Thirty hours and 36 holes of waiting, dreaming and chasing with Chase Johnson (2024)

DUBLIN, Ohio — If, around 5:43 p.m. Friday, you had been wandering around the front nine of Muirfield Village Golf Club, you would’ve heard what sounded like the biggest shot of someone’s life. A jolt of energy. A cheer that’d make you turn and say, “Who is that?”

Then you would hear the name Chase Johnson and say, “Oh … who is that?”

The answer? Well, let’s start 30 hours earlier.

Playing in the final group to tee off in the Memorial Tournament, Johnson arrived at Muirfield Village a little before noon Thursday. First, he shook off the absurdity of the moment. This week’s Memorial is Johnson’s first career start on the PGA Tour. He plays full time on the Korn Ferry Tour but was granted a special invitation for this week by tournament host Jack Nicklaus and the tournament committee after submitting a letter for one of the few exempt spots in the field — spots reserved for up-and-coming stars, sentimental selections or those with local connections. Johnson is a little mix of everything. He’s an Ohio native from Barberton, starred at Kent State two hours away in Akron, and is two years into a professional career handmade by resilience, dedication and a golf-crazed father, Melvin Johnson, who saw all of this coming 25 years ago.

Chase Johnson received a phone call from Memorial Tournament director Dan Sullivan in early winter. He was in. That led to months of anticipation that were juxtaposed by Johnson’s game abandoning him. Back in July 2020 he jump-started his young Korn Ferry career with a second-place finish at the TPC Colorado Championship. He lost by one stroke to some guy named Will Zalatoris. Johnson looked ready to barnstorm his way to the PGA Tour. He was signed by Puma, Cobra and Titleist.

Then he proceeded to miss 16 of his next 17 cuts. The tumultuous skid finally ended in May — Johnson made five straight cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour leading up to this week.

That was all the preface to Johnson arriving at the Memorial, popping in his earbuds, and going through warmups. He practiced pitch shots next to Rory McIlroy. He looked like he was unfazed — like a total pro, tall and strong in scripted Puma gear. In reality, he was listening to a Harry Potter audiobook, as he always does during warmups, and keeping the heart rate down.

Johnson arrived at the first tee to a crowd of about 40 friends and family. He split the fairway. Then he dropped an approach to about 20 feet. It was all happening.

And that, wouldn’t you know, is when the horn sounded for the second time of the day, delaying play. All afternoon, storms came a’rumbling from the southwest, sweeping across the radar toward Muirfield. It was 4:17 p.m. Johnson’s birdie putt would have to wait.

A little over two hours later, the threesome of Johnson, Sahith Theegala and Takumi Kanaya were back on the first green. Johnson hiked up his pants and squatted behind his birdie chance, looking at a putt he’d already rolled over and over in his mind. And then …

“Sorry guy,” said a tournament scorer walking with the group.

Another cell sprang up on the radar. Play suspended for the day, set to resume at 7:30 a.m. Johnson slung his head back.

If Chase Johnson one day has a successful PGA Tour career, let the record state that this is how it began.

“Unbelievable,” he said through a laugh, eyes to the sky.

Johnson is, by all accounts, a fairly chill individual. That’d come in handy for the ensuing evening of waiting.

His father, meanwhile? Mel couldn’t bring himself to unwind at the hotel Thursday night. Stomach issues. He blamed them on some pulled pork. Chase blamed them on anxiety. As the evening grew longer, Chase knocked on the room door. He had a putter and a few balls. He told his pop to roll a few and relax.

“Putting calms my nerves,” Mel said the next day, laughing, but not kidding.

Of her husband and son, Cheryl Johnson says: “It’s always been golf.”

Indeed, this day was long coming. The idea of having to keep waiting? Brutal. Mel put a club in his son’s hands at age 1. By 3, he was swinging. By the time he was 5, the two were doing drills. Mel would stand 10 yards, 20 yards, 30 yards in front of Chase and tell him to hit the ball at daddy. “He was a pin-seeker,” Mel said Friday, remembering back, “and I was the pin.”

Chase started out playing U.S. Kids Golf. His first big tournament was as a 5-year-old in Jekyll Island, Ga. Mel, a production line supervisor in an aluminum plant, and Cheryl, a U.S. Postal Service worker, packed up their Ford Escort for the ride down. It died upon their return. Chase entered the First Tee program around age 8 and played in endless junior tournaments. He was a multisport standout, but golf was the end game. He carried himself like a pro golfer, usually opting for pants instead of shorts. He earned a scholarship to Kent State. He was MAC Player of the Year as a sophom*ore in 2015-16 and a three-time first-team all-conference selection.

“You could tell the PGA Tour was his goal,” Kent State coach Jon Mills said by phone Thursday. “The guy was born to play professional golf. He’s the type who shows up when it matters more. He always played his best golf when we needed it the most.”

After Kent State, Johnson didn’t have the funding to outright chase his pro dreams, and instead had to move to Florida and work at the Dye Reserve as a caddie in order to have practice access in the afternoons. He would loop in the morning, play in the afternoon until dark, head to the gym and wake up at 6 a.m. the next day to do it all over. In the span of a year, he went from 215 pounds to 173. In 2019 he played 11 events on PGA Tour Latinoamérica before advancing to the Korn Ferry.

So, yes, a lot led up to this birdie putt.

Johnson missed it. Way too much speed. Like someone who’s been made to wait to get where he’s going.

By the eighth hole, though, Johnson was 2-under and walking with the stride of someone who finally found his place.

“Ask anyone who knows Chase,” said Bobby Kreusler, his agent, “and they’ll tell you this is where he belongs.”

That might be the case, but that’s not how this works.

In reality, having played in 24 Korn Ferry events this season, Johnson sits at No. 94 in his actual tour’s point standings. In order to make the Korn Ferry playoffs and, most importantly, retain full status on the KF tour next season, he needs to finish the season in the top 75.

By playing in the Memorial, Johnson is skipping this week’s Rex Hospital Open in Raleigh, N.C. He’s giving up the potential points he could add and is, in fact, risking falling even farther down the standings. Seven of the 10 players immediately behind him are in the field in Raleigh. After this week, Johnson will have only eight Korn Ferry tournaments remaining to boost himself into that top 75. If he finishes the season ranked between 76 and 100, he’ll hold conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour next season. If he finishes outside the top 100? Johnson would lose his Korn Ferry card and have to re-qualify.

Fact is, while it sure looked like Johnson belonged as he walked to the No. 9 tee Friday, he was a guest.

Johnson went on to drop a few shots on the back, but cleaned things up and arrived at 18 with a chance to get back to even par. He dropped a birdie and tipped his cap at 12:28 p.m. Then he was told his afternoon tee time was 1:08 p.m.

Fresh socks. Bite to eat. Back at it.

Chase teed off on the back nine in full control. Five straight pars to start. At the 14th green, Mel looked at the sea of fans, the packed hospitality tents and his son in the middle of it all and it all seemed to set in. “Can’t believe it,” he said. “This is beautiful.”

Walking up the 15th fairway, Mel rattled off stories about the early days. All those drives. All that time together. He pushed down some emotions.

As it tends to do in this game, though, reality struck. Chase clipped a tree on a drive, was forced to pitch out on his second shot, and prodded his way to a bogey. He made the turn at 1-over for the round and the tournament, and promptly bogeyed No. 2 and No. 3.

At this point, Chase Johnson looked like a golfer with his hands at 10 and 2, holding on tight, trying to make it home. A bogey at No. 6 moved him to 4-over on the day. A day’s worth of smiles turned into a scowl. Just like that, in a span of an hour, everything changed.

Walking to the tee box on the par-3 eighth hole, Johnson forced a grin. He seemed to know the cut line was hovering around 2-over and he had holes left. Might as well enjoy it. An iron off the tee sailed over the green and into some thick rough.

For Chase, this day, this week, this tournament, all appeared ready to come to an end. Off the side of the green, his girlfriend, Katie Howarth, tried to settle herself, brushing away a couple of encroaching tears. “I just feel like no one deserves this more than he does,” she’d say later. “He’s done absolutely everything he can do be here.”

Damn if golf doesn’t have a way of bringing you back. Johnson nestled his feet into the grass for a chip that most would hope to keep on the green. He did more than that. Holing out for birdie, Johnson threw a fist pump while his friends and family around Muirfield’s eighth green lost their minds. Cheryl smacked various people in wonderful delirium.

Just like that, minds started to wander. Maybe 3-over might be good enough to play the weekend?

Chase delivered a scrambling par on No. 9 to keep the hope alive. A few hours after he finished, second-round play was suspended due to darkness at 8:44 p.m. and set to resume at 8 a.m. Saturday. The cut line remained at 2-over, but could potentially slide to 3-over depending on what happens.

Standing outside Muirfield’s clubhouse, Johnson pulled off his hat and ran a hand over his head. Thirty hours after starting his first PGA Tour event, he wondered if it was all over. Only time will tell. He said he’ll return Saturday, warm up and see what happens. Until then, he’ll do the only thing he can.

“Tonight will be much worse than Thursday night,” he said. “I guess all I can do is wait.”

Either way, he’ll back on the Korn Ferry Tour next week. He said he’ll play in each of the remaining events — eight straight — to hopefully retain his status and keep climbing. It will be a long road that makes the last 30 hours feel like a stroll.

This was the story. But that’s the reality.

That’s who Chase Johnson is.

(Top photo: Sam Greenwood / Getty Images)