Zach Johnson playing for himself and caddie at Colonial
5/24/2012 4:19:00 PM
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Among the elements that make up the complex formula of championship golf is the relationship between the player and his caddie. For years now, Zach Johnson and Damon Green have enjoyed the kind of honesty and mutual respect that leads to winning golf, as it did when Johnson took home the green jacket at the 2007 Masters. Now, that bond has grown stronger as they share the death of Green's father.
On the Sunday evening of the Players, soon after Johnson made a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 18 that was the difference between finishing T-2 or fifth at TPC Sawgrass, Green jumped in his car and drove the 360 miles from Ponte Vedra Beach to Pensacola for one last chat with his father, Rev. Douglas Brooks Green, before he passed away the following Thursday from stomach cancer.
"I got there at 11:30 and we stayed up until about 2 just talking," Green said Thursday at Colonial CC after Johnson shot 64 in the opening round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational. "He got to see the telecast [of the Players] and got to see the hat."
The hat was the one Damon wore at TPC Sawgrass that said: "Love Mom and Dad." Green's mother, Ruth, is 90 years old. "Dad was 88," Green said. "He had 87 good ones."
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Just one week after his father passed, Green was back at work. "It was tough," he said, "but I thought it would be a lot tougher with everyone coming up and offering their condolences. But I am at ease as much as possible with it because I know he is in a better spot. I know he's up there. He was in pain the last few days."