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THE HONDA CLASSIC

February 28, 2019

Zach Johnson

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Q. Really good start. Had a little bit of everything out there, hole-outs, some bounce-backs, some birdies on the card. You have to be really pleased you got off to a good start.
ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, it was very pleasing. I had a couple bogeys where I hit some good shots, too. I guess you're going to do that here. It is the Bear Trap. But then kind of towards the latter part of my front nine, things started to really click, hit solid shots, gave myself numerous opportunities and capitalized on a few. That's all you can ask for on a golf course that tests you.

Q. I thought we got here this week, a little lusher, really a premium on making sure you're keeping yourself in position.
ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, I've always liked it. I say that, but if you're off here, it exposes you. I think it really does reward quality shots, good ball-striking. Brand new greens, so with that, being fairly conservative on some of your lines into these greens, kind of middle of the greens because they're so small is typically advantageous. That rain we had Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning softened the greens up a little bit, so you could be a little more aggressive, which is nice, but it's still a very, very good test.

Q. You look refreshed. I know you haven't played since Phoenix. What were the last couple weeks like getting ready for the Florida Swing?
ZACH JOHNSON: It was great. I'm a guy that -- we'll just say in my season in life, I enjoy time off, and I need it, just because of what's going on outside the ropes with family and all sorts of other endeavors, a foundation, that sort of thing, so time away is never bad, and I'm going to play a pretty good stretch here, so my scheduling has been a premium. It's been a priority. It always is, but it's really been a priority as of late. I'm not playing quite as many events as I have in the past, but that's okay. I feel like I can be more fresh, like you mentioned, but it's going to need and require exactly what you said, and that's great preparation going into these weeks, and I had a really good prep week last week.

Q. I know you appreciate coming into a tournament fresh. We haven't seen you since the Waste Management Phoenix Open. After an up-and-down front nine, how satisfied are you overall?
ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, very satisfied, in the sense that I hit a lot of good shots, capitalized on a few of those, gave myself a lot of opportunities, which on a course like this, a facility like this, fairways and greens really works here. The wind kind of swirled there in the middle of 2. We were getting some mixed winds kind of when the cloud cover lifted. It was still hard. It's obviously been more difficult here when it's firm. The rain a couple days ago softened it up a little, but yeah, up and down on the front and then really solid on the back.

Q. How receptive were the greens? And finishing with a birdie must be a nice finish.
ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, the finish was great. I actually hit a really good putt on 17. I'm still hurt about that one. But that's okay. It was a good way to finish with a six-, seven-footer there.

Greens were -- quality shots were received well, meaning spin. If you landed it on a downhill, potentially a downgrain patch, yeah, you could get a kick or a release, but early on, it was playing longer, especially in the morning with the temperatures, and it was actually more wind and overcast. I was wearing out my 6's and 5-irons early on. As I made the turn, get a little bit more loft in your hands and get a little more aggressive, I just gave myself opportunities.

Q. Could you sum up your day?
ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, front nine was colorful. I mean, I actually hit some good shots and just didn't really get anything out of them early on -- I mean, granted, I made some birdies, too, but there was a couple bogeys there where I really didn't do anything wrong, I just didn't execute properly I guess you'd say around the hole. But it was good. I mean, I put myself in position to eliminate big numbers and even give myself an opportunity to make small numbers.

I think that's the key here, I mean, kind of navigating this place off the tee and into the greens. The fat of the green is typically your best approach shot. I don't care what hole it's on, and I don't care really where the pin is. You've got to pay attention because sometimes short side is better than being long or whatever you want to call it. It just requires every muscle in your body, specifically your brain, to navigate it.

Q. Your results over the years here haven't been the best. Are you finding something this year that maybe you lacked in the past?
ZACH JOHNSON: You're talking about this week --

Q. Yeah.
ZACH JOHNSON: Well, I don't want to get too complacent or even caught up in the fact that it's just one round. I don't think there's anything more to it than that. I mean, I've had three weeks off, and I had -- probably the last eight to ten days of really, really, really good work. Maybe some self-analysis and then also some golf analysis, if you will, technical analysis, too. Nothing has been rewritten, nothing has been changed or even -- not a big push or pull any which way, but it's just been really good, kind of getting back to -- I think from a mindset and from a technical standpoint, what we want to do. I've always been pretty good about that, but this is a hard game, and in any endeavor that's difficult like this, you're going to get off it sometimes. I've got a great team of guys that trust me, keep me accountable and push me, and that's -- again, it's one round, but regardless of what my scorecard would have said today, I would have been very encouraged. I'm very encouraged with the direction of my golf game.

Q. What did you work on?
ZACH JOHNSON: Primarily putting. Yeah, my ball-striking has been pretty good in the last so many odd months. And my short game has been pretty good, too. Wedges are typically okay. Putter has been the one that has been lacked -- very inconsistent, streaky, more streaky than it has been in the past. Getting back to the basics there. I had a lot of help with it the last week, week and a half, so it's been really good.

Q. How would you sum up 2018, and how easy was it to kind of try and move past that and look ahead?
ZACH JOHNSON: Well, '18, I don't really know how -- I'm not overly happy about it. I mean, if I find the positives, I think I missed a cut. That's about the only one I can think of. Maybe I missed two. I can't recall. I'd have to go back and take a look. I probably played 24 or 25 times. I had opportunities going into the week. I had a slew of top 25s, but that's not good enough out here. That's not why I play. That's not why any of these guys I'm assuming play. I want to win, but more than winning, I just want to give myself an opportunity down the stretch, because it's hard.

I only had probably two or three, three or four of those last year really, I felt like, on a Sunday on a back nine. Probably three or four. So I want more of that. We've done some good work in the off-season and coming into this year -- I haven't played much, so it's time to start playing a little bit.

Q. How does the course compared to previous years in terms of difficulty?
ZACH JOHNSON: There's similarities and there's differences. The differences would be the fact that they're brand new greens. The grain hasn't settled. I think a year from now but specifically two years from now, they're going to be really, really good because of the new type of grass they have. They can monitor the saturation level better, the consistency of it at least, and the grain will be much more consistent.

They're good now, don't get me wrong. But you can kind of see that they're not quite settled. There are kind of maybe some waves in there at times, but they roll really good. If you hit a good putt on the right line, it's going to go in. It's not like it's going to wiggle too much. That would be the difference.

The similarities are that you have to hit fairways and you have to really be conservative on certain holes as to where you want to place the ball off the tee and into the greens.

Q. You managed to stay safe through the Bear Trap today. What are you reminded of as you go through those holes?
ZACH JOHNSON: Well, I think the key there is not to focus on the fact -- on what it is, meaning what we've seen in the past, whether it's on television or on the scorecard. The focus there has just got to be each singular shot and what it requires and that sort of thing. I think we did a pretty good job of that. I hit one errant shot, but it wasn't that bad, and I was able to still give myself a chance at a birdie. Again, that goes -- I was saying it over there, I think this is a course and a facility where middle of the club face is imperative. I mean, in the sense that a missed shot here, even though it may be on the right line, still could be costly, mis-hit shot of direction is going to be really costly, but a solid shot, more times than not you're going to have an opportunity and you're eliminating the big number, specifically on 15 through 17.

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