Get to know Team USA Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson
Zach Johnson will lead the American team into the Ryder Cup this year. Learn more about the Team USA captain here…
Zach Johnson will lead the American Ryder Cup cohort at Marco Simone in September, but who is the Team USA captain?
Zach Johnson is a 12-time PGA Tour winner, with two major championships thrown in for good measure.
He featured in five Ryder Cups, with his debut coming in 2006. He then played in four consecutive editions of the tournament from 2010 to 2016, with the American team winning the latter at Hazeltine.
The 47-year-old was announced captain of the US Ryder Cup team in February of last year.
“To accept this Captaincy, to lead this United States Ryder Cup Team abroad ー after what we accomplished last year at Whistling Straits ー is simply the greatest honour of my professional career,” Johnson said.
“I want to thank the PGA of America Ryder Cup Committee for this special opportunity. As exciting as this is for both my family and me, it is equally sobering to understand the scope of our challenge in Rome, as we have not won on the road in three decades.
“To win, we will have to outplay a European Team that will have both ample talent and motivation on their side. I am anxious to dig in and begin the process of putting our team in the best possible position to succeed.”
Johnson’s biggest moments in his career came eight years apart.
The first came in 2007, when the American won the Masters Tournament at Augusta National. He then had to go the distance at the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews.
After finishing 72 holes level with Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman, Johnson came through a four-hole aggregate playoff, beating the South African by a shot to win on the Old Course, and to lift the infamous Claret Jug.
He became only the sixth golfer to win majors at Augusta and St. Andrews, the others being Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, and Tiger Woods.
Johnson achieved eight further top-10 finishes in the majors, and had victories at the Valero Texas Open, BMW Championship and John Deere Classic in his storied career on the PGA Tour.
Can captain Zach Johnson lead Team USA to a first Ryder Cup victory on European soil in 30 years? Let us know your thoughts with a Tweet!
Matt Coles
Mention a European country, and Matt will tell you which resorts make the National Club Golfer Top 100s: European Resorts list. He might even throw in who designed the golf course and how many rooms the hotel has got at each one…
Matt got into the game of golf from a young age, following his old man to the local golf club. He fell for the sport, and now can’t seem to go a day without thinking about how to improve his game (Thanks Dad!). Matt has been a member of Howley Hall GC in Leeds since 2020, and is just about managing to maintain a single-figure handicap. He likes to remind people that he once broke 75, but won’t tell people that it was on a shortened course during the winter.
He moved to Leeds after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire with a First Class Honours degree in Sports Journalism. Matt joined NCG after almost five years travelling the world with the Professional Squash Association, working on events in all four corners of the globe.
Matt currently plays a Cobra King LTDx driver and RadSpeed 3-wood. TaylorMade monopolise the rest of his bag, with a SIM UDI, M5 irons and both Milled Grind and HI-TOE wedges, along with a Monza Redline putter. He uses a Vice Pro Plus golf ball, because he’s a bit different…
Away from golf, Matt is a Manchester United fan, and a keen runner, having ran the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon (his first and possibly last), in May 2023.
