Chase Johnson wins THE JOHN SHIPPEN National Invitational presented by Rocket Mortgage

Chase Johnson knows he has the stuff to play at the highest level.

He showed it with a final-round 63 at the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2020 TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes, where he lost by one to Will Zalatoris, and showed it again with a three-shot victory (67-68) at THE JOHN SHIPPEN National Invitational presented by Rocket Mortgage over the weekend.

In between those two high points, Johnson, 27, saw the fickle side of golf.

“I feel great,” he said from Detroit Golf Club, where his victory gave him a berth in this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic on the PGA TOUR. “I really worked hard the last year and a half to fine tune some things since I lost my Korn Ferry card, and it's been paying off over and over again.”

Surprisingly, Johnson fell into an epic slump immediately following his course-record 63 and runner-up finish in Colorado three years ago. He missed the cut in nine of his next nine starts and 16 of the next 17 times he teed it up, and lost his card at the end of the 2020 season.

Fast-forward to last weekend, and Johnson was back to his winning ways, hitting fairways and greens and playing what he called “boring golf.” He earned $20,000 for the win, THE JOHN SHIPPEN offering a purse for the first time in its three-year existence thanks to Detroit Golf Club members.

Johnson expressed his thanks to them and to his family for sticking by him in the hard times.

“Honestly, the last year I've gotten a lot of support from my parents, my fiancée and a lot of close‑knit people that I'm in constant contact with,” he said. “They know who they are. It's been a long journey since I lost my card and we're on the up and up and I'm excited to be back and have another chance.”

Michigan State’s Troy Taylor was second at THE JOHN SHIPPEN, while Andrew Walker (also a Michigan State product) and Michael Herrera tied for third. Johnson, who shot 72-75 to miss the cut at the 2021 Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, now gets a hard-earned second career PGA TOUR start.

“Yeah, just going to look at it as like another round of golf,” he said. “I'm going to see some familiar faces out here this week, definitely some guys I've always looked up to. Tony Finau, (defending) champion, I've always been a fan of him since I was like 11 years old watching him in junior golf.”

Johnson has made just two Korn Ferry Tour starts this season, notching a T25 at the Astara Chile Classic in April and a T72 at the Veritex Bank Championship two weeks later.

Now none of that matters, though, as the former Kent State University golfer from Barberton, Ohio, goes straight to the top, the PGA TOUR – at least for one week.

“Just keep it simple, play smart, boring golf and hit fairways, hit greens and make some putts,” Johnson said of his game plan for Detroit. “…It is an awesome opportunity because they’ve given us the chance to change our lives completely, because a PGA TOUR event, you play well in that, you cannot only get status, but rework everything that you do in life.”