If you think about it, Zach Johnson’s two pinnacle career moments were, at the time, eclipsed by what didn’t happen.
April 2007. The man survived the most brutal of Masters Tournaments. Cool, then cold, then furiously windy. Augusta was a mess of vests and mock turtlenecks. Johnson played in Sunday’s third-to-last pairing, completed a dramatic up-and-down on 18, then buried his face into his wife Kim’s shoulder, trying to stifle his emotions. He was the tournament’s solo leader. Fairy tale stuff. All our focus, though, was on Tiger Woods, who’d held the lead early in the fourth round, lost it, stormed back with an eagle on 13, and was two back with two to go. But Tiger’s surge fizzled and to this day you can still hear the air coming out of the broadcast’s balloon. Johnson, a little-known Iowan, won the Masters with a final score of 289 (+1), tying for the highest winning score ever at Augusta. Presenting the Top 10 list on “Letterman” days later, he came to No. 6: “Even I’ve never heard of me.” The next day, Tiger was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
And July 2015. The Open Championship at St. Andrews. Another brutal week. Enough wind and rain to force only the second Monday finish in a tournament dating to the Druids. Johnson shot a low…
