ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — It’s too early to tell what kind of Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson will be in 2023 when the U.S. meets Europe Sept. 28-Oct. 1 at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome.
That answer usually comes after the matches and fair or unfair, is almost always linked to whether a captain’s team won or lost.
But two-time Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III offered a hint.
“He’s already ahead of the game,” Love said. “He’s on it.”
Love was referring to the myriad of organizational details that a captain and his wife have to plow through in the year or so before the matches: uniforms for the players, outfits for the wives, golf bags, practice rounds, travel, corporate functions with sponsors and meetings upon meetings with the PGA of America, the governing body for the Ryder Cup.
“I love it all,” said Johnson, who has lived on St. Simons Island since 2006. “Anything to do with the Cup, I love it.”
And the captain also has an important job, especially in recent years: make sure the preparation and attending to detail is so exhaustive that the 12-man team can show up that week and focus on golf — and hopefully keep any soap operas to a minimum.
“I’m a guy that I can’t stand drama, so it’s going to be my goal to avoid that,” Johnson said during a news conference Wednesday at the Sea Island Club, the site of this week’s RSM Classic. “It’s not always easy, it’s not always practical, it’s not always going to happen. That’s No. 1. No. 2 would be I just want to give the guys the ability to enter the most uncomfortable week in a very comfortable manner.”
Breaking a 30-year road drought
Love and 2021 captain Steve Stricker have guided the U.S. to victories in two of the last three Ryder Cups, breaking a European domination in which that continent won three in a row, and six of seven.
But Johnson has another tall task: winning a road game. The U.S. last won in Europe in 1993 at The Belfry in England. When Europe won in 2018 in France, it was its sixth victory in a row on home soil.
The odds are that Johnson will have much the same star-packed team that won 19-9 at Whistling Straits in 2021.
Unless some kind of compromise is reached with LIV Golf, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau won’t be eligible, but Johnson likely will have veterans such as Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa and Tony Finau.
But he may also have the 2021 Ryder Cup rookie foursome of Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Harris English and Daniel Berger, which combined to go 8-3-1, and some players who have yet to make a team but are racking up points, such as Will Zalatoris and Cameron Young.
Johnson said the PGA of America’s Ryder Cup “Task Force,” which established a list of best practices and a more consistent leadership process after the 2014 Ryder Cup loss under Tom Watson, has yielded results with the victories under Love and Stricker. He sees no reason to change.
“We have a system. … a template,” Johnson said. “The system for Team USA is really, really good right now. It doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to win … but it’s good and it can take on the personality year in and year out of that leader so you can stay on the same road and just have a different bus driver.”
Johnson should be well-prepared. He’s played in five Ryder Cups and has been a vice-captain for the last two, under Stricker and Jim Furyk.
Considering one of his St. Simons Island neighbors is Love, Johnson has an experienced guide through the minefields of the coming year.
Johnson’s first goal: Playing captain
Job one for Johnson is that he wants to be a Ryder Cup player. The last playing captain was Arnold Palmer in 1963 when he went 4-2 and led the U.S. to a 23-9 victory over Great Britain & Ireland at East Lake in Atlanta.
“I’m going to try to make the team,” he said. “That may be kind of smart alec-like, but it’s a Ryder Cup year, that’s always been one of my goals, right? The best things I’ve been associated with in this game have been those teams. Is that realistic? I have no idea.”
Johnson last made the Tour Championship in 2015, the year he won the second of his two major championships, the British Open at St. Andrews. He is making only his second start of the season this week.
“There were two tournaments I would have liked to have played this fall but I couldn’t play and that’s okay,” he said of Ryder Cup-related issues. “If that’s a problem, it’s a great problem. It just means I have to be really efficient in my practice.”
But in the process of still playing on the PGA Tour, he can remain close to prospective players on his team, not just practice rounds and range sessions, but trying to beat them.
“I’m kind of in that bridge between some of the youth and then some of the non-youth of the game,” he said of his age of 46. “I’m in a good position. I think it’s a smart thing to have somebody in my age group to lead the team at some point.”
Johnson will be the first Ryder Cup captain under 50 years old since Paul Azinger in 2008, and when the matches begin, will be the youngest since Tom Lehman in 2006.
“The beauty of me being captain is that I’m still around these guys almost on a weekly basis,” Johnson said. “For the most part, I’m playing a fairly full schedule, given some limitations.”
Players back Johnson
Prospective players are eager to make the team and have the chance to work with Johnson.
“He’s just got so much passion about him,” English said. “He’s very positive and just a great guy. He’s going to keep it light in there. He’s been on a lot of Ryder Cup teams, kind of seen the good and the bad and he’s going to take all the good stuff and lean on guys like Davis, lean on guys like Stricker to help him out. He’s going to be an unbelievable captain to play for.”
Brian Harman touched on Johnson’s inner fire, the intensity that stamped out two major titles and 12 PGA Tour victories despite being among the shortest hitters on Tour in an era of bombers.
“He’s a bulldog,” Harman said. “He’s a fighter and I think that’s the kind of captain that you need, especially playing that tournament overseas. You need a hard-nosed guy that cares more about winning than he does about the style points and I think he’s going to be fantastic.”
Love said Johnson has a mind for organizational details.
“He’s really good at time management, he’s really good at using his team to set up a game plan,” Love said. “We have someone smart and organized as a captain.”
Johnson said that above all, he will be himself.
“I hope I’m the same dude,” he said. “I don’t have to deviate away from being myself. The best captains I’ve ever had led by being themselves. That’s what I’m going to try to do.”
Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @GSmitter
