By RICK BROWN
Special to the Iowa Golf Association
Zach Johnson’s climb up golf’s ladder has reached the final step. He knows it. He even thinks about that on occasion.
“There are thoughts of, “Hey, what would I do if I didn’t play?,’ ” the two-time major champion and Iowa Golf Hall of Famer (Class of 2016) said. “I don’t know. I’d have to be busy. I don’t know what it would be.”
But that’s not a thought that Johnson wrestles with on a daily basis.
“The thought is brief,” he said. “It enters and leaves pretty quickly, because I’m still a competitor and I have an amazing opportunity to compete. I’m operating where my feet are. I’m able to go out and compete at 50 years old on an amazing tour with a bunch of golf dorks like myself.”
The last step on golf’s most elite ladder is the PGA Tour Champions, which Johnson became eligible for when he turned 50 years old on Feb. 24. He’s made the most of his new home.
Johnson returned to Iowa last weekend and won the Principal Charity Classic at the Wakonda Club in Des Moines. He also won the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational in his first start, and has finished eighth or better in each of his eight tournaments so far.
Wakonda was a comfort zone of sorts for him. Zach played there as a member of the Drake golf team as a collegian. The course has undergone a major renovation since he last played it, but it still felt like home. And the feeling was mutual.
The Wakonda Club became even more of a home-court advantage because of the overwhelming fan support Johnson received on every shot. And the old adage that membership has its advantages?
On the eve of the tournament, the Wakonda Club presented Johnson with an Honorary Lifetime Membership. The following words will be put on a sign and displayed in the Wakonda Clubhouse:
“The Board of Directors of the club hereby recognizes and honors Zach Johnson for his extraordinary achievements in the game of golf, his leadership and sportsmanship, and his lasting contributions to the traditions and values of the game. In recognition of these accomplishments and with deep appreciation to the example he has set both on and off the course, Wakonda Club proudly awards Zach Johnson this Honorary Lifetime Membership. Presented this 10th day of June 2026.”
Johnson was clearly touched by the support. He tipped his cap and patted his heart as he walked off the 18th green after a final-round 67 and 54-hole score of 17-under-par 199 left him four shots clear of the field.
“Given this week and all that it entails being back home, then literally in a place I used to live, I felt like I had won before I teed off,” Zach said. “That honestly just gave me a lot of freedom to just play.”
Johnson’s victory at Wakonda adds to a remarkable and overachieving career. A multiple winner and player of the year on the Korn Ferry Tour. A 12-time winner of the PGA Tour, including the 2007 Masters and 2015 Open Championship. Five Ryder Cup appearances as a player, one as a captain. A four-time Presidents Cup selection. And now a multiple winner on the PGA Tour Champions.
“All expected,” Johnson said with a wry smile.
He put his finance degree on ice and turned pro out of college, and faced overwhelming odds. He beat them all on that climb up the ladder. He got a boost along the way, especially from a group of investors in his home town who gave him the financial assistance he needed to gain traction.
Johnson and his wife, Kim, and their three children make their home in Savannah, Ga. But you’ll never take the Iowa out of him.
“I’m never going to forget my first 22 years in Iowa,” Johnson said. “It’s impossible. I relish it. There’s a lot of times I feel like if I could push rewind and come back and do exactly the same thing over and over again, I’d take full advantage of it.”
When he’s announced on the tee at each tournament, it’s still Zach Johnson from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
“I live in South Georgia, but that (Cedar Rapids) is where it started for me,” he said. “That’s where everything was fostered, where everything was cultivated, where all the people were that poured themselves into me were. I’m a proud Iowan.”
Johnson’s initial Principal Charity Classic appearance got off to a rocky start when he bogeyed the first hole in Friday’s first round, then made double bogey on the second.
His career has been defined by a bulldog mentality. Keep grinding, never give up. He used that formula to rally and shoot a 3-under 69 that first round, added a bogey-free 63 on Saturday and a 67 on Sunday. He played his final 52 holes in 20 under par to collect another trophy and delight his hometown crowd. A week of nostalgia and reminiscing ended up in the winner’s circle.
“I was fully welcomed,” Zach said. “I’m very blessed, because it doesn’t have to be like this. And I know that.I don’t take it for granted.”
A life without golf is closer than ever for Johnson, but it doesn’t live next door. “If my body is willing, I’m still going to give it a crack,” he said.
In the girls’ division, Stella Roemer (right) of Bettendorf found herself atop the leaderboard after posting a nice 73 (+2). Roemer found her stride on the par-threes, going two-under total on those holes.
