Zach Johnson stood on the 18th green at the hallowed Augusta National Golf Club on Easter Sunday 2007. With a two-shot lead, his mind began to race. He said a quick prayer to thank God for the round of his life, a closing 69 for a tournament total 289; then he greeted his wife and young son.
Johnson’s steady play, including birdies at holes 13 and 14, gave him the slim lead over four-time Masters champion Tiger Woods and two-time U.S. Open winner Retief Goosen, but Woods was playing in the final group and could still catch up.
“I was sitting in the locker room waiting for Tiger to hit his second shot on 18,” Johnson says. “Before he hit, I said, ‘He’s done stranger things.’ He's a phenom.”
Woods needed an eagle, 2, to force a tie, but he came up short. Johnson, the unlikely Masters victor, could celebrate with his family and give worldwide testimony to his faith in Jesus Christ.
“They say a giant has to fall at some point, and maybe that’s the case,” Johnson said of Woods. Asked if he could call himself David to Woods’ Goliath, Johnson agreed.
Golf’s most surprising and faith-filled David since the Old Testament version.
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
The story of Zach Johnson winning the 2007 Masters would be incredible enough. After all, he’s the player who has said he was never the best at any level of his golf career. But his unshakeable reliance on Jesus makes it clear who’s the real Master in Zach’s life.
“I’ve always had a platform to share my faith; now I just have a larger one,” he said after his Masters victory.
Johnson grew up amid the cornfields of Iowa in a loving, middle-class family. His father is a chiropractor in Cedar Rapids, while his mother works for a local Catholic church. They taught him the importance of faith, family and being a positive role model to all he met.
“I’m just Zach Johnson from Cedar Rapids, Iowa,” he said during his Masters post-victory press conference. “I’m a normal guy, pretty well grounded, the way most people from Iowa are.”
But when the Masters thrust him into an international spotlight, Johnson remembered his family lessons and the example of Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, who had won the Super Bowl only a few months earlier.
“Because it’s Easter today, I want to say, ‘Thank you, Jesus,’ ” Johnson said during his nationally televised interview with CBS commentator Jim Nantz.
Later, he expanded on his faith-filled story during the post-tournament press conference in the massive Masters media building. Still wearing his green jacket, the signature “trophy” of the Masters, Johnson told the international press corps, “Being Easter, my goal was to glorify God, and hopefully I did that today. It was a day of perseverance and patience, and being Easter Sunday, I feel very blessed. I felt there was a power working within me.”
Describing the finish of his final round with a lead but no guarantee of victory, Johnson said, “I just tried to stay in the moment and started praying.”
Mr. Consistent
Johnson’s display of humble faith when all the world was watching didn’t surprise Tom Lehman, fellow believer and golf superstar.
“People look at [him] now and are interested in what [he] has to say,” Lehman says. “Zach is such a powerful and humble witness; that’s what stands out the most about him.”
Lehman knows plenty about being a Christian role model in a sports world not always welcoming or understanding of players who want to show a positive difference because of their Christian faith.
In 1996 he captured the British Open, golf’s oldest major championship, and was briefly ranked as the No. 1 player in the world. He said seeking to show others what is most important to him can be a tough balancing act.
“The thing is, some people think you have all the answers,” Lehman says. “I just happen to play golf for a living. But we can all share our faith. I believe humility is the key, and I’m still seeing the same humble Zach as I always have. He hasn’t changed a bit.”
One of the reasons Johnson says he doesn’t plan on changing anytime soon is what he calls his team. Each person is a fellow believer in Christ, including his wife, Kim, coaches Morris Pickens and Pat O’Brien, and his agent, Brad Buffoni.
“We should express our Christian faith at all times, whether we’re using words or not,” Buffoni says.
“Zach is really my inspiration, personally and professionally,” O’Brien says. “I follow his lead on a lot of matters.”
Johnson says he doesn’t pick people because of their shared faith to help him on his professional journey, but he’s grateful for the encouragement and accountability.
It was his sports psychologist, Pickens, along with PGA Tour chaplain Larry Moody, who gave Johnson some Bible verses to meditate on during his Masters-winning round. Pickens also gave him the ball marker he used—one side read “Matthew 6:33-34” and the other “Proverbs 3:5-6.”
During the pre-Masters weekly Bible study, Moody had prayed that a Christian golfer would win the most prestigious of all golf tournaments that week and give glory to God.
Playing From the Heartland
The world took little notice when Johnson began his golfing career as a junior player in his small Iowa town. In fact, not many noticed at all.
He played in all varieties of amateur and school tournaments, winning some, losing far more and usually failing to beat his friends. He did lead his high school team to a state championship as a sophomore, though.
The pattern repeated itself in college when he was able to play on the golf team at Drake University near his hometown—not at the larger and much more popular University of Iowa.
After college, Johnson faced a decision about what to do with his life and his career. Golf is all he had known and was truly passionate about, but the million-dollar sponsors and playing offers weren’t exactly rolling in.
The answer was the local pro golf mini-tours, where Johnson wouldn’t give up on himself, his game or his God.
“I wanted to play and see I was getting better, so I decided to give it a try,” Johnson says. “I went off on the Prairie Tour.”
The low-money, low-key, small-town golfing opportunities aren’t the textbook route to professional golfing fame and fortune, so Johnson and his family came up with a way to finance his golfing dreams. He sold shares of himself to family and friends at $500 a piece, a fairly common financial arrangement among aspiring young golfers. With the money he gathered, he drove all around the Midwest, playing in various events and making just enough to repay his investors and keep his golfing dream alive.
Johnson moved to Florida in 1999 to escape the harsh Iowa winters and be able to play golf year-round. That’s where he met and married his wife.
While his spiritual life remained consistent thanks to ministers at First Baptist Church Orlando, Christian friends and his wife’s strong influence, Johnson’s golf game began to improve as well.
His first breakthrough year came in 2003, when he was named Nationwide Tour Player of the Year for the primary developmental circuit for the PGA Tour.
The next year he moved up to the PGA Tour. That season he won the BellSouth Classic, giving him his first publicly spotlighted chance to proclaim his faith and dependence on Christ after his victory.
“I’m just working with the Lord,” he told the Atlanta-area media. “He’s pushing and leading me. I’m just His instrument.”
Big Time
About three years later, a little more than three hours away in the same state, Johnson shared his same testimony for all the world to see and hear.
The media whirlwind that followed swept Johnson to New York, where he appeared on a variety of national talk shows, including “Late Night with David Letterman.” And he later appeared on other programs such as “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Those and other opportunities gave him the chance to express his natural faith and winsome witness.
That’s what he did before winning the prestigious Masters. That’s what he’s continued doing since. And that’s the power of a masterful role model honoring the true Master. 
