Tour News
Z. Johnson wins at Colonial in Hogan style
By Michael Williams
GolfWRX Staff Writer
The list of golfers who idolize Ben Hogan is a long one. There is hardly a player amateur or pro who at some time has not incorporated Hogan’s legendary “Five Fundamentals’ instruction book in an attempt to capture some of Hogan’s legendary ball-striking ability.
Zach Johnson is a Hogan disciple, and this week he has added to his record of success at one of Hogan’s favorite Tour destinations, winning the 2012 Crowne Plaza Invitational by one stroke over Jason Dufner. Johnson collected his second championship at historic Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, a venue that Hogan conquered a record five times.
Johnson’s swing is a testament to Hogan’s method. Johnson’s is a modified version of Hogan’s compact action, with a one-piece takeaway, right elbow tucked tightly to the rib cage on the downswing and a crisp follow through designed to hit fairways and greens with numbing regularity. Johnson is also similar in stature to the Hawk, and that makes the similarities that much more striking. He even wears his golf shirts buttoned-up to the neck just like Hogan. He stops short of using persimmon woods and smoking Chesterfields, but otherwise Johnson is faithful in his tribute to the great Texan.
Like Hogan, the 36-year old Johnson is a product of the Midwest, born and raised in Iowa. He played all sports as a boy but he found something special when he took up golf at the age of 10. By his own admission he was never the best player on his high school or college teams (Drake University), but as he noted after winning the 2007 Masters, “[I] just keep getting better every year.”
A member of the PGA Tour since 2004, Johnson has carved out a place of respect amongst his peers. He now has eight wins on tour, most notably the aforementioned Masters where he outlasted Hall of Famers Tiger Woods and Retief Goosen to become first player outside the top 50 in the world rankings to win the Masters in the history of the ranking. Johnson has also been a part of two Ryder Cup teams and is a solid bet to be a member of his third later this year.
By any measure, Johnson has had great success in his professional career. But the one thing that is more solid than Johnson’s swing is his faith. A devout Christian, Johnson is quick to give credit to the man upstairs after every win. He has a Bible scripture on his ball along with the words “Trust Your Line”, and he is known to recite scripture on the course to calm himself. As it happened, he needed a little divine intervention on Sunday when his failure to replace his ball properly resulted in a two-shot penalty that could easily have cost him the tournament. Johnson acknowledged the gaffe with the same self-deprecating manner that makes him a favorite among fans and among his peers.
There are of course differences in the two men. While he is focused on the course, he does not have the legendary concentration of Hogan (other than vintage Tiger, who does?). And he also lacks Hogan’s frosty demeanor off the course; on the contrary is known for always having a kind or encouraging word, signing autographs until the fans stop asking and for his stellar charity work with kids in the community. A Google search for negative quotes or controversy about Johnson returns 0 results. Johnson is a golfer second, and a good man first. He is focused mainly on being a loving husband and father, and a model citizen on and off the course.
In the final comparison of Johnson and Hogan, you would always choose Hogan as your playing partner. But if you were choosing a neighbor or a friend, Zach Johnson would get the nod every time.
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News
Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.
From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.
Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.
General Albums
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Monday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matthieu Pavon – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Keegan Bradley – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Webb Simpson – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Emiliano Grillo – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Taylor Pendrith – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Kevin Tway – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Pullout Albums
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rory McIlroy – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Eric Cole’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matt Kuchar’s custom Bettinardi – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Justin Thomas – driver change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler – putter change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s new custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Tommy Fleetwood testing a TaylorMade Spider Tour X (with custom neck) – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Cobra Darkspeed Volition driver – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
GolfWRX is on site this week in McKinney, Texas, at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson (FKA the AT&T Byron Nelson).
Last year at TPC Craig Ranch, Jason Day ended a five-year winless streak. J-Day is in the field again, as are Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, and Will Zalatoris.
We have our usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums for your perusal. As always, we’ll continue to add links to additional albums as they make their way to us from the Lone Star State.
Check out links to all our photos below.
General Albums
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Pierceson Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kris Kim – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- David Nyfjall – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Adrien Dumont de Chassart – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Jarred Jetter – North Texas PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Richy Werenski – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Wesley Bryan – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Parker Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Peter Kuest – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Blaine Hale, Jr. – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kelly Kraft – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Rico Hoey – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Pullout Albums
- Adam Scott’s 2 new custom L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Scotty Cameron putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Ben Griffin playing Maxfli golf ball
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
GolfWRX is live on site this week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for the PGA Tour’s one-and-only two-man team event.
As usual, general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums — including some pretty spicy custom putters and headcovers — await your viewing.
Be sure to check back for more photos from the Big Easy, as we’ll continue to update this page with additional galleries throughout the week.
General Albums
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #2
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Alex Fitzpatrick – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Austin Cook – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Alejandro Tosti – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Davis Riley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- MJ Daffue – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Nate Lashley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- James Nicholas – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Kevin Streelman – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rasmus Hojgaard – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Tom Whitney – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- SangMoon Bae – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Daniel Berger – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rory McIlroy – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Russ Cochrane – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Aldrich Potgieter – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Steve Stricker WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Drew Brees WITB (Legendary New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Derek Carr (New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Thriston Lawrence WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
Pullout Albums
- MJ Daffue’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Cameron putters – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Swag covers ( a few custom for Nick Hardy) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Custom Bettinardi covers for Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Doug Ghim’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Patrick Cantlay spotted testing a Scotty Cameron blade putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
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steve-o
Jan 4, 2013 at 3:05 pm
I’d like to have Hogan live on one side, and Johnson live on the other. By most accounts Hogan was a very personal man who came up the hard way, without his father and in a very tough world. If he was ‘frosty’ he probably was tired of everyone wanting a piece of him. Hogan wasn’t sponsored, he had to work a second (first?) job as a club pro in the early stages of his career, and probably made less in his entire career than Johnson made in an average season. With 9 majors and 2 years in service during WW2, not to mention 4th on the all-time winning list. I don’t see too many guys on tour signing up for military service. And Hogan did establish his own company, putting many to work, crafting what many feel were the best clubs available. Oh, and that little book of his that taught millions how he plays the game. Best selling book on golf of all time, I believe. He may not have Johnson’s affable nature but I sure wouldn’t mind living next to him. BTW, I think tiger could have used a little more of Hogan’s concentration on the course. Off the course, too.
Marty
May 27, 2012 at 11:50 pm
Wow. Kick the guy while he’s… dead. I for one would choose Hogan over Johnson as a neighbor any day.