Zach Johnson examines his grip on thz 15th fairway during a practice round for this week's U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa. Johnson won the first major of the 2007 season at the Masters and earned his first pro victory when the Prairie Tour visited Lawrence Country Club in 1999.

Tiger Woods, right, chats with Steve Stricker on the practice green. Stricker and Woods described the greens at Oakmont as the toughest they've ever played. The pair practiced Wednesday in Oakmont, Pa.

Two of four men on the local golf scene polled Wednesday predicted the same U.S. Open champion, and his name isn’t Tiger Woods.

“Zach Johnson,” Lawrence Country Club head pro Jon Zylstra said.

“Zach Johnson,” John Morris of Eagle Bend Golf Course said later in the day.

Johnson, the reigning Masters champion, last month won the AT&T Classic, the most recent tournament he completed. Suffering from strep throat, he withdrew after the 15th hole of the second round from the Memorial tournament two weeks ago.

Given how hard it is to win two major championships in one season, it seemed surprising that two local pros would pick Johnson to win the Open.

Zylstra might have been partially guilty of picking with his heart. A framed flag with Johnson’s autograph and score from the Stephens Real Estate Open, a 1999 Prairie Tour event at LCC, hangs on the wall of the downstairs grill room. Johnson’s winning score of 67-66 133 and the date of July 13, 1999 are written in marker on the flag.

“I think that was his first professional win,” Zylstra said. “At least that’s what I had them engrave on the picture frame. Is that false advertising? If McDonald’s can say their burgers are 100 percent beef I can say that, can’t I?”

Zylstra doesn’t claim to be Lawrence’s foremost authority on the Masters champ from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. That would be Kansas University political science professor Brent Steele, Johnson’s roommate and golf teammate at Drake University their freshman and sophomore seasons. Steele then transferred to Northern Iowa. Steele said he and his wife Mindy remain close friends with their old Drake buddy.

Steele, who said he competed against Johnson in junior tournaments from the age of “10 or 11,” said he wouldn’t be surprised to see his friend win the Open at Oakmont Country Club in western Pennsylvania.

“They say Oakmont’s playing real fast and Zach hits that low draw,” Steele said. “When he gets it on the runway, it will run forever.”

Johnson’s schedule has changed since he slipped into the green jacket in Butler Cabin. Johnson, his friend said, has not.

“Exact same guy,” Steele said. “No different than he was the day we moved into the dorms in the summer of 1994.”

Watching Johnson win the Masters on television wasn’t as enjoyable for Steele as one might think.

“I was so nervous I was almost sick to my stomach,” he said. “And there were all these people calling. Once he was done, even though Tiger was still out there, I was a little bit calmer. It was so surreal. My wife and I watched the Butler Cabin ceremony and we both couldn’t believe it was happening. We had tears in our eyes. It’s been neat for us to see how well he’s handled the limelight and represented our state so well.”

May 24 was Zach Johnson Day in Iowa. Part of the weekend’s festivities included a dinner for investors, family and friends. Johnson’s wife arranged for a few of his friends to surprise him at the dinner. Steele was among them.

“We all showed up a half hour into the dinner,” Johnson said. “He’s not a guy who gets choked up. He kind of got choked up when we showed up. Even though his life is a lot more interesting than ours right now, he wanted to know how we were doing, how our daughter was, how life was at KU, how my wife’s job was going.”

Steele, who said he thought but was not certain that Johnson’s first professional victory was in Lawrence, said he never has played at the Country Club.

“I play rarely now because no matter how well I play, it won’t be nearly as good as when I was 22,” he said. “Whenever I play now, I’m constantly comparing my swing now to 1999.”

Steele said when he saw Johnson recently he told him LCC member Dr. Tom Rainbolt, Steele’s dentist, had extended him an invitation to return to the site of his first Prairie Tour victory.

“He kind of laughed about it,” Steele said. “I’m sure he gets a lot of offers like that. It wouldn’t surprise me if some year, when things are slowing down for him, he might want to come back for a walk down memory lane.”

He might not remember much because the course has undergone a dazzling facelift. So has Oakmont. Since the Open last was played there, more than 5,000 trees have been removed in an effort to bring the course back to its original feel. Challenging greens remain the backbone of the course.

Zylstra backed up his prediction, saying, “He’s a great putter and those greens are tough. They did lengthen it though, and he’s not long. He’s going to keep it in play and the greens are just so hard. In the majors, great putters usually win. Even the long hitters, if they aren’t great putters, they’re going to lose strokes.”

Morris picked Johnson in part with his heart.

“Man, he just came out of nowhere back at the Masters and I want to see him win again,” Morris said. “Plus, he’s a Fellowship of Christian Athletes guy and so am I.”

Former KU golfer Brad Bruno, new director of instruction at Alvamar, predicted a victory for Ernie Els.

“He’s been on top and he’s getting closer to being healthy and is getting more tournament rounds in,” said Bruno, a former competitor on the Prairie Tour.

Lawrence High golf coach Dirk Wedd picked Adam Scott as the U.S. Open champion.

“He’s been real close in three of the last four,” Wedd said. “He’s given it away two of those times. I think he’ll get there on Sunday and I think he’s due to win.”

If Johnson doesn’t win, it won’t be because he plays foolishly, Zylstra said.

“I followed Zach on the last nine to watch him play (in 1999 at LCC),” Zylstra said. “He just managed himself so much better than some of the others that day. A lot of guys try things they shouldn’t try and lose shots here and there. He knows his game. He doesn’t take a lot of gambles. Plays the percentages. Puts himself in position to make pars.”

That style reminded Zylstra of a player whose name surfaces in any discussion of the all-time greats.

“That’s what made (Jack) Nicklaus so great too, because he always knew what holes he could birdie and what holes he couldn’t,” Zylstra said. “Course management, same as (Ben) Hogan. You read Hogan’s history, he would play a practice round and he would hit three drives on every hole and put himself in three different positions, just to see where the flag would be on that certain day because he wanted to know where to put the ball. It’s unbelievable how they manage their games. That separates the tour players from the guys trying to make the tour. So many guys out there don’t manage their game. They just tee it up and try to hit it as far as they can.”

The U.S. Open isn’t a driving contest. It’s as much a test of mental skill as physical.

Johnson won’t hear them cheering, but many golfers in Lawrence will be on his side this weekend.