Still Has A Chance To Win As They Play The 18th Hole. (It's a little clunky, but so was the tournament.)
Yet the way it ended -- with Johnson tapping in to post plus-1 then waiting nearly 35 minutes as the last two players still alive, Woods and Justin Rose, each botched the 17th and, thus, their chances of making 18 matter -- was almost befitting of Johnson, who's always been way more about substance than style.
He is, after all, from Iowa. And as Meredith Willson told us in his own Masterpiece, "The Music Man," natives of the Hawkeye State are so stubborn they can "stand touchin' noses for a week at a time and never see eye to eye." How stubborn was Johnson Sunday? Consider:
1) With CBS commentators David Feherty and Peter Kostis practically challenging his manhood for laying up on 13, Johnson stuck his third shot to 6 feet and buried the putt to shake loose from a four-way tie for the lead. Kostis prefaced the putt by saying, "Zach Johnson now, to justify his lay-up..." When it went in, I expected Kostis to say something like, "He showed all of us a thing or two, didn't he?" Instead, Kostis said, "I think that was a good decision by Zach in the fairway..." I waited for a chuckle, as if to indicate that, of course, it was the right call in hindsight. Didn't happen. It was kind of like saying, "I think it was a good idea to get out of New Orleans before Katrina."
2) Just to prove 13 was no fluke, Johnson backed it up with another birdie at 14 for a two-shot lead.
3) He stuck to his game plan by laying up at 15, too, meaning he didn't try to reach a single par-5 in two all week. How'd that work for him? All he did was lead the field in par-5 birdies with 11.
4) At the same 16th where he three-putted from 4 feet Friday, Johnson upped his lead to three with his final birdie of the tournament.
And that was just this weekend. Johnson was also stubborn enough to play for Drake University when his heart was set on Iowa. Stubborn enough to grind it out on the mini-tours 'til he could make it to the Nationwide Tour where, in 2003, he used that homemade swing to win Player of the Year honors against a slew of All-Americas and assorted other hotshots. Stubborn enough to tell me at last year's Ryder Cup that with the game on the line, he wants to be the one to take the last shot. Johnson took everyone's best shots this week and found himself the last man standing.
A lot of us were stubborn, too. We assumed Tiger Woods would find a way to win during a week in which he was often lucky just to find his ball. Wayward tee shots on 17 and 18 Thursday led to back-to-back bogeys, turning a 71 into a 73. He'd do the same thing on a brutally difficult and frosty Saturday, falling from 1 over, which would've given him the 54-hole lead, to plus-3. CBS should've given Bill Macatee one of those yellow marshals' hardhats before interviewing Woods after each of those first and third rounds.
During Thursday's exchange, Tiger said he was headed to the range and was probably "gonna break a coupla things." Amazingly, one thing Woods never broke this weekend was par. His 4-iron, however, was a different story. When yet another sprayed tee ball came to rest directly behind a tree at 11 Sunday, Woods took a mighty whack, striking the ball first, then the tree a split second later. The ball came to rest short of the green, the club died a hero, and Woods escaped with a scrambling par.
There were the usual moments of brilliance for Woods on Sunday. His second shot to 13 appeared to stop on the ridge in the middle of the green until Tiger screamed, "Bite!" At that moment, it began trickling back down the slope to within 4 feet where Woods would make eagle to cut a four-shot deficit in half.
But unlike in years past when he would rise to the occasion and/or others would fall away, neither happened Sunday. Less than 60 seconds after Woods barely missed a birdie putt at 14, Johnson birdied 16 to up his lead to three. Then, Woods missed the fairway at 15, forcing him to try a wild, sweeping cut that wound up in the water fronting the green. Another scrambling save -- it was the second time in the tournament he salvaged par after rinsing a second shot on a par-5 -- kept him in the game.
Johnson bogeyed 17 and saw his lead shrink to one over Rose and two over Tiger. After a clutch par at 18, Johnson thanked God; hugged his wife, Kim, and baby son, Will; high-fived his friends; then became a spectator like the rest of us.
Rose wilted first. Needing a birdie and a par to force a playoff, he instead doubled 17, his third 6 of the day on a par-4. A group behind, Woods hit a brilliant approach to 16, not far from where Johnson had holed his putt a few minutes earlier. But Woods missed, and his margin for error was gone.
Needing to birdie the last two holes to tie Johnson, Woods was fooled by the wind at 17 and dumped his second shot from just 121 yards into the front bunker. As he strode toward the green, he said to no one in particular, "Honestly, what the hell just happened there?"
Answer: the tournament ended.
When Woods failed to hole the bunker shot or his approach at 18, it became official: the only ground he'd gain on Jack Nicklaus was for second-place finishes at major championships. Woods' third career runner-up showing leaves him 16 behind Nicklaus in that department.
For the record, Zach Johnson's comeback -- two down entering the final round -- was not the greatest of all time. That distinction will forever belong to the original Master whose rally roughly 2,000 Easter Sundays ago changed the world. (A certain fallen angel probably said something to the effect of what Woods uttered on 17 Sunday.) But it might serve to remind us of the value of a strong faith, a good woman, a fine son, a few loyal friends, and a little Midwest pluck.
When Ray and John Kinsella are playing catch at the end of "Field of Dreams," John asks his son, "Is this heaven?" Ray shakes his head, "It's Iowa." Sunday, an Iowan found his field of dreams at the end of Magnolia Lane. But Zach Johnson knows the difference between a golf tournament -- however prestigious -- and what is truly eternal, and he lives his life accordingly. Every now and then, though, that border between the two worlds blurs in the most glorious of ways. An empty tomb. A family's love. The encouragement of good friends. All snugly wrapped in a certain Green Jacket.
"Is this heaven?" You bet.
Grant Boone is a husband, father, golf broadcaster, and sports journalist based in Abilene, Texas. His column appears on PGA.com each Wednesday and every day during major championships and other big events. He can be contacted at pgagrant@hotmail.com.
The views and opinions expressed here do not reflect those of PGA.com, The PGA of America, PGATOUR.com or the PGA TOUR.