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HERO WORLD CHALLENGEDecember 3, 2014Zach JohnsonWINDERMERE, FLORIDA JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome our defending champion, Zach Johnson into the interview room. He won the Hero World Challenge in his sixth start at this event and had two additional runner‑up finishes, so it's obviously an event that you enjoy. Just comment on you being back. ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, no, I do. I love being back. Any time you get invited to a tournament like this you know you've done something right. I thoroughly enjoy 18‑man fields. That makes it a lot more fun. And I like no cuts. In all seriousness, certainly what the foundation is doing, you know, it's easy to be a part of because they're doing a lot of good things for a lot of good kids. You know, having my own foundation now, obviously a different initiative, but we're helping. I applaud him. I certainly applaud his foundation and what they're doing. I know there is a purse here. I know there is obviously Hero stuff on board and then you have all these great entertainers and golfers. But when it comes down to it, this is a foundation event. I'm not saying that we don't know that, but I don't want that to go astray. It's easy to be a part of, and it's a nice way to end the year. JOHN BUSH: Before we open it up for questions, just comment on the state of your game coming into the week. ZACH JOHNSON: Well, I don't even know how to answer that. I've played one tournament since the Ryder Cup. That was in my back yard. I missed the cut at the McGladrey. Well, whatever, that's beside the point. I just hadn't played much. I hadn't practiced much. Since that point I touched a club once for a corporate event. So I have taken a lot of time off. I feel a little rusty. I don't know if rusty is the right word. My hands hurt. They're kind of raw right now from swinging because I haven't done it in very long. But when I needed it. I been in the gym a lot. My game, you know, I think it'll come around. I'm not too worried about it. I actually hit it okay today and putted somewhat decent. The course is pure. All that being said, I'm encouraged with the directions of my game. Whether or not it'll surface this week is yet to be seen. JOHN BUSH: Questions. Q. What is your idea of this venue? Of course the tournament has now shifted to a new venue. Do you think this course suits your game, and how would you rate your own chances here? Considering it rained yesterday, Tiger mentioned the fact that rain and a few other factors obviously made the course slightly more different from how you had planned for it initially. ZACH JOHNSON: Sure. Q. So what's your idea of this venue, and do you think it suits your game? ZACH JOHNSON: Well, you know, if I can get picky here, I really enjoyed Sherwood. I mean, obviously. John mentioned two runner‑ups; is that right? JOHN BUSH: Two runner‑ups. ZACH JOHNSON: And a win. So clearly I enjoyed that venue. How many times have I played in this tournament? JOHN BUSH: Six. ZACH JOHNSON: This is my seventh, so you do the math there. I did live in Orlando for a good probably eight‑plus years. I'm not too unfamiliar with this golf course. I think it's probably one of the best in central Florida. You can argue it is the best as far as challenge goes. It is difficult, but it's fair. It's not like it's outrageous. The rain that came‑ was that yesterday already? I was surprised at some tee shots. The ball was rolling. I think that's probably just indicative of the fact they put a lot of sand in these fairways and the superintendant have done some great work. I don't know if the rain will have anything to do‑‑ I don't think it'll make it any different than what it was Monday. Does to fit my game? I think Sherwood fit my game more so. That being said, I've never had a competition on this golf course yet. That remains to be seen. But it's a great, fair test. They pushed some tee boxes up, which is nice ‑ certainly for me. And the greens re perfect. And you still have to hit fairways. So I think what you're going to sigh is the one that plays the best is going to win. That's the way it should be. I'm not saying that's not the way it is usually, but sometimes you can kind of fake your way around. I don't think you can fake your way around here. Q. After Kapalua this year you talked how winning this tournament a year ago gave you some momentum going into that one. Can you think in those terms this week about what a big week here could mean for you going forward in the next calendar year? ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, no, I think that's really one of the most attractive features of this tournament is the date. It just works in my schedule. Like I said, I have taken a lot of time off. This used to be the time of year where it was called the silly season, right? Excuse me, as you guys said. I'm just kidding. Kind of. Now all these tournaments, one, they mean something; two, they've gotten big in their stature. I would say this one is one of them now that we have official World Golf Ranking points, et cetera, et cetera. What is great is the date. What's great about it is it matters to a degree. And also, we're still playing four rounds of golf. Next week is a great week. The Shark Shootout. I'm not playing, but it's a great week.  It's different than this week. This tournament certainly can give you an indication for January or whatever your start is in the next calendar year. Yeah, like you said, it certainly probably ‑‑ well, I mean, the BMW catapulted the end of my year into this week least year, and then obviously this week catapulted me into Hawaii. So there is something to be said about momentum. Q. It's the time of year when guys look at stats and back at the year that was. Anything surprised you, good or bad, in your stats, and when you do start getting ready for next year that you're going to address? ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, I was a little surprised that based on some of the objectives that we set I accomplished a good number of them. There were a couple I fell short of. If there was‑ I don't want to say surprise or shock‑ but there was one specific stat that I think probably most people would assume I flourish in or I am pretty consistent in and excel in, if you will, and that's putting. Strokes game. It was terrible. It was horrible. Last year I actually hit the ball pretty good. I was top whatever it was in driving accuracy. Go figure. I hit my wedges close. Go figure. And a lot of greens in regulation as result of hitting fairways. So my putting was suspect at best. It was very average. Obviously that needs to be part of my emphasis for the next year. All that being said, I still got to maintain I guess the positives and my strong suits if I want to get better. Q. (No microphone.) ZACH JOHNSON: Possibly. Yeah, I think it was probably that combination of technical, mental, probably sometimes even emotional. Hard to really pinpoint. There are certain things I can probably do‑‑ it's one of those weird stats or situations. Like inside 10 feet, once again, I was great. Or 8 feet in particular I was great. But like 8 to 25 feet it was horrendous. Lag putts were actually a lot better. My 3‑putted avoidance was really good, so you would expect that my putting wouldn't be that bad. But that 8 feet to 25 feet, for whatever reason, was really bad. You know, we can pick it apart more. I've got some guys that are kind of doing that. And the only reason to pick it apart, ore is to try pinpoint some drills or gains, if you will, on the putting green that I can do to maybe get me in a better position or even a better frame of mind. Q. Do you like the idea of a Ryder Cup Task Force? ZACH JOHNSON: Task Force? I don't dislike that there is I guess you would say a committee or Task Force. Personally I would love to know specifically what they're doing. But that being said, I don't want to say it's none of my business, but frankly it's none of my business. And the only reason I say that is because I like having individuals that really know what's going on inside the ropes congregating and hashing things out. I think communication needs to be prevalent. Probably needs to be a priority more so than it has in the past between the entities that really know what's going on and those that are making decisions. If that's the committee that's going to start making decisions, well, I think that's probably not a bad thing. I just don't know what they're going to be doing specifically. Q. They're looking for ways to improve the whole process. ZACH JOHNSON: That's just it. If it's changing the way our team is formed or selected, if it's changing the way the team is actually‑‑ not assembled. What's the word? Constructed, meaning assistant captains and captains and that kind of thing, or if there is going to be almost like an expectation set with each captain and associate captain, then that's fine. All that being said, it's not going to translate into a W immediately or even Ws down the road. But there are little things along the way that I think can be done to better our team and our chances. Does that make sense? Q. Yes, it does. There is a school of thought that says by doing this you're giving a little bit more of a psychological advantage to the Europeans because you've gotten to this point. ZACH JOHNSON: Right. Yeah, I don't know. I don't have any idea. Bottom line is this. Well, two things. It's really never as bad as it seems and it's never as good as it seems. Alongside of that, number two, we're not that far off. I mean, we did lose this year. I felt like‑‑ excuse me, they won it this year. They won it this year. I thought we lost it in 2012. Were in terrific position in 2012 and we just played poorly as a team on Sunday. We lost that one. Bottom line is we got to play better. You know, I'm not trying to sugarcoat it. We got to play better. I don't mean it dumb it down any more than that either. But we've got to play better. They played great. They played great going into it. I thought we had a really good chance of winning just because of the camaraderie and chemistry we had. More than that, I thought everybody seemed pretty confident. You look at the guys that played well for them that week, they were playing great going into it. As a result, they won.  Like I said, I don't think we're that far off. My guess is that Task Force is going to try to take all the information, brainstorm, condense it down, and try to simplify things. At least that's my hope. It's not rocket science. The guys still got to play. It's one week. I don't buy into the fact ‑ and I know you guys don't either ‑ that we're not close as a team. If anything, we're ‑‑ well, I don't know. I can't compare ourselves with that team. But we are very close. It's not like we don't want to win for each other. If anything, we probably want to win too much for each other. Q. I don't know if you had a chance to see any video footage or maybe you've been on the range with the Tiger swinging now that he's come back. If you have, does it look familiar? What are... ZACH JOHNSON: My eyes are so bad when it comes to changes and that sort of thing. Evidently so are my hands. I saw him hit balls‑‑ was that Monday? I think it was Monday. JOHN BUSH: Yeah. ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, it was me, T, Cookie, Stricks were done there hitting balls. I watched five shots, maybe ten shots. Looked like 8‑irons, 5‑irons, that kind of thing. It looked great. I mean, the compression looked there; the turn looked there. It's really just one of those things. Watched the first two, three, four balls and then it hit me, Oh, wait a minute, he hasn't played in a while. It looked like he was just kind of riding a bike. I feel like I'm used to seeing him enough and see him hit shots it's not that uncommon. Even though we haven't seen him in a while. I have to really look at it to give you and opinion as to what's different or if there is any change. I just hope he's healthy. Q. How bizarre is it to digest the fact that when you beat Tiger in the playoff this year when you got in this tournament a year later that would have been his last top 10? ZACH JOHNSON: How many starts has he had? Q. That's not the question. ZACH JOHNSON: That is very bizarre. It's Tiger Woods. Let's be a realist. How many starts? A handful? I mean, my next question would be‑‑ it's bizarre. It's strange. Q. You're not answering the question. ZACH JOHNSON: I know I'm not. My guess is he averages 1., 2., 3. some odd tournaments. I don't have any idea what it is. Maybe more than that. Maybe 50% of the time Top 10s. It's strange. Certainly in my opinion you're talking about the best player that I ever played with or witnessed. Yeah, that's really, really strange. But I guess if you think about it, I've had some injuries and nicks and knacks and it's hard when you're hurt. You compensate even the slightest on this game against these guys and it's not a good thing out here. Q. Are you at all curious about him or any other players? ZACH JOHNSON: About the form? Q. Yeah. ZACH JOHNSON: No. I mean, you know, I certainly as a fan of the game and a guy that admires what he's done, yeah, I would be interested to see what he's done this week. Just glad he's playing and I hope he's healthy. Like I said that's the main thing. To show you how little I know about this week, I asked Damon what time Rory tees off tomorrow. If that answers your questions about what I know. There you go. Just an assumption. I knew he lived in Florida, or part of the time, and just figured he would be playing. One of the caddies in our group said, No, he's not here. JOHN BUSH: Anything else? Got any more questions for them? ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah. You guys eat a lot of turkey? I hope. That's what matters. JOHN BUSH: Thanks for joining us, Zach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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