CALGARY — The rookies on PGA Tour Champions are, for the most part, the most accomplished first-time participants of any sport.
This season on the over-50 circuit is a prime example.
Zach Johnson, who turned 50 in February, has come out of the gates like a thoroughbred, winning four times already this year. In the Charles Schwab Cup standings, the season-long points race, he trails only good pal Stewart Cink. Cink is just in his second full campaign on the senior circuit and has won five times already in 2026 — including last week in a playoff against Miguel Angel Jimenez.
While Cink is off this week, Johnson — a past winner of both the Masters and The Open Championship — is making his Rogers Charity Classic debut (and playing in Canada for the first time since the 2024 RBC Canadian Open), looking to catch up to his good friend in the standings.
“I don’t have any other expectations other than to just execute shots. I feel fortunate Stewart is not playing. Love you, Stewy,” Johnson said with a big smile Wednesday from a stunning summertime day in Calgary.
Johnson won his debut event on PGA Tour Champions at the beginning of March and hasn’t looked back since. He has not finished outside the top 10 yet this season in 11 tournaments (plus he finished tied for ninth at the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic in July). He won two events in a row, including his first senior major at the Kaulig Companies Championship, and comes into this week at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club off a win in Portugal earlier in August.
Despite his fine finish on the PGA Tour, he said he’s just been happy with the kind of golf he’s been playing anywhere.
“Take the tour out of it. PGA Tour Champions, PGA Tour out of it. I’m probably playing some of the best golf — consistently best golf in probably a few years at least,” Johnson said.
He does, however, trail Cink by about $1 million in the season-long standings — with Cink, 53, having notched two major titles this year and finishing runner-up at the U.S. Senior Open. There are nine tournaments left in the 2026 campaign.
The two have been stalwarts of the PGA Tour and the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup leadership for decades, and Johnson said Wednesday that he still feels like there is a “healthy” rivalry between the pair.
“I’m genuinely happy for him and all of his success. And … it really starts and ends with that. Obviously, we are different on and off the golf course, but the healthy part of it is that we can make each other better,” Johnson explained. “Our friendship is so thick and when I’ve had valleys and he’s had valleys, we’ve been there because you’re going to (in golf). This game is hard. And when we have successes and peaks, ideally we’re the first ones to congratulate or hug the other.”
Cink did have to wait a few years for his friend to join him on PGA Tour Champions, and Johnson admitted he didn’t think too much about joining the over-50 crew until he turned 49. Then, he realized, most of his best friends were already playing there and he was watching it on TV — for the first time in his career, he admitted, he was watching lots of golf.
“When you’ve got your best buddies out here, it’s intriguing, you know,” Johnson said. “Midway through last year I’m like, ‘Wow. Man. Next year might be different.
“This is the best. Had I won (the John Deere Classic), I’d still be out (on PGA Tour Champions). I mean that sincerely. My caddie and I talked about it. Like why would we go back to (the PGA Tour)? Three days of great dudes on great golf courses, great arenas, great venues, great support, great sponsors. This is the best place in golf.”
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While Johnson is the top-ranked golfer in the field this week at Canyon Meadows — five of the top 10 in the Schwab Cup standings are teeing it up in Calgary with the two-time major champ leading the way — the golfer with likely the most support of anyone will once again be Canada’s Mike Weir.
Weir told Sportsnet.ca he has had an up-and-down year on the results ledger — he’s had three top-15s but also four finishes outside of the top-40 — but he, as per usual, is always inspired by the home crowds. This year is set to be extra special around the par-3 16th at Canyon Meadows as well, with Rogers bringing some of the Blue Jays spirit to the course. Like ‘The Rink’ at the RBC Canadian Open, there is a micro-sized build out of the Rogers Centre complete with left, centre and right-field distances and foul poles amongst other Blue Jays-inspired designs. That, Weir said, is something he’s extra excited about this year along with hopefully pushing through to the end of 2026 with some solid results.
Despite the extra crowd support — Weir is one of three Canadians in the field alongside Stephen Ames and Calgary’s own Wes Martin — it may be tough to beat Johnson, again, this week on PGA Tour Champions. He’s refreshed and ready. And he’s thrilled at the opportunity to win another big event on the schedule.
“Everything about this event — which I was told is spectacular — so far this place has not disappointed. And it won’t,” Johnson said. “I can already feel it.”
