Zach Johnson wore a green jacket and drank from a wine jug during his PGA Tour career. Now he’s ready to drink from the fountain of youth. Johnson, who turns 50 on Feb. 24, will make his PGA Tour Championship debut on Friday at the James Hardy Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational in Boca Raton, Florida.
“Most people would say, you’re just here to play in the Pro-Am, right, because you’re under 50?” Johnson said at a pregame press conference at Broken Sound’s Old Course on Thursday.
Zach Johnson of the United States hits the ball from the second tee during the first round of the 2025 John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run on July 3, 2025 in Silvis, Illinois.
Johnson is the quintessential grinder, squeezing all the juice from the pulp and winning 12 times on tour, including the 2007 Masters and 2015 British Open. But he’s had just one top-10 finish over the past two years – a tie for eighth at the 2025 Masters – and while he may dabble in a favorite event now and again, battling a flat belly, he’s ready for the senior tour and has already signed up for the Cologuard Classic and Hoag Classic ahead of the Masters later this month. He’s gathered tips from the likes of Darren Clark, Chris DiMarco and Paul Stankoski and is making the rounds to a host of familiar faces.
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“Being a rookie again, I welcome that,” Johnson said. “Stankovsky said, yes, you’re in your forties and you feel old and then you leave here and this is the only profession where you go from old to young, and there’s probably some truth to that.
“It’s an opportunity for us to continue to do what we love and compete. I feel the same way, it sounds a little cold. And it’s great that there are less people in the field.”
During the press conference, Johnson watched a video of him on the Korn Ferry Tour as a young man dreaming of making a living in the sport.
“We’re both suitcase-throwing people. There were a lot of games where I would literally grab my bags, throw them in the trunk and drive away, stop on the subway and find a Super 8. Those years shape you, and luckily there aren’t many of them, but at the same time I look back and I feel like this is what should have happened,” Johnson said. “I’m grateful for that. I mean, that’s what shapes you, that’s what builds your character and certainly helps you persevere.”
Phil Mickelson presents Zach Johnson with the Masters Green Jacket after Johnson won the Masters by two strokes at Augusta National Golf Club on April 8, 2007 in Augusta, Georgia.
Johnson said it might take him a little time to adjust to the fact that the 54-hole championship is a sprint, not a marathon, but he’ll go from one of the shortest hitters on the PGA Tour to a long enough hitter on the Champions Tour and the rest of his game has matured. While much of the discussion has centered around the possibility of another recently 50-year-old major champion, Tiger Woods, coming out, kicking butt and calling names, don’t expect Johnson to be the one more likely to do so.
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“I haven’t had a chance to play on Sunday in a long time, so it’s a different — I wouldn’t say it’s a different environment, I’m used to it, but it’s just a minute,” Johnson said. “So I think I really had to manage my emotions and my expectations and do what I did because I was successful in that environment.”
This article originally appeared in Golfweek: Zach Johnson makes PGA Tour Champions debut at 50
