Zach Johnson heads back to a ‘shot-maker’s course’

Zach Johnson heads into one of his favorite tournaments of the year today at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in Irving, Texas.

It's a tournament he's won twice (2010 and 2012) and, last year, finished third, two strokes behind Boo Weekley.

Johnson last competed at the Players Championship two weeks, tying 26th place.

Johnson said after the TPC Sawgrass he's hitting the ball well, but is 'pinch” off.

'If anything a lot of it is probably mental, expectations creeping in,” Johnson said. 'Big picture things which is not good. I don't like big picture. I like ‘now' and sticking to the ‘now,' hitting shots.”

With such a successful last seven months, it's hard for Johnson not to think big picture. Golf is a game that provides significant amounts of time in between shots and rounds, but especially between tournaments. It's a challenge to not look at overall expectations.

After wins at the BMW Championship in September, the Northwestern Mutual World Challenge in December and the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in January, Johnson ascended to a career-high seventh in the world golf rankings.

With top 10s in his next two events at the Sony Open and the Humana Challenge, Johnson moved up to sixth and was in the midst of a career-best stretch.

His recent play has not been quite as stellar, but he still is placing well with a tie for sixth in March's Valero Texas Open and a tie for 14th at the Wells Fargo Championship in early May. His only missed cut of the year came at the Masters.

'The scorecard should be irrelevant, the previous hole should be irrelevant, the previous shot should be irrelevant, but it's easy to say that,” he said.

Johnson said he plays well at Colonial because 'it just fits my eye.

'It's not terribly long, first and foremost, and I think it's a shot-maker's course. For whatever reason I've just had good feelings there and I just don't think it's anything more than that.”

Those good feelings include an emotional victory in 2012 for Johnson and his caddie, Damon Green, whose father died 10 days earlier.

It also was at the 2012 Colonial when Johnson was assessed a two-stroke penalty on the 72nd hole for not correctly replacing his ball-marker. After moving it out of the line of playing partner Jason Dufner's putt, Johnson forgot to move his mark back to its original spot.

'I like the way everything sets up and I like bentgrass,” Johnson said of the course. 'That's the other thing, bentgrass greens with Bermuda fairways, it plays short, the ball rolls. I just think that it just plays into my hands.

'Without question it's one of my favorite weeks.”

l Follow Johnston on Twitter at @johnstongarrett