Iowa native Zach Johnson plays the Augusta National Golf Course as the defending champion, today, during the opening round of The Masters. It was a year ago that Johnson pulled off a shocking win and left with the traditional green jacket and a life that suddenly changed.
Johnson says he had no idea what he was getting himself into after leaving the tournament last year. "Everything, even though a lot of it was overwhelming, as I said a lot, a lot of it was chaos, although I think we controlled the best we could," Johnson says, "I wouldn’t change a bit of it, it was all positive.
Johnson says he was not ready for all the notoriety that came his way in the wake of the victory. He says he got run down, and says he was loving it and soaking it in. Johnson says returning to Iowa, "I wouldn’t trade it, I wouldn’t change one second of it, but it was hard. It was just very difficult, emotional."
Johnson tees off just after 9-20 Iowa time and is in a group that includes Luke Donald and Geoff Ogilvy.