Zach Johnson

Elmcrest CC, in Cedar Rapids, is where it all started when I was growing up. The tree-lined course has a very demanding layout that requires you to be accurate off the tee and avoid a number of well-placed water hazards on some of the holes.

I don't know if I have a brand. I just see myself as an athlete and a competitor, someone who just works really hard at trying to get better at golf. I guess I'm kind of the feel-good story who's seen every level of professional golf.

I've come a long way since 2007 when I kind of launched my golf career.

When you're trying to accomplish lofty goals, and when you're attacking something of great magnitude, you have to have help.

Goal setting will never stop. I will continue to work hard and practice hard and see where things go.

Golf is not my priority. I would hope people see me as a Christian man who loved his family, who loved being in the heat of competition and sometimes succeeded at it; who understood that golf was his job and that he was very lucky to play it for a living.

I don't hit it as far as a lot of guys do, so I have to be in the right spot in the fairway to score, and that means driving it well. The two biggest keys for me are to make a good transition and to keep my hands ahead of the clubhead through impact. I want to feel as if my swing is two swings: one going back and another coming down.

If I'm trying to rebound after a bad hole, I just go back to tempo and process and rhythm, and I cling to my routine.

I'm kind of a grinder. I'm a Cinderella, an underdog story who fights.

I'm a foodie. I enjoy it a lot, and contrary to what it looks, I eat a lot. My comfort food, of all things, would be southern soul barbecue.

Sports formed me. I was always decently skilled but lacked size, so I had to resort to using my skill versus my power. I strategically play golf because that's all I can do. It's the same on the basketball court. I try to get open and shoot it. Or I use the open space on the soccer field.

Early in the winter of 2002, I gave my life to the Lord. Before I was one, I always thought being a Christian would be boring. In reality, it has been the complete opposite.