Turned on the delayed final round of the British Open in time today to see the part that really mattered — the three-man, four-hole playoff, which ended in Zach Johnson‘s tears of joy and relief after winning the oldest trophy in the game.

It was a reminder of how psychologically demanding the game of golf is.

What can be more demanding of the psyche than keeping your emotions under control, and your nerve, to perform with physical precision for something like five hours — with the oldest trophy in golf at stake?

It would seem that the pressure would have been even more crushing for Zach Johnson — not to be confused with Dustin Johnson, arguably better known, till today — because before this he had an interesting, lucrative but a less-than-glittering career. He said of himself that he was “just a normal guy from Iowa.”

But winning a second major changes that.

He won the Masters in 2007, at a time when he had only one PGA Tour victory on his resume. In a blog I wrote back then I posted this:

“I’ve been looking at the Masters winners, all-time … and Zach Johnson is by far the least prominent guy to win this tournament in 20 years. Since Larry Mize in 1987.

“After Mize, these guys won the next 19 Masters: Tiger Woods (four times), Nick Faldo (3), Phil Mickelson (2), Jose Maria Olazabal (2) .. and Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle, Vijay Singh, Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw, Mark O’Meara and Mike Weir.”

In the same post, I added:

“Mize was 28 when he won (the Masters). Zach is 31. And that’s a little late to be identifying yourself as a great golfer. Turns out, Mize wasn’t. And Zach?

“More Masters history. Before Mize, reading the list of winners is like going over the roster of a golf hall of fame. Nicklaus, Watson, Ballesteros, Palmer, Player … you have to go all the way back to 1959 to find a name I don’t know right off the bat, and that’s a dude named Art Wall Jr. And he might have been a serious golfer; he’s just before my time.

“It’s up to Zach now to go on and do MORE. A lot more. To prove he was a worthy Masters champion and not the product of a weird, weird weekend in which weather was the biggest story, and he just happened to be the last man standing.

“He’s the wrong guy, as of April 8, 2007. It’s up to him to show us otherwise.”

I’m sure Zach Johnson has never read a word I’ve written, but he’s gone out and done what I said he needed to do. He has finished in the top nine on the money list three times (he is sixth so far in 2015) and won 10 more events.

Including the British Open. Which was huge.

Zach Johnson now moves from “solid pro who had one hot weekend in Augusta” to “two-time major winner with a shot at the Hall of Fame”.

Let’s just guess and say some version of that was banging around inside his head. “This changes how I am perceived. It makes me a different guy.”

How hard is that to carry around? On top of knowing millions of people around the world are watching your every drive, chip and putt?

No wonder he broke down, after he won the playoff over Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman. He had held his nerve. He made the shots he needed to make. He was British Open champion, along with most of the greatest names in golf.

“Dreams have been realized, goals accomplished,” Johnson said at the awards ceremony. “I’m grateful and humbled. Honored. That jug means so much in sports.”

So much that we will never again look at Zach Johnson the same way.