SILVIS, Ill. -- There aren’t many professional sports where the spectators can – if they choose – get as much exercise as the athletes. In fact, golf might be the only one, I decided on Friday as I hiked the TPC Deere Run course – a venue that clearly seems better suited for mountain goats than deer. I was part of the reverential legion of Zach Johnson watchers that grew throughout his morning round at the John Deere Classic, this week's PGA Tour stop.

Perhaps no one knows the rigors of an 18-hole walk better than Zach’s faithful Cedar Rapids-area family members and friends, many of whom planned their week around this tournament, as they do every year.

Chief among them on Friday was Zach’s self-described “biggest fan,” Jay Petersen, one of the handful of Cedar Rapids businessmen who sponsored Zach during his six-year journey through golf’s minor leagues before his successful debut on the big tour. The bet paid off handsomely for the guys who took a chance on Zach, and he has showered them with tickets ever since, making it possible for Petersen and his wife Bonnie to follow Zach at events all over the country.

This spring Petersen curtailed his golf watching after Bonnie suffered a stroke. In May, the last time Zach was in Cedar Rapids, he visited Bonnie in the care center, Petersen relates. “Zach and Bonnie have a great relationship, and it meant so much to her. Zach also has 50 new fans among the young women who work there,” Petersen laughs.” We really have a beautiful relationship with him.”

Zach called himself a “grinder” after Thursday’s round and Petersen agrees. “Zach’s biggest positive is his brain,” he says. “He will not discuss anything after it’s done. He doesn’t think that way.”

Not far away, Zach’s mother, Julie, was the quiet force at the center of a group of 10 friends and family members also walking the course. While Zach putted, she hung back under the shade trees rather than leaning against the ropes.

“I get real nervous,” she explained. Julie planned to follow Zach through most of his round on Friday and through the weekend “until it gets too hot.” Early in his career, she says, the Johnsons attended at least a half-dozen tournaments a year. Now they’re more selective, planning tournament trips around their vacations. After all, these are working people.

“Now it’s more about when we get to see the grandkids,” she says, referring to Zach and his wife Kim’s two small sons, Will and Wyatt. As for the unusual life Zach’s golfing success has made for Kim, a former social worker, Julie puts it plainly. “He wouldn’t be here without her, I can tell you that.”

Loyal to the tribe

“That’s the Iowa guy, right?” the guy next to me asked. He was Doug Abernathy from Peoria, Ill., and he and a buddy had driven to the tournament that morning to follow as many of the Midwesterners as they could – Zach, Steve Stricker (Wisconsin), D.A. Points (Illinois), and a couple of others.

I met an orange-and-blue-clad couple from Chicago who were also planning to watch Zach until fellow University of Illinois alumnus Stricker started his round later in the day.

A group of gray-haired guys from the Quad Cities planned to walk the first nine holes of Zach’s round, break for a few hours to cool off and do a little work, then reconvene at the Knights of Columbus Hall to watch the afternoon coverage on the Golf Channel.

Golf’s reputed middle-age demographic notwithstanding, there were plenty of kids around, too. Fifteen-year-old Logan Yeats and his dad drove in Thursday night from Webster City to spend a day at the tourney. “I won a junior tournament yesterday at home,” he told me proudly, relishing the chance to celebrate among his heroes.

As the July sun burned more brightly and I started to feel truly sorry for people without hats, it was clear that trudging up and down the course for four hours in homage to a favorite golfer offers an unusual pay-off that many fans deem worth the discomfort.

As Zach toured the course with the two Jonathans – Jhonattan Vegas and Jonathan Byrd – we were so close we could hear him talking to his caddy and even coaxing one of his friend Byrd’s balls to go in the hole. We were close enough to see that all three golfers had their game faces on – and that a game face when you’re deep in red numbers (under par) – as Zach was – is different from the one when you’re clawing to make the cut, like Byrd.

Ultimately, this day belonged to Vegas, the big Venezuelan who shot a 64 to land in a tie for fourth place. Zach played bogey-free golf but managed only two birdies, shooting a respectable 69 that wasn’t enough to keep him in the Top 10 on a day when birdies and eagles were thicker than the bentgrass at TPC Deere Run. Mercifully, Byrd found a little gold in them hills late in his round, hitting three birdies in a row while Zach and Vegas settled for pars.

It wasn’t enough to climb above the cutline, and Byrd quickly vanished into the steamy summer afternoon while Zach and Vegas held court outside the scoring trailer.

Unlike Zach, Vegas didn’t have a single family member or friend watching his impressive round. “Did you feed off the large crowd that was following Zach,” I asked him. “ I did!” he boomed. “It was fun having a crowd around. I loved it!”

All along the winding course, it seemed that the appreciation between players and fans was mutual.