In the search for answers about what turned Zach Johnson from a PGA Tour wannabe into a major champion, one ingredient came up the most consistently: his wife, Kim.

Kim and Zach Johnson's son, Will, was just 3 months old on tournament Sunday. When Johnson took a three-shot lead on the 16th, his father, wife and mother-in-law decided someone had better go pick up the baby from a local day care. (Michael Snyder/Staff)

"I think a lot of people would say that Kim was the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle that makes it work," said Flip Klinger, a member at Johnson's home club in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and one of his initial investors. "Perfect fit."

That perfect fit came along at a critical time in Johnson's budding career. After moving to Florida in 2000, he was struggling to find traction in his game for the first time. He missed his first six cuts as a Nationwide Tour rookie and for the first and only time failed to cover his sponsors' stake in him.

In the midst of that, he met Kim Barclay when they lived in the same apartment complex just a couple of miles from where their house is now in the Lake Mary area north of Orlando. Zach and all of the rest of the mini- tour gang that filled their apartment were out in the parking lot throwing a football.

"The golfers are outside," Kim told her roommate, Trina, on the phone.

"Go meet them," Trina said. "Take the garbage out or something."

"I already took the garbage out," Kim said.

The Johnsons play at their home north of Orlando, Fla., just a few miles from where the couple met -- in their apartment complex parking lot. (Michael Snyder/Staff)

With no better plan, Kim half-stuffed a trash bag with full boxes of cereal and other items and went out to bump into the golfers. They struck up a conversation and agreed to go out as a group that weekend.

"You skipped the best part of the story," Kim scolds Zach as she takes over the retelling. "I went back in after I met them and called my roommate back. I said, 'I've met them, we're all going out on Friday night and Zach is mine.' I went and met them so I got first dibs."

That initial connection quickly developed despite Johnson's being constantly on the road with no cell phone or e-mail access.

"So I had to wait every week for him to call from wherever he was to get his phone number," Kim said. "He totally could have ditched me easily because I had no way of getting in touch with him."

But Johnson wasn't about to ditch the woman who was willing to clean out the filthy shower that he and his band of roommates had never bothered cleaning. Plus, his game started to blossom along with their relationship.

By the end of 2002, they got married before Johnson would embark on his second turn at the Nationwide Tour. They had decided Kim would quit her job and travel with him.

The first stop was Hot Springs, Ark., where Johnson began with a pair of 65s to open a six-shot lead. The local media were waiting to talk to Johnson after his round, and PGA Tour media official Joe Chemycz orchestrated the start of a family tradition.

"OK, go kiss your wife," Chemycz said.

"So Zach would kiss me before he would talk to the media," Kim said. "That just stuck."

Johnson missed a playoff that week by one shot, but the next week he won a playoff in Fort Smith, Ark., at the Rheem Classic. He would miss only one cut in 20 starts, win twice, finish in the top three nine times and set tour money and scoring records to earn his PGA Tour card.

Needless to say, they haven't deviated from a script that worked so well.

"If I'm there, he won't talk to the media until I get my kiss," Kim said.

"If I ever screw that up ..." Johnson said. "When I won in 2004 and (NBC reporter Roger) Maltbie wanted to talk to me on the 18th green, I said 'Wait ... where's Kim?' That's the rule."

Those closest to Johnson understand Kim means more to his success than just post-round superstition. It's no coincidence that his career took off after they met. She provided a stabilizing and spiritual influence that brought out the most in his potential.

"Without her, he would not have had that Nationwide year," said Dave Johnson, Zach's father.

Johnson doesn't dispute it.

"You know, there was times, especially in my minitour days and the days when I'm practicing trying to get to this level, where you get beat up," he said. "She believed that I would make it to this point the entire time. I don't know why, because she really didn't know much about golf back then. But she always felt like that I had something in me and I could really go far in this sport. Just having that confidence and perspective that she's always given me has been priceless. It's not tangible, but it's something that I am forever grateful for."

When Johnson talks about the successes on the golf course of the past six years, he typically includes his wife in the discussion. When he talks about the repercussions of winning the Masters, it is always how they mutually have dealt with the changes to their lives.

"He doesn't say 'I' won the Masters; he says 'we' won the Masters," said Ralph Howe, the associate pastor at their church, who befriended Johnson and Kim during weekly Bible studies when he served as the Nationwide Tour chaplain. "They're a team. I agree with everybody. She's a wonderful lady, and they're a great team."

It was Kim who choreographed the celebration party thrown for Johnson at Elmcrest Country Club last summer. She got PGA Tour productions to make a short film with his pro peers lampooning Johnson's "I'm from Cedar Rapids" line as they paid tribute.

And then she added another surprise when she ended an eloquent speech by saying she'd "picked up a few things" when she took a tour of his college, Drake, the day before.

Then the doors opened and in walked the other members of Johnson's Drake golf team and his coach, Jamie Bremel, who came all the way from Colorado State.

"Zach was floored," said Elmcrest pro Larry Gladson. "But that's Kim."

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.