HONOLULU — Zach Johnson sat within the interview room on the Sony Open on Wednesday, answering questions on his recreation and, in fact, the Ryder Cup.
In the course of the interview, a dialogue got here up about Tiger Woods: Would Johnson be the GOAT within the 12-man squad that travels to Rome in September?
“I might solely contemplate having him within the crew if he places up some numbers and a few scores, No. 1, displaying indicators that he is aggressive,” the Ryder Cup captain mentioned. “After which No. 2, that dialogue can be with the opposite guys which are on that crew, and particularly with him (Woods).”
Johnson then assured the digital camera that Woods was extraordinarily invested — “I am unable to discuss that a lot” — and added, “by all accounts and we’re speaking with him fairly a bit, really attempting to get a telephone name right here shortly, nothing . of any substance.
“He’s a part of the crew. It is only a matter of how a lot.”
Johnson is a graduate of Drake College, a small Midwestern college in Des Moines, Iowa, with no golf pedigree.
And this is this graduating Drake, not even the perfect participant on the crew when he performed in faculty, ready for a name from Woods to debate the Ryder Cup.
It is superb and it is golf on the identical time, and Johnson has earned that proper in his 19 years on the PGA Tour.
Johnson got here to the PGA Tour as a digital unknown, and even with a win in his first Tour season in 2004 on the BellSouth Basic, Johnson needed to climb the ladder as an elite participant.
“I like robust conditions,” Johnson mentioned. “I like being uncomfortable. I prefer to show every little thing mistaken. It is simply the way in which I am constructed, the way in which I am wired.”
Johnson’s harness produced 12 wins, together with a Masters and British Open.
Clearly one of many best performers within the historical past of professional golf, Johnson’s stage of tenacity will serve him and Staff USA in Rome in September.
“I need you to convey your ego,” Johnson mentioned of how he desires the 12-member squad to strategy the Ryder Cup simply as he has within the 5 instances he is donned the pink, white and blue. “There is a cause you are on the PGA Tour, and you’ve got most likely had some success. Ego has a unfavourable connotation, however there’s a wholesome self-possession, a confidence that all of us must have. I believe the perfect gamers on the planet have that.”
For Johnson, a US Ryder Cup win on international soil is 30 years previous, with the US’s final abroad victory coming at The Belfry in 1993.
Johnson caught his first Ryder Cup in 2006, when the USA have been defeated by the Europeans 18.5 to 9.5 at The Okay Membership in Eire.
It was the beginning of a four-match dropping streak for Johnson – in 2010 in Wales, 2012 in Medinah and 2014 in Scotland.
It wasn’t till 2016, his final Ryder Cup as a participant at Hazeltine Nationwide, that Johnson tasted victory in a 17-11 drubbing of the USA.
Johnson’s final Ryder Cup as a participant was the results of a brand new course of, one which empowered the gamers and created extra communication and transparency.
It is a formulation that labored in 2016 and once more in 2020 in Wisconsin and for the Presidents Cups of the identical interval.
“I might say the continuity we now have from Cup to Cup to Cup to Cup proper now could be one thing I am very impressed with and grateful for,” Johnson mentioned. “I believe it began six, seven years in the past, however simply because we now have continuity and a few form of system doesn’t suggest it is secure and leads to wins.”
Johnson made it very clear that he can nonetheless screw it up whatever the course of, formulation, template or system in place.
At 46, Johnson is fascinated with making his personal crew, and whereas he hasn’t dedicated to taking part in if he makes the factors crew, he mentioned it “can be a very large deal.”
An issue no different captain has needed to remedy since 1963, when Arnold Palmer was the final captain to play for an American crew that received 23-9 in Atlanta.
“I am a golfer at the start, so I wish to play good golf,” mentioned Johnson, who’s on the verge of a World Corridor of Fame nomination. “I wish to win golf tournaments and I might prefer to make the crew and never play. In order that’s a precedence. To do that, nevertheless, requires plenty of work.”
Johnson at present hasn’t earned a single level on the Ryder Cup factors record, so he has plenty of work to do to earn one of many six computerized spots.
“I am trying ahead to it,” Johnson mentioned of working to be his greatest this yr. “I believe the fantastic thing about the place I’m proper now could be that my physique continues to be good and I can nonetheless exit and play a full schedule. and nonetheless keep different tasks. In order that’s a fairly distinctive stance.”