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‘Dislikable Punchable Face’: Zach Johnson Finds No Mercy From Fans Despite Strong Revival Attempts

Published 05/04/2024, 11:58 PM EDT

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via Reuters

After several drought years, failing himself to land even in the Top 10 on any list of events on the PGA Tour, Zach Johnson is finally buckling up to make things shine for him! He has come back with an improved form for the CJ Cup Byron Nelson at the TPC Craig Range, McKinney, in Texas.

Currently landed on the T11 position, for 13-under 146, he is tied with 9 other players after the third round a few hours ago. Nonetheless, the golf community still seems to hold a grudge against him for the Ryder Cup mishap, and his improved form does not seem to lure them!

Zach Johnson lands a Top-5 in the opening round

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Zach Johnson began the first round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson with a birdie at the par 4 hole 1, which gained him a total of 6 birdies in the entire round. With just 1 bogey throughout the round, he scored a 5-under 66 at the championship. This earned him a T2. The official X (formerly Twitter) account of the PGA Tour shared his performance and wrote, “A strong start on Moving Day In his 500th PGA TOUR start, @ZachJohnsonPGA is T2 and two back @CJByronNelson

He did pretty well, in the next two rounds, maintaining the same streak in round 2, and a 4-under 67 in Round 3. As the 2nd round dropped him down to the 13th position, the third round landed him just one position below the top 10. The CJ Cup Byron Nelson concludes in just a few hours, giving him a shot at redemption for all these years, and with his form, it does not look very fetched.

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However, his mistakes have not been forgotten! With the unexpected twist at the 2023 Ryder Cup, where Keegan Bradley was not given a spot, but Zach Johnson was made the captain of the US team, the golf community was not very happy. To elevate the drama, the captain had major lapses in the decision, which led to the team losing the Cup to Europe.

Zach Johnson’s failed captainship overpowers his current performance

Team USA was already struggling to keep up with the dominant team Europe at the Ryder Cup 2023. Although they somehow managed to take over with two four ball points in the bag, as Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth led, the scoreboard turned blue again. The US team brutally lost, where their opponent had a score of 16.5, while they only had 11.5!

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The entire problem was with the tactics of the captain, Zach Johnson, as was stated also by Bob Harig and Hunter Mahan. Taking to this, one of the pretty much sarcastically commented, “Please Please Make Him Ryder Cup Captain Again 🤪”.

He has been ever since, picked at by his followers even on the greens. This has resulted in him to lose his temper several times. Be it at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open where he asked a fan to shut up, saying he was sick of it, for calling him out while he was attempting to make a shot at the TPC Scottsdale, or the 2024 Masters, yelled profanity to the Augusta National patrons at the 12th hole, as he carded a triple bogey, tossing his gold ball into Rae’s Creek, and walking off the green.

This was not forgotten either, and the fans dropped comments like, “Such a dislikable punchable face” and “Tours biggest jerk”. These comments were followed by hate comments like “D*uche Bag” and “Huge loser”.

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While one of them, in utter shambles with whatever Zach Johnson had done in the past, wished he soon drops down on the leaderboard, and only a spectator becomes responsible for it, wrote, “T2 tool bag. Hope the fans wear him out if he’s anywhere close tomorrow.”

Looks like the prayers have worked out! Zach Johnson did drop below on the leaderboard. However, he has one final match to change that. Will the 2007 Masters winner be able to grab a win after so many years? Stay tuned to find out!

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Written by:

Aheli Chakraborty

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Aheli Chakraborty is a Golf Writer at EssentiallySports. Armed with a Bachelor’s Degree in Literature, Aheli has actively covered many big events in the sport, including The Masters. She specializes in covering up-and-coming athletes like Charlie Woods and Ludvig Aberg, and she is always looking to answer her readers' most-asked questions through her writing! Aheli is also a bodybuilding fanatic and has contributed many niche pieces for ES' fitness coverage.
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Edited by:

Arijit Saha

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