AUGUSTA, Ga. – Zach Johnson has never seen winds at Augusta National as strong as what he endured on Friday.
“Today was extremely difficult,” Johnson said of the 35-mph gusts that raced through the pines and sent scores ballooning. “In a really, really demented way, somehow you’re going to find joy in that difficulty, if that makes sense.”
For the most part, Johnson did, carding a respectable 3-over 75, though his 7-over total through two days was not good enough to make the cut. The one exception came at the par-3 12th hole, which Johnson triple-bogeyed after yanking his first tee ball way left and then missing the green right with his re-tee.
Once Johnson putted out for his ‘6,’ a nearby mic picked up some patrons clapping and cheering, though it was not totally clear why they were doing so.
Moments later, Johnson could be heard shouting, “F--- off,” though, again, it was unclear the context.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Johnson was initially confused when asked to “clear the air about the social-media thing.”
“I’m not familiar with any social media thing out there,” Johnson said. “I’ve just signed my scorecard.”
Upon being told about the hot-mic moment, Johnson apologized, but was adamant that he was not directing his frustration at the patrons.
“That I swore at the patrons? That’s laughable. That’s completely laughable,” Johnson said. “I can’t hear the patrons, No. 1. No. 2, I just made a triple bogey on the 12th hole that evidently is going to make me miss the cut, which at the time I knew was pretty sensitive in the sense that I needed to keep making pars. If I’ve said anything, which I’m not going to deny, especially if it’s on camera, one, I apologize, and two, it was fully directed towards myself entirely because I can’t hear anything behind me. Does that make sense?”
Johnson, of course, was shown on camera earlier this year during the WM Phoenix Open telling a fan, “I’m sick of it … shut up!” On Friday, Johnson explained that situation as well: “When I see vomiting and then guys egging on the guy to drink another beer with a middle-school golf team to my right, I’m going to say something as an adult.”
The rest of Johnson’s interview featured plenty of wind talk and Johnson’s “deep reverence and humility for this place. The people, the members, the patrons, it’s legitimately everything.”
But before his session concluded, Johnson, unprompted, returned to what happened at No. 12.
“I don’t know what was said on 12 because I’m really frustrated by that,” Johnson said. “I’m just frustrated by that. I am sorry if it looked like that. Please know that. I had no intention of – I can’t hear anybody. I probably should have said something to my caddie. No, I’m just kidding. All seriousness, I apologize if there was something there.”
