SILVIS, Ill. -- Zach Johnson slipped on the green jacket a
few months ago, and hoped his homecoming would be triumphant, too.
This wasn't the start he had in mind.
The Masters champion couldn't settle in, while Neal Lancaster
had no trouble making himself comfortable.
Johnson shot a 1-under 70 and trailed by six strokes after the
first round of the John Deere Classic on Thursday. Lancaster,
meanwhile, shot 7-under to grab a one-shot lead over Duffy Waldorf,
Paul Stankowski, Kenny Perry, Scott Gutschewski and Jason Dufner.
"I'm not quite feeling everything yet," Johnson said.
Ranked 15th in the world and the only top-45 player in this
tournament, Johnson started on the 10th hole and appeared to be
hitting his stride when he birdied the par-4 15th and par-5 17th.
That put him at 1-under, but his putting prevented him from making
a run, which explains why he called the round "very mediocre."
Maybe it was no surprise the magic that carried him to a
shocking victory at the Masters and showed up again when he won the
AT&T Classic near Atlanta in May was missing. Johnson grew up just
over an hour away in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and he considers this his
home event even though he has never finished higher than 20th.
"I missed some very short putts," Johnson said. "I actually
had some unfortunate breaks, too. I hit it in three divots -- two on
the front and one on the back. That really just kind of put me in a
position where I had to try to get on the green."
Lancaster was a surprise leader.
His lone PGA Tour victory was at the 1994 GTE Byron Nelson Golf
Classic, and he said he has not played well for six years. His
highest finish in three tour events this year was 24th at the AT&T
Classic, and he hit so poorly on the range Wednesday that he
stopped. He didn't bother going to the putting green all week
because that part of his game deserted him years ago.
He fared well on Thursday, finishing with eight birdies and one
bogey -- not bad for a guy with a workout regimen John Daly might
have devised.
"Smoke two packs a day and have a lot of Mountain Dew,"
Lancaster said.
Waldorf was tied for the lead after bogeying the 17th hole, but
his approach on 18 settled in a bunker to the right of the green.
And a 12-foot putt for par stopped a foot from the cup, giving him
a bogey.
"Nothing was great, but I did something great with
everything," Waldorf said. "I drove the ball well most of the
time, and I made a lot of good putts, and I missed some putts. So
all in all, I did everything well."
That put him in the middle of the drama, but Johnson took center
stage. He enjoys the attention, although it can be draining.
"Our team, especially my family, is just trying to get used to
it," he said. "Everybody thinks it's just me, but it's everybody.
I mean, it's a team effort."
A year ago, the focus was on Michelle Wie until she succumbed to
heat exhaustion on the second day, and she would have been the
center of attention again had she not withdrawn due to wrist
injuries last month.
With Wie out, it was on Johnson.
A gallery of about 75 trailed him, cheering just about every
shot -- good or bad. A fan screamed, "Go get 'em Mr. Johnson" as
he walked to the ninth hole, and another yelled, "Welcome home,
Zach" as he approached the green.
Johnson then knocked a 17-foot birdie putt wide before tapping
it in for par, a fitting conclusion to his round.
"That's the beauty of this area," he said. "You know,
especially Iowa. I could still be on the Nationwide Tour and
getting sponsors exemptions, and I'd still get a warm response.
That's the beauty of the pride here."
He didn't start the way he would have liked, but there's time.
"I feel I'm in a good position," he said. "It's only
Thursday. I'm certainly not out of the golf tournament."
Defending champion John Senden is on the brink of elimination,
though, after shooting 7-over, and Daly was 1-over.