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SHELL HOUSTON OPENApril 4, 2015Johnson WagnerHUMBLE, TEXAS DOUG MILNE: All right, Johnson, thanks for joining us for a few minutes. 6 under, 66 today on a tournament you're very fond of. Good memories here. Just a few comments on today's round. JOHNSON WAGNER: A great day. Started off with a 50-footer for birdie on 1 that went in, kind of, and running from there made a lot of birdies early and unfortunately made my first bogey of the week on 17, but kind of glad I got it out of the way. So, I don't worry about playing a bogey-free tournament tomorrow. DOUG MILNE: How did your mindset change now that you're back in this position? One you've been in before obviously with three Tour wins. You just kind of keep doing what's working, and with that said, what is working well for you this week? JOHNSON WAGNER: Yeah. If I could just keep doing the same stuff, feel like I'll have a good chance tomorrow late. I'm driving the ball great. Putter is getting better and better every day. Got really good today and putting the ball. Q. Your dad is doing well. Is he on your mind? JOHNSON WAGNER: Certainly. He was in the hospital last week, took a turn for the worse Monday, and I flew in to San Antonio to play the Monday Pro-Am and left the golf course after three holes in the Pro-Am to go back home and he had breathing tubes in. It was really hard to see him that way, looking pretty bleak, but he had a little chalk board and wrote down, "When are you going back to San Antonio? It's mandatory for you to leave." I came back and struggled in San Antonio. He's doing better. He got home on Thursday night. He's doing great. Doing a lot better. Thank you. Q. What's your dad's name? JOHNSON WAGNER: Tommy Wagner. Q. What's his condition? JOHNSON WAGNER: He had his upper right lobe removed from his lung, a cancerous lesion, which went very well. They got great margins, took out a bunch of lymph nodes. No more cancer in there. He's had a lot of complications recovering, and he got pretty scary last week. Q. Obviously you said you didn't play well last week. That was probably -- JOHNSON WAGNER: I shot 87 Thursday. Q. That will do it. Probably weighed heavily on your mind, I would think. Kind of touch-and-go for you? JOHNSON WAGNER: We were waiting for the procedure to be done to put a stent into his right lung to open up the air passage. It was supposed to happen Thursday while I was on the course. I was checking my phone all the time. There's no excuse there. I was trying to play good golf. Just a tough day. Q. So this week what's different? You feel calmer, feel better about his situation, or are you more confident? JOHNSON WAGNER: I feel better about his situation. I've gotten a lot of good work in over the weekend. Came into Houston on Saturday morning and played out here at the members course and played at Shadow Hawk. And my caddy lives here in Houston, Matt Hauser. We've been grinding all weeks, getting back to old school, practice hard, play hard, maybe don't drink quite as many beers at night (laughter), which shockingly helps my golf game. Q. Johnson, when you won here the last time, was your dad or your family around? JOHNSON WAGNER: My wife and I traveled in an RV at the time. We were staying over in the big parking lot. My parents were both here and they had their RV at a different campground, but yeah, everybody was here. My brother wasn't, but wife and parents. Q.What is it about this course for you? JOHNSON WAGNER: I love the course. I love the Houston Golf Association. The relationship for me goes back to 2006, Nationwide Tour Championship at the Houstonian. I graduated from the Nationwide Tour and met Steve Timms, the tournament director. When I came here in '07, I was actually in the last group on Sunday in '07, finished 9th. Just loved the way the Houston Golf Association runs the tournament and they make everybody feel really comfortable. I don't think I'm getting special treatment from them, but I just feel like this is a really special week for me. Q. The course sets up really good? JOHNSON WAGNER: The course sets up great for me. I love the greens and tee shots. I know it really well. Kind of like a home course for me. Q. Are you fully exempt? JOHNSON WAGNER: No, 150th on the list. I shuffled up to 3rd or 4th in that status. I feel comfortable to get 18 to 20 starts this year. I've had a few sponsors exemptions already. I'm getting plenty of golf. I get to play Tiger's schedule, 15, 20 events, make $10 million. Q. This is a big for you in a lot of ways. JOHNSON WAGNER: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's good to play good. My goal starting the year was to win again. I don't really care if I miss every cut and if I win one tournament, it will be a successful year. I've always wanted to win golf tournaments. Q. I think I remember I was asking you last time, when you won here, were you thinking about the Masters. Now you got to be thinking about that again, right? JOHNSON WAGNER: Not to me you said that (laughter).  No. I remember when I won in '08 I, was leading Saturday night and my wife came in. She was walking our dog. Staying in the RV. I was watching the Golf Channel and Masters highlights were on. She said, "What are you doing watching Masters highlights?" You can't be focusing on that. Decided to turn the channel and watch something else? The Masters couldn't be further from my mind. Obviously, I know what winning gets, but I'm just happy to be in contention again. It's been a long time, especially in a big event like this, and I'm just happy to be playing good golf. Q. Wasn't that the scenario where you had a trip planned? JOHNSON WAGNER: I did. Q. You guys had to cancel it? JOHNSON WAGNER: Going to Charleston that Masters weekend, Brendon de Jonge and his wife, actually. He was playing the Web.com Tour at the time. We had to cancel a trip, which fortunately I think I have some plans next week that would be great to cancel but, no. I can't think about the Masters right now. Q. What are those plans? JOHNSON WAGNER: My son's birthday party. Q. You can celebrate there, right? JOHNSON WAGNER: We're getting off topic here (laughter). No more Masters talk. Q. Was it a shook to your system at all losing your card last year? JOHNSON WAGNER: No. I've had such a rollercoaster career. I finished 126th on the money list in 2010. I've been in this position before. Like I said earlier, I'm getting plenty of starts this year. It stings losing your card. There's a lot of good players. I didn't work hard enough last year and wasn't committed enough to what I was doing. It's fun to have fun again playing golf. Golf got kind of hard. It wasn't fun for a while, but it's a lot of fun right now. Q. What's changed in your process? JOHNSON WAGNER: Attitude. Attitude. I mean I've always appreciated my job and what I do and how blessed I am to be able to do it. I think you stay out on Tour for awhile, make a few million dollars and get a little complacent and get whiny. I don't want to take it for granted anymore. It's the greatest job I could ever have. I just want to do it to the best of my ability. Q. Was there a moment that sticks out as a wake-up call at some point last season or before that? JOHNSON WAGNER: No, nothing that sticks out, really. Just some poor decisions made. No, nothing really. Nothing I can share. DOUG MILNE: All right. Johnson, great playing today and best of luck tomorrow. JOHNSON WAGNER: Thanks, Doug. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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