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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT


June 4, 2006


Zach Johnson


DUBLIN, OHIO

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thanks, Zach, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center.

Great effort this week, you've got to be pretty proud of yourself. Obviously, Carl played great today and kept a little ahead of you today. Talk about being back in that position again to win, and also just the week. It was a long, long week.

ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, it was. It was an extremely long week. I am happy the way I finished, obviously. I hit a lot of good shots, especially on the back nine. I'm very pleased with that. But like you said, it was a long week. I guess that's just kind of this this place is kind of tainted with that. But that's never going to make it any it's a great place to be.

Q. How much were you thinking in terms of catching Pettersson, were you looking at the scoreboard, was that your focus?

ZACH JOHNSON: No, it really wasn't. I was really focused on just hitting quality shots. And early on, I think I turned at 1 under and that was about as good as it was going to get, considering how I was hitting it. And I hit some good ones in the back. I figured if I paid attention to the process of each shot, rather than the scoreboard, good things would happen. I had some opportunities. I had an eagle putt that I missed and 3 putt here and bogey there. I had opportunities.

Q. Quite the entourage there coming off 18, family wise?

ZACH JOHNSON: That's pretty awesome. You want the story? My aunt and uncle, it's their 30th wedding anniversary. And they just I don't know, they decided to take a road trip. And my parents came with them. It was like a nine, ten hour drive for them from Iowa. It was nice. My father in law flew up for the week. My uncle, and his girlfriend were there, too. It was a great week.

Q. Is that a help? Is that pressure to perform with all the familiar faces around?

ZACH JOHNSON: You know, I'm pretty used to it. Seems like there's always somebody in the crowd that I know, whether it's family or friends. I think it kind of pumps me up, the support. Regardless if they're or not, they're definitely supporting me. It's not as if they're supporting me just because they're there. Iowa is a small place, but they've got a pretty big gathering, so they tell me.

Q. Where are they from?

ZACH JOHNSON: Cedar Rapids, where I grew up.

Q. You moved into the top 10 today on Ryder Cup points. Obviously it's a ways away and there's three big events that count towards that. But how important is that to you in the scheme of things to get on a team this year?

ZACH JOHNSON: It's probably the most important thing as far as my goal setting this year. But I don't want to get too caught up in it. If I get too caught up in it, things kind of go astray. Phil actually said something to me on No. 1, the last round at BellSouth in Atlanta, and he's like, "Take care of business on the course." And that kind of stuff, those loftier goals will take care of themselves. I think he's 100 percent correct. It's nice to hear it from arguably one of the world's best, if not the best. And that's a goal of mine. At the same time, I feel like all of us Americans that do or don't make it, we've got to support whoever does make it. It's a team event.

Q. Zach, do you would you be surprised to see furrows in the bunkers anywhere else on the Tour this year?

ZACH JOHNSON: Seeing that there's a rules official in the place, I'm not going to answer that question. I have no idea, just kidding.

Q. How about your final assessment of the bunkers here?

ZACH JOHNSON: Penalizing. Bottom line is they are hazards. It's not as if they're supposed to be easy. Phil today made them look extremely easy. It was quite impressive. He made shots, he stuck shots, I don't have any idea how he did it, but he's obviously a freakish talent. You can still play out of them. It's probably 50/50 you get a decent lie, but at the same time, it is a hazard. I don't want to say you're supposed to get a penalty shot out of it. It's supposed to be somewhat penalizing. The sand density is great. Around the greens they're fine, I think.

Q. Could you say where you missed the eagle putt and where was it?

ZACH JOHNSON: That was No. 15. I hit driver and a cut 3 wood to probably 8 feet, 7, 8 feet, just didn't hit it. It was more uphill than I anticipated it.

Q. Was it more comfortable playing the final round with Phil today, because he's somebody that you've played with before?

ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, absolutely. The first time I ever played with him was actually Atlanta, that Sunday. I don't think we've ever played a practice round together. We tried, but it hasn't worked out. Very much so. He's very easy to play with. His rhythm of his game in general is very I don't know, it's easy just to kind of walk along. And better yet, he's very encouraging, good shots, on whether you made the bogey or birdie, he's very encouraging. He's very positive, which I enjoy. If he plays well, I seem to play better when other guys play well.

Q. Going back to the Ryder Cup thing for a minute, Brett just said he wasn't likely to change his schedule much as time got closer, how about you, would you think about it?

ZACH JOHNSON: I haven't given it a lot of thought yet. I kind of got my schedule charted out and I'm playing quite a bit. I'm taking next week off, playing The Open and then taking Booz Allen off, but then I'm hitting it pretty hard. Getting back to the Midwest, those courses I enjoy. And then obviously heading overseas. I may. I don't particularly like to look at numbers and stats. I know where I sit, to an extent. My wife sure does, anyway. So I think I don't know, it's something I'm going to be thinking about once the time comes. The big ones are obviously the three majors from here on out.

Q. Could we have a rundown on the card?

ZACH JOHNSON: 2, I had a good drive, and then hit 4 iron to about three and a half, four feet. I anticipated a slight draw, and it stayed dead straight right to the hole and almost went in. I don't want to say it was a mistake, but it certainly paid off. I was lucky.

6, I hit a good drive and I had mud on right side of my ball, and took my ball 45 feet left of the hole. But I couldn't aim right of the hole, because there was junk right of the hole, the pin is tucked right. And I 3 putted from probably 45 feet. I hit a bad first putt. Hit a good second putt.

9, I hit a good 3 wood there and a good wedge to about 12, 13 feet and made a good putt. That was a tough putt. It broke a good foot, foot and a half.

10 I made bogey, hit a pretty poor drive and pretty average 2 iron as a result and flubbed my sand shot. I had one foot in, one foot out of the sand trap, I think and then got up and down for a bogey, so I actually made a decent bogey.

14, I hit a 2 iron and then a lob wedge, it landed way beyond the hole and spun back to probably, oh, I'd say 8 to 10 feet and made that.

And then 15 I hit a good drive and was in a divot, actually, and hit a cut 3 wood out of the divot to about 8 feet for eagle, left it short.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thanks, Zach, for joining us.

End of FastScripts.
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