Zach Johnson was fitted for a Green Jacket and drank out of the Claret Jug during his PGA Tour career. Now he’s ready to drink from the fountain youth. Johnson, who turned 50 on Feb. 24, is set to make his PGA Tour Champions debut on Friday at the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational in Boca Raton, Fla.
“Most of the guys are like, you’re just here for the pro-am, right, because you’re not 50 yet?” Johnson said on Thursday during a pre-tournament press conference at The Old Course at Broken Sound.
Zach Johnson of the United States plays his shot from the second tee during the first round of the John Deere Classic 2025 at TPC Deere Run on July 03, 2025 in Silvis, Illinois.
Johnson is the quintessential grinder who squeezed all the juice from the pulp and won 12 times on Tour, including the 2007 Masters and 2015 British Open. But during the last two years, he recorded just one top-10 finish – a T-8 at the 2025 Masters – and while he might dabble from time to time to play a favorite tournament against the flat bellies, he’s ready to commit to the senior circuit and already has signed up for the Cologuard Classic and Hoag Classic later this month ahead of the Masters. He’s gathered advice from the likes of Darren Clarke, Chris DiMarco and Paul Stankowski and is making the rounds to a host of familiar faces.
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“Being a rook all over again, I welcome it,” Johnson said. “Stankowski’s like, yeah, your late 40s you feel so old and then you get out here and it’s the only profession where you go from being old to young, and there may be some truth in that.
“This is an outlet to still go do what we love to do and compete. Sounds like it’s a little more chill, I’ve felt that. And there’s less guys in the field, which is amazing.”
During the press conference, Johnson was shown a video from his Korn Ferry Tour days when he was young and dreaming of making a living at the game.
“We were trunk slammers. I would literally carry my bag at a lot of tournaments, throw ’em in the trunk and then drive off, stop at a Subway and find a Super 8. Those are the years that mold you, and fortunately they weren’t very many but at the same time I look back on it and I’m like that’s what was supposed to happen,” Johnson said. “I’m grateful for that. I mean, that’s what molds you, that’s what builds character and certainly helps you endure.”
Phil Mickelson presents Zach Johnson with the Masters green jacket after Johnson’s two-stroke victory at The Masters at the Augusta National Golf Club on April 8, 2007 in Augusta, Georgia.
Johnson said he may need a little time to get used to 54-hole tournaments being a sprint and not a marathon, but he’ll go from being one of the shortest hitters on the PGA Tour to being plenty long on the Champions Tour and the rest of his game has aged well. While much of the talk has surrounded the possibility of another newly 50-year-old major winner by the name of Tiger Woods coming out, kicking butt and taking names, don’t count out that Johnson might be the more likely one to do so.
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“I haven’t had a chance on Sunday in quite some time, so that’s a different — I won’t say it’s a different environment, I am accustomed to it, but it’s just been a minute,” Johnson said. “So with that, I think I’ve really got to manage my emotions and expectations and do what I do because I’ve had success in that environment.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Zach Johnson makes PGA Tour Champions debut at 50
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