Early life

The son of a chiropractor, Johnson was born in Iowa City, Iowa and raised in Cedar Rapids, the eldest of Dave and 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 number-two 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 number-two player on the Drake golf team, he led the Bulldogs to three NCAA regional meets and two Missouri Valley championships. Johnson's uncle, Tom Harris, qualified for the 1975 NAIA national tournament.

Professional career

Johnson turned professional in 1998 and played on the developmental tour circuit, including the now-defunct Prairie Golf Tour, the Buy.com Tour (later the Nationwide Tour and Web.com Tour), and the 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.

Johnson won his first PGA Tour event at the 2004 BellSouth Classic outside of Atlanta when he finished one stroke ahead of Mark Hensby. In 2006, Johnson recorded a number of impressive results including two runner-up places and finishing third at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. As a result of this, he qualified for the U.S. Ryder Cup team for the first time in 2006, finishing 9th on the U.S. points list.

On April 8, 2007, Johnson won his first major title at the Masters Tournament in Augusta by a margin of two strokes over Tiger Woods, Retief Goosen, and Rory Sabbatini. Johnson's 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 rankings. 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 for the third time on tour at the 2007 AT&T Classic in a playoff over Ryuji Imada. Following the win, Johnson moved to 13th in the world rankings. His next PGA Tour victory, and first outside the state of Georgia, came at the 2008 Valero Texas Open, where he finished with rounds of 62 and 64 over the weekend to finish two strokes ahead of a chasing pack of players.

Johnson won the Sony Open in Hawaii in January 2009 for his fifth victory on the PGA Tour, 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.

In 2010, Johnson started the season solidly on the PGA Tour, making ten of his first eleven cuts without any significant results. Then in June 2010, Johnson won the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, his seventh PGA Tour victory. Johnson only missed two cuts all year en route to qualifying for the season ending Tour Championship and the 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup team, his second appearance in the event.

In 2012, Johnson won the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial for the second time in his career. He made a five-foot putt on the last hole for what appeared to be a three shot victory, but a ruling on the final hole resulted in a two-stroke penalty. Fortunately, it did not affect the outcome of the tournament, with the only difference being Johnson signing for a 6 instead of a 4 on the final hole, with Johnson winning by a single stroke over Jason Dufner. He jumped to 3rd in the FedEx Cup standings and returned to the world top 20 with this victory.

Johnson moved to second in the FedEx Cup standings with a playoff win on July 15, 2012, at the John Deere Classic. Johnson defeated Troy Matteson, who started the day up four shots on Johnson and had led the tournament since the first round, with a birdie on the second hole of their playoff. Johnson also started the day behind three-time defending champion Steve Stricker, who was three shots behind Matteson. It was Johnson's second win on the year after winning at Colonial Country Club. Mike Bender, Johnson's swing coach, also caddied for the week while usual caddie Damon Green played in the U.S. Senior Open.

At the 2012 Open Championship, played at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England, Johnson finished at even par for the tournament (280), tied for ninth, seven shots behind winner Ernie Els.

In 2013, Johnson, in defense of his John Deere Classic title, lost in a three-man sudden-death playoff to Jordan Spieth at the fifth extra hole, after he bogeyed the final hole of regulation play with a one shot lead. In the playoff, all three players, Johnson, Spieth and David Hearn, had chances to win with Johnson's coming at the second extra hole, but he failed to convert the putt. Spieth won with par at the fifth extra hole after Johnson hit his second shot into the water and could only make bogey.

The following week, Johnson opened up the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield, with a five-under-par round of 66 to hold the lead by one stroke over Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Mark O'Meara. He finished the tournament in a tie for 6th place.

He continued solid play for the rest of the summer, finishing in the top-10 in six of the next seven tournaments he would enter, including an 8th-place finish at the PGA Championship, making it back to back top-10 finishes at major events. In September, Johnson captured the BMW Championship for his tenth career victory and first FedEx Cup victory of his career.

In December 2013, Johnson attained a playoff victory over Tiger Woods at the Northwestern Mutual World Challenge. This win moved him into the top ten of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career.

Johnson captured his 11th career victory in January 2014 with a win at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. With the win, Johnson moved up to a career high 7th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

At the 2014 U.S. Open, Johnson had a hole in one on the 172 yard par-3 9th hole. It was the 44th hole in one in U.S. Open history, and just the second at Pinehurst No. 2.

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.

Johnson is one of only two players (the other being Phil Mickelson) to have twice shot a round of 60 on the PGA Tour.

Personal life

Johnson and his wife, the former Kim Barclay, were members of First Baptist Church in Orlando.

Johnson was raised a Catholic, but joined his wife's church prior to their marriage in 2003. They have two sons, Will and Wyatt, and one daughter, Abby Jane. They lived in Lake Mary, Florida and now reside in St. Simons, Georgia.

Foundation

The Zach Johnson Foundation is dedicated to helping children and their families in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. One program created by Johnson and his wife Kim helped to raise $700,000 for community agencies serving children in need. He has stated: "This Foundation will fulfill a dream of mine and Kim's to give back to Cedar Rapids in a long-lasting, meaningful way."

Professional wins (28)

PGA Tour wins (12)

Legend

Major championships (2)

FedEx Cup playoff event (1)

Other PGA Tour (9)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Apr 4, 2004	BellSouth Classic	69-66-68-72=275	−13	1 stroke	Mark Hensby
2	Apr 8, 2007	Masters Tournament	71-73-76-69=289	+1	2 strokes	Retief Goosen, Rory Sabbatini, Tiger Woods
3	May 20, 2007	AT&T Classic	71-66-69-67=273	−15	Playoff	Ryuji Imada
4	Oct 12, 2008	Valero Texas Open	69-66-62-64=261	−19	2 strokes	Charlie Wi, Tim Wilkinson, Mark Wilson
5	Jan 18, 2009	Sony Open in Hawaii	69-65-66-65=265	−15	2 strokes	Adam Scott, David Toms
6	May 17, 2009	Valero Texas Open	68-67-60-70=265	−15	Playoff	James Driscoll
7	May 30, 2010	Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial	65-66-64-64=259	−21	3 strokes	Brian Davis
8	May 27, 2012	Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial	64-67-65-72=268	−12	1 stroke	Jason Dufner
9	Jul 15, 2012	John Deere Classic	68-65-66-65=264	−20	Playoff	Troy Matteson
10	Sep 16, 2013	BMW Championship	64-69-70-65=268	−16	2 strokes	Nick Watney
11	Jan 6, 2014	Hyundai Tournament of Champions	67-66-74-66=273	−19	1 stroke	Jordan Spieth
12	Jul 20, 2015	The Open Championship	66-71-70-66=273	−15	Playoff	Marc Leishman, Louis Oosthuizen

PGA Tour playoff record (4-1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	2007	AT&T Classic	Ryuji Imada	Won with birdie on first extra hole
2	2009	Valero Texas Open	James Driscoll	Won with birdie on first extra hole
3	2012	John Deere Classic	Troy Matteson	Won with birdie on second extra hole
4	2013	John Deere Classic	David Hearn, Jordan Spieth	Spieth won with par on fifth extra hole
5	2015	The Open Championship	Marc Leishman, Louis Oosthuizen	Won four-hole aggregate playoff: Johnson 3-3-5-4=15 (-1), Oosthuizen 3-4-5-4=16 (E), Leishman 5-4-5-4=18 (+2)

Nationwide Tour wins (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	Apr 27, 2003	Rheem Classic	65-70-71-66=272	−8	Playoff1	Steve Haskins
2	Sep 7, 2003	Envirocare Utah Classic	68-69-65-65=267	−21	1 stroke	Bobby Gage

1 Defeated Haskins with birdie on first extra hole.

Other wins (14)

• 1998 1 Prairie Golf Tour event
• 1999 2 Prairie Golf Tour events
• 2001 Iowa Open, Greater Cedar Rapids Open, 3 NGA Hooters Tour events
• 2002 Iowa Open, 1 NGA Hooters Tour event
• 2004 Tommy Bahama Challenge (with Chad Campbell, Hank Kuehne, Chris Riley; unofficial event)
• 2006 Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (with Stewart Cink and Scott Verplank)
• 2011 CVS Caremark Charity Classic (with Matt Kuchar)
• 2013 Northwestern Mutual World Challenge

Major championships

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runners-up
2007	Masters Tournament	2 shot deficit	+1 (71-73-76-69=289)	2 strokes	Retief Goosen, Rory Sabbatini, Tiger Woods
2015	The Open Championship	3 shot deficit	−15 (66-70-71-66=273)	Playoff1	Marc Leishman, Louis Oosthuizen

1 Defeated Leishman and Oosthuizen in a four-hole aggregate playoff: Johnson (3-3-5-4=15), Oosthuizen (3-4-5-4=16), Leishman (5-4-5-4=18)

Results timeline

Wikinews has related news: Zach Johnson wins 2007 Masters Golf Tournament

Tournament	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Masters Tournament	DNP	CUT	T32	1	T20	CUT	42	CUT	T32	T35	CUT	T9	CUT
U.S. Open	T48	CUT	CUT	T45	CUT	CUT	T77	T30	T41	CUT	T40	T72
The Open Championship	CUT	CUT	CUT	T20	T51	T47	T76	T16	T9	T6	T47	1
PGA Championship	T37	T17	CUT	CUT	CUT	T10	T3	T59	70	T8	T69	CUT

DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	1	0	0	1	2	3	12	7
U.S. Open	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	7
The Open Championship	1	0	0	1	3	5	12	9
PGA Championship	0	0	1	1	3	4	12	8
Totals	2	0	1	3	8	12	48	31

• Most consecutive cuts made - 8 (2011 U.S. Open - 2013 Masters)
• Longest streak of top-10s - 2 (2013 Open Championship - 2013 PGA)

Results in World Golf Championship events

Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.

Tournament	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Cadillac Championship	10	T43	T45	T9	T9
Dell Match Play	DNP	R64	3	R64	R64
Bridgestone Invitational	T22	T9	T36	T11	T16

Tournament	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Cadillac Championship	T53	T37	T24	T17	T47	T16	T49	T47
Dell Match Play	R32	R32	R64	R64	R64	R64	T17	R16
Bridgestone Invitational	T15	T33	T6	T40	T4	T23	T33
HSBC Champions	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

PGA Tour career summary

Season	Tournaments played	Cuts made	Wins (majors)	2nd	3rd	Top 10s	Best finish	Earnings ($)	Money list rank	Scoring ave (adjusted)
2001	1	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	71.46
2002	2	1	0	0	0	0	T17	57,000	-	71.16
2003	1	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	72.69
2004	30	24	1	0	2	5	1	2,417,685	19	70.18
2005	30	21	0	1	1	5	T2	1,796,441	39	70.38
2006	27	21	0	2	1	4	T2	2,452,250	24	70.42
2007	23	18	2 (1)	1	0	5	1	3,922,338	8	69.91
2008	25	19	1	0	0	3	1	1,615,123	53	70.60
2009	26	22	2	1	1	9	1	4,714,813	4	69.60
2010	25	23	1	0	1	3	1	2,916,993	19	70.53
2011	23	19	0	0	1	4	2	1,880,406	44	69.97
2012	25	24	2	2	0	6	1	4,504,244	6	69.82
2013	24	20	1	1	1	8	1	4,044,509	9	70.10
2014	26	24	1	1	1	5	1	3,353,417	19	70.16
2015	25	20	1 (1)	0	1	10	1	4,801,487	8	69.73
Career*	313	256	12 (2)	9	10	67	1	38,476,706	11	-

* As of September 27, 2015.

U.S. national team appearances

Professional

• Presidents Cup: 2007 (winners), 2009 (winners), 2013 (winners), 2015 (winners)
• Ryder Cup: 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014
• World Cup: 2005

[ Source: Wikipedia ]