Zach Johnson posts early 63 to pad his case for the Ryder
In poker, you play the cards you’re dealt. In golf, you play the course as it stands, and if the conditions set up well for a low score, you’d better take advantage, because it could change before you tee it up at your next hole.
The conditions at TPC Boston were good early and ugly late, but that gave Zach Johnson and Jason Day, playing together, time enough to post a clubhouse-leading 63. And thanks to the impending arrival of Hurricane Earl, players got an unexpected benefit — the ability to lift, clean and place balls in the fairway, in the event the round was delayed by weather. And indeed, Johnson and Day got in just before a 90-minute weather delay. Good thing, too, because Johnson’s not just looking to advance to the next round of the FedEx Cup playoffs; he’s hoping to snag a captain’s pick to the Ryder Cup, to be announced next week. So, yeah, good time to post a 63.
Johnson conceded the weather’s benefit on his score. "Now, with the fairways rolling fast and some wind today, the scores
would not have been this low," he said. "So if we get rain, ball doesn’t roll in
the fairway, ball doesn’t roll on the greens, you’re going to see low
scores throughout the week. If we don’t get a whole lot of rain or if
we get some wind to dry it out, it could dry up and be difficult. So
it’s all weather-based."
In the back of his mind — heck, in the front of his mind, is the Ryder Cup. Johnson is making a case for a captain’s pick, but he’s not there yet. When asked if he’d been watching in 2008 although he wasn’t on the team, he didn’t hesitate with the right answer:
"I watched every second of it, or nearly every second of it," he said. "As I told
Corey, 2010 Ryder Cup captain, it was one I was cheering for them like
crazy. I feel like we’re all on that team [as Americans], it’s just a matter of
putting 12 guys out there to go play. It would be an honor, and I want
to get on that team very, very bad."
Johnson is a fairly good bet to get a pick, but a win this weekend would just about lock it up. So far, so good.
Related posts:
- Woods, Johnson, Cink, Fowler named to Ryder Cup team
- Ugly day at the course for Zach Johnson, Jerry Rice
- Zach Johnson’s crazy weekend highlights rips and shanks
- Ryder Cup changes schedule of play for the next two days
- Why does the Ryder Cup have to end on Monday?