Johnson has work to salvage season
SILVIS, Ill. — Zach Johnson has work to do to accomplish what seemed easily within reach at season’s start.
A final round of even-par 71 left Iowa’s star golfer in a lowly tie for 69th at the John Deere Classic on Sunday, which amounts to his hometown tournament.
Johnson ranked as high as third in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings early this year but came to the JDC ranked 14th.
He likely won’t drop this week, but the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native certainly won’t move closer to the top-eight spot he’ll need to ensure a berth in the September competition in Louisville, Ky.
Johnson ranks a lowly 108th in the FedEx Cup standings. And while the top 144 players will make the playoff opener at The Barclays, Johnson might not want to wait to improve his standing. Not if he wants a chance to improve on last year’s second-place finish at the Tour Championship, which will welcome only the leading 30.
“I’m excited,’’ last year’s Masters champion said of the summer ahead. “I know what I’ve got to do. Got to go out and play hard, play good.’’
He will take only one week off, skipping the Canadian Open in two weeks, between now and — hopefully — the Sept. 25-28 Tour Championship in Atlanta.
There’s too much work to do.
“I’ve really never been in this situation as far as where I am stat-wise, number-wise,’’ he said. “However, that’s motivation right there. I don’t mind that.’’
On arrival at the British Open via a JDC charter, Johnson will be motivated to work on a putting stroke that was ailing long before he took a three-week break leading up to the JDC due to tendinitis in his wrist.
“Wrist was completely a non-factor,’’ he said in assessing his week at Deere Run. “Ball-striking actually pretty solid. When you’re very unconfident with the putter and short game, it puts a little more stress on ball-striking.’’
Johnson hit 53 of 72 greens at Deere Run and 23 of 36 on the weekend, when he played a combined 4-over par.
That’s not good, but the real problem was a putter he enlisted 120 times throughout the week.
“The story for me has been my putter,’’ said Johnson, who ranked 134th in putting through the JDC. “But I’ll keep fighting.’’
Johnson heads to Royal Birkdale Golf Course in Merseyside, England, looking to build on a tie for 20th at last year’s British. It was the first time he’d made a cut at the Open Championship.
He said he would like to think this could be the week to score just his second top-10 finish of the year.
“Some extra work on the practice putting green, and you never know what can happen,’’ he said.
A top-10 in England could do wonders for his Ryder Cup standing, and he wants to make the team on his own merits.
“I certainly don’t want to get into, ‘Am I going to be a pick?’ type thing,’’ he said of being one of Captain Paul Azinger’s four at-large selections. “Play hard, play good, things will take care of themselves, and we’ll go from there. If I don’t get to that point and it doesn’t happen for me, I’ll be on my couch watching every second.’’
Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com