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The post Why Zach Johnson does NOT believe the U.S. will be Ryder Cup favorites appeared first on Golf.

They’re fresh off a 17.5-12.5 drubbing of the International squad in the Presidents Cup, and last fall they were similarly dominant in the Ryder Cup. Their talent pool is full of youth — half the team were rookies at Quail Hollow, and eight were younger than 30 — and the biggest issue facing each captain is figuring out who to leave off the team.

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Despite the embarrassment of riches at their disposal, and the recent success in team competitions, there’s still one roadblock the Americans have not yet hurdled — winning on European soil. The Americans haven’t won in Europe since 1993, and each loss cuts deeper than the last. The most recent Ryder Cup on European soil featured a stacked team of Americans getting trounced at Le Golf National.

For this reason, 2023 Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson refuses to buy into the hype around heading into next fall’s Ryder Cup. The Americans have long been favored when heading across the pond only to take a beating once there, and he won’t fall into a similar trap.

“Do I really think the Europeans are underdogs? I can give you a one-word answer: No,” Johnson said in a recent press conference. “They are not underdogs. They are on their home soil.”

Johnson might be hesitant to claim superiority based on history, but recent events have changed the calculus a bit. Many of the European stalwarts have aged out of the competition, while others (Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter) have been deemed ineligible after defecting to LIV Golf. In fact, just this summer, the European side had to replace their captain after Henrik Stenson decided to play for LIV.

Still, Johnson won’t buy it. The odds might look in his favor, but in this competition, anything can happen.

“On paper can be subjective as well,” he said. “I don’t think it’s all that objective in my opinion. I understand that. But at the same time, there’s something to be said about having confidence and momentum where you’re comfortable, and evidently, they have been very comfortable over here for 30 years. So, no.”

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Instead, Zach Johnson answered matter-of-factly when the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain was asked this week whether those playing LIV Golf tournaments could also play in the biennial event.  

“So what I know is this: In order to play on the Ryder Cup team, whether you’re top six or a pick, you must garner Ryder Cup points through the PGA of America,” Johnson said ahead of the John Deere Classic. “In order to garner Ryder Cup points through the PGA of America, you have to be a member of the PGA of America. The way that we’re members of the PGA of America is through the PGA Tour. 

“I’ll let you connect the dots from there.”

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Should you, Johnson’s response would imply that you likely won’t be seeing Americans Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson when the Ryder Cup begins 15 months from now in Italy. Those five and 43 others are playing this week in the second event on the controversial, Saudi-backed LIV Golf series, and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has said he would indefinitely suspend any Tour member who would play in the upstart series.

On the European side, it’s also looking grim that LIV players could be picked for the Ryder Cup; the DP World Tour (the former European Tour) handles selection, and last week, it fined its members who played in the first LIV event and banned them from competing in three co-sanctioned tournaments. Still, despite what could turn into a contentious fight, Zach Johnson said he was understanding of why players have signed on with LIV. 

“First and foremost, I mean I got some friends that have decided to go that route,” he said. “A lot of individuals that I’m for. I mean, these are my friends. I’m for them. I want them to do well. I want them to, you know, find contentment or happiness in whatever it may be. It’s not for me to say how that develops or how they find that. I will say I have the utmost respect for them individually. I would hope, and I’m not concerned about this, that they would have the respect for me and who I stand for and what I stand for. And I don’t think it’s very secretive or outlandish in saying that I’m for the PGA Tour. I’m for the individuals that paved the way for me in this great Tour, this way of, this platform in order to entertain, compete and I would say utilize for the betterment of others, not just my family. I’m for that.

“I’m for — how many weeks are we on the Tour? 47. There’s some overlapping tournaments there. But 40-plus weeks a year, I’m for those venues. I’m for those cities that pour in basically 358 days a year for that one week. I’m for them. Because these tournaments do so much to the communities we stop. And it may be seven days to us, but it’s not, it’s a full year. And that’s the beauty of the PGA Tour. So I am for the PGA Tour, I am for the growth of the game through the PGA Tour.”

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A reporter then asked Johnson if he thought LIV would affect the John Deere. The tournament in the past has struggled to attract higher-ranked players based on its spot on the schedule, and this week, of course, it’s up against the Portland event. 

“Do I think it affects this tournament? I think it’s so raw and so new it’s hard for me, it’s hard for anybody to say that it’s going to have a massive impact here or there,” he said. “My hope is that it does not, and my ever optimist brain of mine says it will not because of what’s already established here. I think players are starting to see that, you know what, it’s pretty darn good where we are right here. We’re starting to see some young guys even come out and say, that aren’t even on the PGA Tour, and say, you know what, I had a dream of playing on the PGA Tour and that’s the route I’m going to go. 

“So I’m encouraged by that. I’m encouraged by our leadership of the PGA Tour and how they’re continually sticking to their guns, knowing that the product we have, the people we have — because we are the product, obviously; it’s our Tour — are really good. … So I’m encouraged.”

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Zach Johnson’s resume is desirable. His pre-shot routine? A little less than. During Saturday’s play at the Players Championship, the two-time major champion and next U.S. Ryder Cup captain set up just to the left of his ball on the 18th tee at TPC Sawgrass, swung — and rocketed his ball into the gallery on the right. And if that sounds familiar, it’s because it is. 

About a month ago, at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Johnson took a casual swipe at his ball as he backed away from it — and hit it. At the 2019 Masters, he stood maybe an inch to the left of his ball on the 13th tee, swung — and hit his ball. Three years, three dribbles off the tee. 

But no penalties. 

How come? It was Johnson’s tee shot, and the swings in questions were practice, and those are the essential parts. The rule in play that let the two-time major champion hit his ball penalty free in this case is Rule 6.2b (5), which states: “Whether the ball is teed or on the ground, when starting a hole or playing again from the teeing area under a Rule: The ball is not in play until the player makes a stroke at it, and the ball may be lifted or moved without penalty before the stroke is made.

“If a teed ball falls off the tee or is knocked off the tee by the player before the player has made a stroke at it, it may be re-teed anywhere in the teeing area without penalty.”

On Saturday, after Johnson’s ball went into the gallery, it was tossed back to him, he joked, “I’ll try that one more time,” and he re-teed. Johnson then turned around, said to the cameraman behind him, “I hope that’s on camera,” and hit his tee shot. 

That ball went 250 yards. 

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Hogan.

Snead.

Arnold.

Big Jack.

Watson.

Next year in Rome, when Zach Johnson serves as the U.S. Ryder Cup captain, there will be a sixth name on that list. Johnson spoke with obvious feeling about the honor of joining that fivesome when he was officially announced as the next American Ryder Cup captain at a press conference here Monday morning.

If the golfing universe were in its normal state, one might expect that list to grow from six to seven to eight in the next half-decade or so. You know, Phil Mickelson to follow Johnson, for the 2025 Ryder Cup, and then Tiger Woods after that.

Based on what they have achieved in the game, could you possibly name two American golfers who would be more obvious choices as Ryder Cup captains than Phil and Tiger?

But right now, on this final Monday in February 2022, it’s almost impossible to say.

As we have seen with Woods over the years, his life takes unpredictable turns. His resiliency, though, is almost immeasurable.

Mickelson’s future is even harder to predict. It is almost a given, if you’ve taken even a casual interest in the PGA of America’s Ryder Cup playbook, that a Ryder Cup captain will serve as an assistant captain in the preceding Ryder Cup. It’s an open secret on all your better PGA Tour driving ranges that Mickelson was considered a lock for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage and that Woods, five years younger than Mickelson, would take the reins for 2027 in Ireland.

Yes, this sounds like crazy talk, all this long-range planning. Your correspondent cannot relate, as he is one to make his Marriott reservation for that night when leaving the Hertz lot. But this long-range planning is a real thing.

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Woods wanted a road game. You know, more of a challenge. (The Americans have not won a Ryder Cup in Europe since 1993, when Tom Watson had his first go as captain. Well, that one went well.) Also, the 2027 site, Adare Manor, in County Limerick, is owned by J.P. McManus, one of Woods’s old fishing-and-sipping buddies, from back in the day.

As for Mickelson, his public life is far more complicated now than it was just a few weeks ago. You can blame the lure of Saudi money and Phil’s mouth if you wish but there’s more to it than that. Were it not for the lure of Saudi money and Phil’s chatty ways, you could would have gotten very short odds that Mickelson would have been on the 2023 Ryder Cup team in some manner.

Johnson was asked Monday about Mickelson’s prospects as an assistant captain, if he doesn’t make the team as a 53-year-old player.

“Well, I’ll say, you know, that given basically where we are right now, I have no idea what lies ahead as far as my vice captains and who is on this team,” Johnson said. “I know that the 2020 was such, and 2023 will look vastly different. What that looks like, I don’t know yet.”

I thought I saw this thought bubble floating above Johnson’s head:

Phil? Phil’s a wild card. With Phil, who knows anything?

I should also point out that there was a certain level of grandeur to the morning event, even though Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press broke the news, that Johnson would be the captain, several days ago. It’s a big deal, in golf, to lead a Ryder Cup team. There were back-row seats reserved for Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, though neither attended. In the house was Seth Waugh, the CEO of the PGA of America, and Suzy Whaley, the first woman to serve as president of the PGA, one of the country’s oldest and most important golf organizations. The Ryder Cup trophy was also present, on a pedestal. It hasn’t been in the United States all that much in recent decades. Losers fly and winners keep the trophy.

On a wall, stage right, was a large mural with bleeding black-and-white photographs of all the Ryder Cup captains over time. There was Tom Kite and Jerry Barber, wearing glasses. There was Ben Hogan and Nicklaus, wearing ties. There was Raymond Floyd in a visor and Dave Stockton in a rodeo hat. Johnson’s turn is coming, to get on that wall.

What a career: 12 wins, including the Masters and the 2015 British Open, at the Old Course. He won the Masters in 2007, on an Easter Sunday. He’s a man of faith. He described his captaincy as a “serving role.” He said, “I’m going to be a servant for them.”

Being a public servant, or a public anything, has never been easy and it’s more difficult now than it’s ever been. The light never goes out, these days.

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Johnson was delivered a major complication by Mickelson. Winning any Ryder Cup is difficult. Picking six players is as complicated as a captain chooses to make it. The culture and language of Ryder Cup golf is far different from PGA Tour golf. When Johnson was looking for the common European phrase for what American golfers understandably call alternate shot, he went for fourball first, before settling on foursomes, after an assist from the man seated next to him, the president of the PGA, Jim Richerson of Riviera.

But Johnson is joining a list, a list that’s better than most, to use a phrase of the Florida Swing, a list with Hogan, Snead, Palmer, Nicklaus and Watson already on it. Look where golf has taken Johnson in his 46 years. Look where golf has taken this son of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

He’s a dreamer. Anybody who makes it to the PGA Tour has some dreamer in him. But there’s the dream, and there’s your life as you lead it.

Johnson’s life, he said on Monday, has exceeded his dreams. 

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

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As for the players? No surprise there, either.

“I like Zach; he’s always been fun in the team rooms,” said Brooks Koepka, speaking to reporters at the Honda Classic on Wednesday. “He’s been kind of a little bit of a rah-rah guy, which is always good. … We all knew he was in line, knew it was going to happen sooner or later, so it’s nice to see him get one. But yeah, the stuff he does behind closed doors is what I think makes the big difference, and I think every guy that’s played on a team that he’s been an assistant or played with him would definitely agree with that and be happy to see him do it.”

According to the AP, the 45-year-old two-time major champ is expected to be announced as Ryder Cup captain next week in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The next Ryder Cup is scheduled for September 2023 in Rome.

Johnson has played on five Ryder Cup teams, compiling an 8-7-2 record. The only time he was on a winning team was in 2016, when the U.S. beat Europe at Hazeltine in Minnesota. He was a vice captain in both 2018 and 2021 and often considered a likely candidate for a future captaincy.

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“I think he’s such a great blend of kind of new school/old school,” said Daniel Berger, speaking to reporters after his opening-round 65 at the Honda Classic. “He’s been a part of so many big teams and he’s played on Tour for so long and he’s so well respected among us out here that when he says something, you listen. Having spent some time with him at the Ryder Cup this year, I know he’s going to make a great captain.”

Johnson wasn’t Berger’s pod leader at Whistling Straits in 2021, but Berger mentioned that you spend so much time together anyway, it’s easy to get to know everyone better than you did before.

“He’s very chill,” Berger said. “He kind of reminds me of captain Stricker. He’s very low key, lets the guys do what they need to do to get ready, and he has great experience from Ryder Cups in the past.”

Johnson will have his work cut out for him, though. The last time the Americans won a road game was in 1993, when the U.S. beat Europe 15-13 at The Belfry in England. The Europeans have won the last six on their home soil.

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Johnson is a 5-time Ryder Cupper himself, winless until his final appearance in 2016. The two-time major-winner was a favorite for the role as he has fallen out of the top 150 in the world ranking, but has stayed very close to the American team, serving as a vice captain ever since his playing days. 

One of those vice captainships came in 2018 in Paris, when the Americans were thumped by the Europeans. It was Team USA’s sixth-straight time losing on European soil, a streak that will reach 30 years of dominance by the time the Cup is contested in Rome in late September 2023.

However, one could easily argue the Americans have more theoretical momentum on their side in team matches than they ever have before. In 2019, the American Presidents Cup team furiously rallied against the Internationals for a victory under captain Tiger Woods. Then, last fall, the American Ryder Cuppers dominated the event from start to finish under Steve Stricker. They capped it off Sunday with a 19-9 win, a record differential in the modern era of the Cup.

The Associated Press report was confirmed via three sources with knowledge of the selection. The PGA of America is scheduled to host a press conference Monday morning at its headquarters in Florida. 

As for Johnson’s opposing captain, Team Europe has not decided on its leader just yet. That decision, it has been reported, will have to do somewhat with the various names circling the Saudi-backed tour. Numerous European leaders in line to serve as captains have been linked to the league, which may earn them a lifetime ban from serving in the captainship role.

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One. 

And then two, three, four and five. 

If that sounds familiar, you probably know the gaffe. Yes, Johnson accidentally hit his ball during Friday’s second round of the WM Phoenix Open, walked over to it, then hit it four more times to move it back to its original spot. But no, Johnson was not taking his sixth — or worse — stroke after he re-teed his ball on the 17th tee box at TPC Scottsdale. Here’s why. 

(And if anyone knows the particulars of the rule here, it’s Johnson. More on that in a sec.) 

It was Johnson’s tee shot, and that’s the essential part. The rule in play that let the two-time major champion hit his ball penalty free in this case is Rule 6.2b (5), which states: “Whether the ball is teed or on the ground, when starting a hole or playing again from the teeing area under a Rule: The ball is not in play until the player makes a stroke at it, and the ball may be lifted or moved without penalty before the stroke is made.

“If a teed ball falls off the tee or is knocked off the tee by the player before the player has made a stroke at it, it may be re-teed anywhere in the teeing area without penalty.”

Johnson was good, and he hit his actual tee shot 292 yards — about 280 yards longer than when he dribbled his ball off to the left on the slip-up. Of course, if you’re swearing you remember Johnson once taking another tee shot mulligan, it’s because he did. 

During the second round of the 2019 Masters, Johnson took a practice swing just to the left of his ball on the 13th tee, he accidentally hit it, and it struck the right tee marker before rocketing it off to the left. And there, too, he could re-tee without penalty. 

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For conversation sake, what would happen if Johnson accidentally hit his ball elsewhere on the hole? On the green, he’s also good. There, he’s covered under Rule 13.1d (1), which states: “There is no penalty if the player, opponent or another player in stroke play accidentally moves the player’s ball or ball-marker on the putting green.”

But if Johnson accidentally hit his ball anywhere else, it would be a penalty under Rule 9.4. A 2019 article from the USGA’s website described that scenario this way: “This category would include a ball that lies in a bunker, a penalty area, or anywhere in the general area (defined as anywhere on the golf course that is not the teeing area, the putting green, a bunker or a penalty area). When your ball lies in any of these areas, it is already in play. If you then take a practice swing and cause your ball to move, you still have not made a stroke, but you will get a one-stroke penalty for moving your ball in play. The ball must be replaced on its original spot. This is covered under Rule 9.4. 

“If the player instead plays the ball from where it was moved to after their practice swing, it becomes a two-stroke penalty (or a loss-of-hole penalty in match play) and the player may or may not be required to correct their mistake (see Rule 14.7 for more information).” 

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“I think that’s the beauty of Augusta is even if you play well there, but especially if you don’t play well there, it really magnifies exactly what you need to do, because you have to have everything on,” Johnson said on Friday, after firing a second-round 67 at the Valspar Championship to jump into T6. “It’s extreme in a good way. So I took missing the cut at Augusta with a distinct positive and that assessment was good and my team helped me with that.

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“Right after Augusta I made some changes that feel like miles upon miles, but they’re really only about that far (Indicating),” Johnson continued. “And when I say ‘changes’ it’s really just kind of going back to what I’m accustomed to doing.”

For Johnson, those recent positive changes in his game can be attributed to an important fundamental: the grip.

“Going back to what I — this is going to sound ridiculous — but where my grips were a few years ago, if not further,” Johnson explained. “I’ve got a strong grip, and my grips have a reminder on them and they have been actually pretty neutral, if not strong. So when you combine a strong grip with a strong grip, the ball’s going to go left a lot. And now the grip sits open, my grip is a lot weaker because of where I put my hand on there, especially with my left hand, and I feel like I can play free. I can swing at it and it’s not going to go left too much. Which is freedom. So I’m not suggesting that it’s the end-all be-all, but I know it’s the right direction. So very encouraged.”

Johnson has 12 career Tour victories, and this week, broke a three-event, missing-the-cut streak that began a week before the Masters, at the Valero Texas Open. Prior to the Texas Open, Johnson made 14 straight cuts, dating all the way back to last August.

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During the second round of the 2021 Honda Classic, Johnson used an assist from a fan — or, more accurately, a fan’s water bottle — to dodge a big, ugly number at a crucial point in the event.

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Playing the par-4 8th hole at PGA National on Friday, Johnson hit a 291-yard tee shot that left him just short of a water hazard and in perfect position to attack the pin from about 140 yards. Spectators lined the backside of the green, and moments later Johnson would be grateful they were there.

The two-time major champion flushed his shot, airmailing the green and directly toward the fans watching from behind the putting surface. But instead of avoiding contact and lodging itself in deep rough, or plunking a fan and causing injury, Johnson’s ball nailed a water bottle held by a fan trying to take cover. The ball then ricocheted off the plastic and back onto the green, settling some 60 feet away.

Check out the unlikely bank shot below.

Thanks to the lucky bounce, Johnson was able to make a routine two-putt and save par, instead of having to contend with a treacherous up-and-down with water looming long. He finished the day at five under and T10 at the halfway point.

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