After winning the Masters on Sunday to stun the golf world, Zach Johnson claimed he’s just an "ordinary guy from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.’’

That statement was no surprise to me. Times-News sports colleague Ron Leonardi would second that.

Johnson was a rising star on the Nationwide Tour in 2003, when he was named that Tour’s player of the year. Before the Lake Erie Charity Classic began at the Peek’n Peak Upper Course, I spotted Johnson putting on the practice green. A look at his bio in the Nationwide Tour media guide had one item that stood out: He was an avid Iowa Hawkeyes football fan. The same Iowa team that then featured Erie’s Bob Sanders, Ed Hinkel, and Jovon Johnson.

After introducing ourselves to Zach Johnson, who was extremely polite, Ron brought up the Iowa football team.

Johnson’s eyes lit up, and it was conversation over — about golf.

"Bob Sanders is the man!’’ is what I distinctly remember Johnson saying. Afterwards, he and Leonardi talked Iowa and Big Ten football for about a half hour — Ron knows every little detail about his beloved alma mater, Penn State — and I went about conducting a couple of other interviews while they chatted. Ron later documented his talk with Johnson with a feature story.

Seeing Zach Johnson winning the Masters should not be that big of a surprise, especially after they made U.S. Open conditions out of the hallowed Augusta National course, which to me took a lot of the fun and drama out of the tournament. He was on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, and did better than most of the Americans, and had won once with several top 10 finishes. His game is perfect for a U.S. Open, and it will be interesting to see what happens at Oakmont two months from now.

It also goes a long way to show what the Nationwide Tour is about; Johnson became the first Nationwide graduate to win the Masters. Since John Daly won the PGA in 1991 and the British Open in 1995, and Ernie Els the U.S. Open in 1994, that completes the grand slam for tour graduates, who now have won every tournament on the PGA Tour. The talent we have witnessed in the first five years at the Peak makes it apparent that the secondary circuit is an overflow tank for the PGA Tour. PGA champions who played the Hogan, Nike, buy.com and now Nationwide tours abound, and all of these guys are accessible and a pleasure to talk with, and root for, like I did Sunday when Johnson passed up Tiger Woods, Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini on the back nine at Augusta.

On the first day I arrived at the Peak before the initial buy.com Tour’s Lake Erie Charity Classic in 2002, I had no idea who to interview. Media relations man Joe Chemycz suggested I talk to 21-year-old Aaron Baddeley, an Australian who twice beat Tiger Woods in the Australian Open. "Badds," who has had his own Web site since coming to the States, has changed from a flashy lifestyle to being married and religious. Nevertheless, he has won twice on the PGA Tour, and Sports Illustrated actually picked him to win the Masters. He might someday.

There are other great guys that come to mind, and I’m personally rooting for easy-going Bubba Watson to break through with his first win. Bubba, a lefty, hits the ball 10 miles and leads the PGA Tour in driving distance, and I remember when he displayed so much sportsmanship and class when he lost to Kevin Stadler in a playoff in 2004. "I’m happy for Kevin, since he had no status on this tour until now, and I’ve got status. It doesn’t hurt to lose that way,’’ he said.

Watson is doing well in his second year on the PGA Tour. It shows that good guys, and great players, are status quo on the Nationwide Tour.