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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Zach Johnson has two majors and 12 PGA Tour titles, so there’s not much left he has to prove.
But there is a shortlist of tournaments he’d love to add to his career resume before he’s done.
Both are separated by about 75 miles of I-95 and he’s right in the thick of contention for the event he considers a home game, the RSM Classic at the Sea Island Club, near his St. Simons Island home.
Johnson shot 71 on Friday at the Plantation Course, battling gusty wind and chilly temperatures along with the rest of the field. But combined with his opening-round 61 on Thursday under benign conditions at the Seaside Course, and it adds up to 10-under 132 and a tie for sixth, three shots behind leader Talor Gooch.
Not many players post a score 10 shots higher than the previous day’s round, and make the statement: “my round was really good.”
But Johnson would, and it involves a dose of context. The temperature dropped 10 degrees from the previous day and the wind went from calm to 25 mph, gusting even higher coming off the Atlantic Ocean.
“I hit a lot of solid shots,” he said. “Some panned out, some did not. I think when you have winds and gusts of this nature, that’s going to happen. It’s the nature of the beast right now. The only commonality between yesterday and today is that we played 18 holes. It was vastly different but that’s a cool thing, too. It’s a cool thing about golf and these conditions.”
Johnson put some shots in the bank early, with birdies at Nos. 14 and 15, then a spectacular eagle at the par-5 18th. He flew a hybrid 222 yards into the green, with the ball stopping 3 feet from the hole.
It wasn’t an easy putt, with the break going opposite the wind direction. But he dropped it to take the lead at the time.
“It was one of those shots where I was like, ‘I’m going to stay a little left of the right trap and if it goes over the green, because it’s so straight downwind, it’s fine, I’m putting, chipping…
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Source : yahoo
