DETROIT – Zach Johnson loves talking about the Ryder Cup.
Speaking at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last week, the U.S. team captain invited questions on an array of topics related to this September’s road game for the Stars and Stripes. Johnson, winner of 12 PGA Tour titles and two majors among them, has the unenviable task of trying to end the U.S.’s losing streak on foreign soil, which dates to 1993, in Rome at Marco Simone GC.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever been associated with in golf,” Johnson said of the biennial matches for which he represented the U.S. as a player five times between 2006 and 2016, earning a cumulative nine points.
Johnson knows he’s got a tough task ahead of him but he also might have one of the deepest and most talented teams in some time – top six in points automatically qualify and then he can choose six more players to round out his team. Currently, 14 of the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking are Americans (including Will Zalatoris, who is sidelined with a back injury).
What role, if any, will Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have with Team USA? Has he lost any sleep worrying about the job? And why his wife, Kim, is headed to Rome on another fact-finding mission. Johnson touches on that and more in this Ryder Cup-specific Q&A.
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