By: Rich Styles

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Mark David Johnson Jr, lives on St. Simons Island, Ga. He decided to go to school at Western Carolina in NC.

After a couple of years, he decided that he wanted to come home and go to college. He called Coastal Georgia’s golf coach, Mike Cook, and told him he wanted to come home and play golf on the school’s team. Coach Cook said, “of course….come on.”

That was two years ago. Since then, Johnson’s golf game has exploded.

After transferring, his golf game reached new heights. He won several tournaments and earned individual honors including Player of the Year for NAIA, Coastal Georgia’s Men’s Student-Athlete of the Year and most recently, The Jack Nicklaus Award for NAIA Division. Quite a senior year.

Coastal Georgia went to a tournament in Mesa, AZ at the Las Sendas Golf Club. A course, Johnson and the other team members had not played.

They studied the course on the internet. Johnson knew the conditions of the course would be different than others he played throughout his young career.

So, he practiced on similar grass. He chipped and putted for hours. He would also play on various courses but he practiced his short game more than most. It payed off in a big way. His senior year was marked by several wins and a couple of second places until AZ.

At Las Sendas Golf Club, his team was behind by 15 strokes going into the final round.  He and his team mates knew they had to have a great day to catch up.

They caught up but fell short of the team title. Johnson finished tied for first individual honors and entered into a playoff for the title.

He had birdied the 18^th hole during the first three rounds, then in the final round, a bogey. The three stepped to the tee on the playoff hole and he knew that he needed to hit quality shots. He did. The others did not.

Johnson birdied the first playoff hole to win the NAIA Individual title and became the first player in the history of Coastal Georgia’s men’s golf program to do so. Coach Cook said, “he is the best player in NAIA this year and it has been sweet to coach him.”

When I interviewed both Coach Cook and Johnson, they both smiled talking about their relationship since his transfer from Western Carolina.

Johnson’s game exploded with winning title after title and then winning the Jack Nicklaus Award for NAIA. He was one of five winners of the award, one for each college division. What does that do for him? Just an opportunity to play one of the hardest golf courses, with a slope rating of 76, for an exemption into a PGA Tour event in July.

He did not win but he did get his chance to meet and talk with 18 Major winner, Jack Nicklaus in Ohio.

As I talked with Johnson on the range at Retreat, he said he didn’t play well against the other division winners, he just could not get his game going. You have to drive the ball well and the rough was…..well let’s say very rough.

On Sunday in a crowded room, he and the others were to receive the award from Jack Nicklaus. Johnson said Jack’s wife Barbara came into the room first and greeted them.

Then the room became silent waiting for the PGA Tour legend.

In he came with his gray jacket and tie, he greeted and took photos with each winner. Johnson said he stayed and talked for over an hour. What a treat and a once in a lifetime experience that will go into his memory bank forever.

One final note, the winner of the Memorial, Patrick Cantley, was a Jack Nicklaus award winner and now a PGA Tour winner. Johnson knows that and looks forward to the challenges ahead of him after graduation.

Congratulations, Mark David Johnson. Well done and well deserved.