Zach Johnson has made a habit of skipping big golf events this year.
He decided not to play the first senior major championship of the year, the Regions Tradition, despite being a rookie on the senior tour.
Advertisement
As a two-time major winner and winner of The Open in 2015, Johnson is eligible to play at Royal Birkdale in two weeks’ time. But the American has decided not to bother competing for the Claret Jug.
The 50-year-old is playing in the John Deere Classic this week, so this isn’t a matter of health. He explained his decision to skip The Open after his opening round of the PGA Tour event.
Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Zach Johnson skips The Open because of busy schedule
Johnson is playing in his first season of the PGA Tour Champions this year, and he’s keeping a busy schedule. So busy that The Open Championship is the event he’s deciding to skip over some of the senior events that he’s playing.
Advertisement
Speaking at the John Deere, he said, “I am eligible for the Open. I am not going to participate this year. I can’t play four weeks in a row. I’ve already missed — I missed Birmingham, which was a major. When was that? March? April? I forget. We had a wedding.
“I’m missing the U.S. Senior Open this week. Next week is a major, and then the Senior Open is a major, obviously the very next week after the Open, so I’m not going to play four in a row.”
Johnson is playing on the PGA Tour this week, and he was asked if he has any more tour events on his schedule for the rest of the year.
He replied, “I don’t know. I haven’t gotten — we plot and we plan, but I mean, I hope I can play RSM. That would be great. That’s at home and a partner, as well, so I would think that one is probably very — I don’t want to say probable, but it certainly has potential.
Advertisement
“No, I don’t have any other plans other than that, as of right now. That’s not in my equation.”
Johnson has made his priorities clear here. He missed a major championship for a wedding, and is prioritizing the John Deere over The Open Championship. At this point of his career, there are clearly more important things than golf.
Padraig Harrington makes Zach Johnson’s comments look ridiculous
Playing in four events in a row might be too much for Johnson at the age of 50, but Padraig Harrington at 54-years-old is running rings around the American.
He’s currently in the middle of a stretch of playing eight events in a row, which includes the Senior US Open and The Open Championship.
Advertisement
When asked about his packed schedule at the Senior US Open, Harrington said, “I’m playing eight in a row at the moment. This is number four… When I’m 70 years of age, I won’t regret playing an extra event.”
“Who wouldn’t want to do what I do? Every tournament I turn up to, it’s in the best condition that golf course can be for us. Everything is looked after. Everything is like as good as can be…”
“So each week I play golf, and I have to try and remind myself of this, each week I play golf is like for a normal person who’s into their golf, they would save all their money to have that one week’s holiday a year, and I get to do it 30 times a year. That’s not lost on me. I love playing golf. I love being out here competing.”
“Yeah, so I don’t have a problem playing lots of events. Like when I started as a pro, 28 tournaments was your standard. It’s really got lost in this world, this idea of only playing 20 tournaments or something like that. It was always 28 as a pretty much standard back in the day.”
Advertisement
That’s an inspirational message from a man who is truly in love with the game. Harrington’s comments are a million miles away from Johnson’s as he skips the final major of the year.
Read the full article here