Game shaping up just in time for 2007 Masters champ Johnson

Zach Johnson has the confidence of entering the Masters Tournament after winning a major championship the previous year for the first time since 2008.

The 2007 Masters champion won the British Open last year in a playoff and has been looking forward to this week for a special reason: He can finally take a photograph of his green jacket – which can’t leave the club premises – together with the claret jug for winning the Open.

Or, as he pointed out, drink something out of the jug while wearing the green jacket. Either way, it’s the rare accomplishment in sports to hold both the most recognizable jacket and jug at the same time.

“You’re talking about two of the biggest, iconic symbols in sports,” he said. “To have the honor to don the green jacket and drink out of the claret jug is pretty special.”

Johnson said his game is coming together after some rough moments this season – two missed cuts and a tie for 47th at the World Golf Championship event at Doral, with an 80 in the final round.

He rebounded the next week with a solo fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (with four under-par rounds) and tied for ninth at the WGC-Match Play, reaching the round of 16 with three lopsided victories before losing to defending champion Rory McIlroy 1-up.

Johnson said a change in equipment, from Titleist to PXG (Parsons Extreme Golf), also seems to be taking hold.

“It takes a bit of time to get the bag situated,” he said. “I’m very encouraged about what I have in there and where I’m going. It’s just a matter of time. It’s a process and being patient is probably the operative word.”

Johnson went through a difficult spell in majors after his 2007 victory at Augusta, which matched the high score for a winner at 1-over 289. He didn’t have another top-10 finish in a major for 11 more starts until a tie for 10th in the 2009 PGA at Hazeltine National, and then tied for third in the 2010 PGA at Whistling Straits.

The roller coaster went back down as Johnson had only one top-10 finish over his next 10 major starts. A tie for sixth in the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield, however, ignited his best stretch of finishes in majors. Johnson has four top-10 finishes in his past 10 starts, and 2015 was the second season in his past three that he had two top-10s in majors in the same season.

Johnson said experience is what has mattered.

“More seasons, more experience,” the 40-year-old Iowa native said. “I’m a better player than I was six years ago. Plus, I’m starting to see some of those (major) courses more than once. Last year was my third time at St. Andrews.”

He said he’ll never have any problems being in a good frame of mind at Augusta.

“It’s the Masters ... it’s not hard to get pumped up and in that competitive spirit to play here,” he said.

Johnson said during a news conference Monday that he starts thinking about the next Masters “usually after I finish the 18th hole on Sunday.”