Uncharacteristic.
That’s what most anyone would call senior Tom Johnson’s final round of his Northwestern golf career — an 85 on Saturday at the NCAA regionals, the worst round of his college career.
Last weekend’s tournament, in which he finished 66th, left him eager to move on and pursue his PGA Tour card, a challenge he will tackle next fall.
“The most important thing to me right now is I don’t want the way I finished at NU to be a reflection of my whole experience — because it’s not at all,” Johnson said.
His showing Saturday also wasn’t a reflection of his play in the first two rounds of the West Lafayette, Ind., tournament, to which he advanced individually after his team failed to win a berth.
After Johnson’s even-par 72 on Thursday, he held the 10th-place slot in a field of 140 golfers. He slipped down to 19th place Friday after shooting a 76, but said he still felt in contention for the regional title before play began Saturday.
“I played really well those first couple rounds, and I knew I had to shoot about even par (to win),” he said.
But when Johnson double-bogeyed early in his final round, he knew it would be difficult to make up for lost strokes, he said.
“As soon as I did that, it was a giant, big rush of ‘You’re not going to make it,'” he said. “Before I knew it, I had completely shot myself out of the tournament.”
Despite Johnson’s lackluster performance at his last event as a Wildcat, he will graduate with the second-best career stroke average behind Cat-turned-PGA player Luke Donald — 73.58 to Donald’s 70.95.
Johnson said a highlight of his college career was his first tournament win, when he topped the field his junior year at NU’s Windon Memorial Tournament.
“That (win) was really special because there were so many Northwestern people out there following (the players),” he said.
Freshman Dave Merkow said he visited NU last year right before Johnson’s win at the Windon, and “it kind of just made me excited because I was going to be on his team,” Merkow said.
Johnson’s Big Ten Freshman of the Year award in 2000-01 also was a notable honor, Johnson said, especially coupled with the team’s Big Ten win, for which the players were awarded “a ring that looks like a frickin’ Super Bowl ring.”
Although the team’s season this year ended disappointingly, Johnson finished well in several tournaments, placing third at the Boilermaker Invitational in April and fifth at the Mercedes-Benz Intercollegiate Championships in February.
But now that he’s nearly finished at NU, Johnson said he’s ready for a new stage in his golf career — attempting to earn his PGA Tour card.
He’ll spend the summer in Evanston finishing the last two classes he needs to graduate, then move to Arizona in the fall and live with teammate Casey Strunk, who will try to earn his card as well.
“I think in four years, (Johnson) started to realize what it’s going to take for him to play golf for the rest of his life,” Strunk said. “He’s played against the best players in the country and he’s not scared of any of them. … We’re both ready to make that lifestyle change and go after (the pros).”
Despite the tough competition they’ll face at PGA qualifying school — or “Q” school — Johnson said he’s confident of his chances for success.
“I’ve always felt like I could reach another level once (college) was out,” Johnson said. “School takes so much time away from golf.”
If he earns his card, his 25-year-old brother, Will, plans to caddy for him. And if Johnson doesn’t make the PGA, he’ll head to Europe hoping to play professionally there.
“I would be totally stoked to go to Europe and see the world with my golf clubs and with my brother,” he said.
Johnson said the evolution of his golf game during his career will help him compete at a higher level. When he came to NU, he said, he had “raw talent” but no clear grasp of the game.
“My general knowledge of the game has multiplied by a thousand,” Johnson said. “If I played every day with Luke Donald and he’s on the (PGA) Tour, nobody can really scare me.”
