Zach Johnson sharpens short game before U.S. Open

PINEHURST, N.C. - Zach Johnson took his time Tuesday as he surveyed the areas around the 18th green at Pinehurst No. 2.

No, he didn't try to make the famous 18-foot putt that Payne Stewart made to win the U.S. Open in 1999. Instead, he practiced a variety of shots around the green with different clubs.

This week's U.S. Open figures to be a test of which player has the best short game, and that should suit Johnson's game.

'I feel good about my game, I'm healthy, I'm going to be rested,” Johnson said after a practice round with fellow major champions Jim Furyk, Stewart Cink and Lucas Glover. 'I feel good about where everything is at, so it's just a matter of execution.”

With the restoration of the course by golf architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, the premium will be on getting up and down from off the green. There is no traditional U.S. Open rough, but stray shots will find sandy areas and wire grass.

At the 18th green, Johnson used three different clubs as he practiced around the green. First he used his wedge, then he switched to a putter and, finally, he used a hybrid to bump and run the ball onto the putting surface.

He's still not sure which is the best way to go.

'It's situational,” he said. 'It depends on what your lie is, where the pin is, is it into the grain, or is it down grain? I think it's one where you have to practice the bumps and maybe even kind of stick to one, just to get the feel down.”

The Iowa native's U.S. Open record is not what he would like. In 10 starts, he has missed five cuts and his best finish is a tie for 30th, which came in 2011. The last time the U.S. Open was played at Pinehurst, in 2005, Johnson missed the cut.

With 11 PGA Tour victories and the 2007 Masters to his credit, most experts would figure the steady Johnson would be suited for the U.S. Open's style of play that demands accuracy off the tee and touch around the greens.

Pinehurst No. 2 can play nearly 7,600 yards long, and it features four par-4s that are more than 500 yards. But that doesn't deter Johnson, who is not one of the longest players on the PGA Tour.

'There are certainly times when it's an advantage to carry it a long ways,” Johnson said. 'However, I do know based on stats, it's not like I'm coming up with something new out of left field, hitting the fairway is still much more advantageous than hitting it 300 yards in the rough.

'If the fairways are firm and fast this week, the sides are burnt, but the middle is green, I can get it down there and I'll be OK.”

Johnson has been known to excel on courses where the long hitters would seem to have an advantage, like Augusta National. Or Kapalua, where he won the Tournament of Champions earlier this year.

Johnson's sports psychologist, Morris Pickens, likens him to a kettle on a stove.

'He says I'm starting to get warm, it just needs to boil and I'll be there,” Johnson said. 'Patience is the operative word. I'm just trying to stick to the routine and process of it.”