PAYBACK: Zach Johnson Makes Writer Eat His Words

It was 2007 when Zach Johnson came out of nowhere to win The Masters, winning at 1-over par but defeating the likes of Tiger Woods, Retief Goosen, and Justin Rose that year.

After donning the green jacket, sportswriter Rick Reilly—of Sports Illustrated fame but with ESPN at the time—said on “The Dan Patrick Show” that Johnson had a good chance of being a server at Olive Garden in 10 years.

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But Johnson kept winning, racking up another win in ’07 and had six PGA Tour titles to his credit by mid-2010.

At that point, Reilly was on a radio show in Johnson’s home state of Iowa, and he owned up to his misjudgment of Johnson’s talent.

“Of course, it turned out to be the dumbest comment in the history of golf commentary. Good for Zach; he shut me up,” Riley said at the time.

Johnson went on to win 12 times in all, including The Open Championship in 2015. He will be the U.S. Ryder Cup team captain as well in 2023.

But Johnson has remained silent over the years—until now.

In 2007, Iowa’s @ZachJohnsonPGA stunned golf by winning the Masters. I said, “In 5 yrs, Zach has a chance to be your waiter at Olive Garden.” Uh, I was WAY wrong. Monday night I was back in Iowa. Waiting for me was a present from him, a $30 gift card to fill my big mouth with. pic.twitter.com/Y5ZCaDTUfu

— Rick Reilly (@ReillyRick) June 15, 2022

Reilly was in Iowa again this week for a book-signing event, and waiting for him was a gift from Johnson: a $30 gift card to the OG.

Hopefully, there will be enough left over for the tip—a tip that will go to someone other than Johnson.