Sips of Maginnes: iPhone vs. Facebook, Johnson's luck ends

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Chris Condon/PGA TOUR

Zach Johnson uncharacteristically failed to win the Sony Open after his dad flew home from Hawaii.

Apparently I caused a rift among the Scrabble faithful on the PGA TOUR last week. There appears to be two schools of thoughts among the players and the caddies. There are the iPhone players and the Facebook players. Lest you think that this is simply boys playing games -- think again. This is serious, pride-swallowing, trash-talking Jets vs. Sharks, Hatfields and McCoys type of stuff. It's letter "J" at 20 paces and both sides believe that their side can take down the other. The Facebook side boasts a MENSA member. The iPhone players say that when you are playing on the iPhone you can't surf the web for help. The only way to settle this is the old-fashioned way. Everyone in a room with wooden tiles --- but then again, they never played that way.

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• I don't know if Zach Johnson is one of the Scrabble players. I wouldn't think that he has that kind of time. What I do know is that he is not superstitious. I know because I asked him. But ironically enough Dave Johnson might be -- at least a little. Before the final round of the 2009 Sony Open in Hawaii Zach's dad flew home. He had work to do back in Iowa while his son was winning the tournament. On Sunday afternoon in San Antonio at the Valero Texas Open Dave watched the front nine and then had to head for the airport. A chiropractor's work is never done. You guessed it -- Zach won again. Well, Dave was scheduled to fly out once again from Honolulu on Sunday prior to the final round. Either way it didn't work out as Johnson had an uncharacteristically shaky weekend and finished tied for 12th.

• Blake Adams probably has some superstitions of his own. He made the cut in his first ever PGA TOUR event last week. But there is more to distinguish the man who finished third on the Nationwide Tour money list last year. Blake lives further out in the country than any player on TOUR -- including his good friend Boo Weekley. Swainsboro, Ga., with its 7,000 residents is the biggest town around. Don't let the country boy fool you, though; he has big game.

• Brian Stuard and Troy Merrit were also playing in their first PGA TOUR events this week and both survived the Friday and Saturday cuts. When I asked Troy what it was like to have his name called out on the first tee of a TOUR event for the first time he broke into a wide smile. He admitted that his heart was pounding on the first tee but that he "somehow managed to par the first hole." The q-school medalist did a lot more than that, he shot 65 and took a share of the opening round lead in his first ever PGA TOUR event.

Finally, my favorite thing about the first two weeks of the year is the fact that everyone is in such a good mood. How could you not be happy? The slate is clean, the weather is perfect and you are on the PGA TOUR. Sounds pretty good to me.

Former PGA TOUR player John Maginnes is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.