Z. Johnson still has high hopes

Golfer looks to end winless streak.

For more than a decade, Zach Johnson has held what amounts to an annual twoday summit to inspect every part of his game, figure out what needs to get better and make a plan going forward. He referred to the most recent meeting as the best one yet.

Johnson failed to reach the Tour Championship for the second straight year. He went a second straight season without winning, dating to his 2015 British Open title at St. Andrews. He was not at the Presidents Cup, ending a streak of five consecutive teams.

“I was frustrated because I thought my game was better,” Johnson said. “What was good was that everyone threw it on the table. We mulled it over and said, ‘OK, this is what we’re going to do.”

For all the stats that were analyzed, what stood out the most was that Johnson felt he wasn’t as disciplined with his practice time and his focus. He did not describe any sense of urgency from going two years without a victory or failing to get to the FedEx Cup finale, though it raised questions.

“As a competitor, doubts creep in. ‘Am I going to do it again? Do I need to make changes?’” he said. “It goes back to the basics. I have to do what I do well. Truth be told, what I’m practicing now is more on my strengths than my weaknesses. You know what you’ve got. Use it. It can work.”

Another aspect of that meeting — and this surprised him — was that Johnson found he had become too emotional on the golf course. Not only was he getting frustrated when his game was not going well, he said he was getting overly excited over a good round, even a good shot.

“The emotion of this game is not necessary until the 73rd hole, after the tournament is over,” Johnson said.

Johnson has high hopes for this year and was so eager to get going he played three times in the fall, finishing in the top 25 in all of them. He started this year with a pair of top 20s in the Sony Open and CareerBuilder Challenge.

LPGA opener: The LPGA Tour season begins Thursday in the Bahamas, three weeks after the PGA Tour began in Hawaii. The concept of PGA Tour and LPGA Tour winners starting the year together at Kapalua lost traction last year, though it has not been ruled out.

“I think that’s something we’re still interested in,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said.

GWAA awards: Billy Payne, who retired last year as chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters, has been selected for the William D. Richardson Award for outstanding contributions to golf by the Golf Writers Association of America.

Payne, who promoted golf worldwide by helping launch the Asian Amateur and Latin American Amateur championships, will receive the award April 4 in Augusta.

The GWAA also voted Stacy Lewis as winner of the Ben Hogan Award for overcoming a serious illness or physical disability, and Ernie Els for the ASAP Sports/Jim Murray Award for his cooperation with the media.