Success hasn’t changed Wagner

By Chris Lang

Published: July 5, 2008

BETHESDA, Md. — What did winning the Shell Houston Open in April do for Johnson Wagner? Well, for one, it gave him a bit of job security. No longer would the Virginia Tech graduate have to grind through the weeks, hoping to play well enough to hold onto his exempt PGA Tour status for another year.

The title gave also gave him an invite to Augusta for The Masters and his first million-dollar paycheck. But it didn’t give him a big head.

“No, I’m still the same person,” he said Saturday after shooting a 1-over 71 in the third round of the AT&T National. “I still go home and kiss my wife every night. The same stuff. I’m just a PGA Tour winner now.”

Wagner is exceedingly polite and thankful for his spot on Tour. Each time he hit a birdie putt Saturday, he’s give a small tug on his white Titleist cap and a quick wave to the crowd, especially those wearing maroon and orange. And there were plenty of those in attendance Saturday. The Virginia Tech Alumni Association has a large chapter in northern Virginia, and many made the trip across the Potomac to support Wagner.

One couple followed him for all 18 holes Saturday, thrilled just to watch the lone Hokie currently on the big tour. (Wagner’s former Tech teammate, Brendon de Jonge, plays on the Nationwide Tour.)

“With so many Hokies out there this week, I’d really like to play well for them (today) and have a strong finish,” he said. “Pretty much everywhere around the country, I see guys in Hokie hats, and they’ll come up and say hi. Definitely, the closer you get to Virginia, the more support I get. It’s been phenomenal this week.”

Wagner’s path to the Tour wasn’t an easy one. After graduating in 2002 (he was a Tech teammate of former Amherst standout Ryan Stinnett), he began his professional career by winning the Metropolitan Open at famed Winged Foot, the site of several U.S. Opens. He posted rounds of 69, 68 and 70 to collect a $23,000 check. The next year, he joined the Nationwide Tour, but success didn’t come quickly. He missed the cut in 13 of his 22 starts and only managed one top-25 finish.

In 2004, he posted nine top 25s and made his first career start on the PGA Tour, missing the cut at the U.S. Open. He continued to steadily improve on the Nationwide in 2005, posting three top 10s and moving from 42nd to 36th on the money list. In 2006, Wagner’s game came completely together. He missed just three cuts in 28 starts, posted 14 top-25 finishes and won the Chitimacha Louisiana Open and the Cox Classic. He was one victory shy of an automatic in-season promotion to the PGA Tour, but he finished second on the Nationwide Money list to earn his spot on the big tour in 2007.

“I don’t know if my game was ready immediately after college,” Wagner said. “I think it was a blessing for me that I did play so long out there. When I did get out here, I was ready, and ready to stay.

“Hopefully, I’ll be out here for the next 25 years.”

As a rookie, he made cuts in seven of his first eight events before hitting a wall. He missed 13 of 14 cuts in the middle of the year, including nine straight at one point. In August, he tied for 12th at the Reno-Tahoe Open (a lower-level Tour event played the same week as the PGA Championship), setting up a season-ending run that included a second-place finish at the Viking Classic during the Fall Series.

This season has followed a similar storyline. He tied for 38th at the Bob Hope Classic before missing six straight cuts. The win in Houston came seemingly out of nowhere. The two weeks prior to the Shell, he had finished in a tie for 78th at the Puerto Rico Open and in a tie for 64th in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

“I’ve seen it in my career,” Tour veteran Steve Stricker said. “Guys can play poorly for a period of time and then all of a sudden, they are in the winner’s circle.”

Since Houston, Wagner has made six of eight cuts and made it to the weekend at Augusta, where he finished in a tie for 38th.

Even with his Tour card firmly secured, Wagner has plenty to play for the rest of the season. He’s 38th in FedEx Cup points and should make the 144-man Cup playoffs comfortably. He has an outside chance of playing his way onto the U.S. Ryder Cup team, though he’ll have to go from just making cuts to collecting top-10 finishes. (He enters today’s final round at Congressional tied for 38th at 1 under.) Wagner also wants to finish in the top 30 on the money list — he’s currently 41st.

All of these goals are much easier attained knowing that his card is secure.

“I’ve got two years now to rack up as many wins as possible and just play good golf,” Wagner said. “Two years of freedom, really. It’s just incredible.”