BARRINGTON - Billy Andrade and Brad Faxon would have understood if Zach Johnson had responded with a “No thank you” to their invitation to play in the ninth CVS Caremark Charity Classic.

The circumstances in which Johnson received his invitation were a bit unusual, to say the least.

For two years, Johnson had expressed interest in playing in the event at Rhode Island Country Club, the only one of its kind on the PGA Tour. As one of the top young players in the country, he was considered for the 20-player field. Anyone good enough to have made the American Ryder Cup team in 2006 _ and then be one of the few guys on the team to play well in the matches _ becomes a serious candidate to play anywhere he wants.

``We like to have guys who want to play tell us they want to play,” Andrade said. ``Zach was one of those guys who asked. We did talk about it.”

With so few spots available, though, Johnson had not been on the short list of players asked to take part. By early April, 18 of the 20 available spots for this year had been filled and Johnson was among those on the list of “maybes.” As has become their custom, co-hosts Faxon and Andrade held two in reserve hoping to attract hot players to make the tournament that much more attractive.

In the second week of April, everything changed. Johnson’s status in the golf world jumped several levels. He came from behind to win The Masters, putting together a final-round 69, including six birdies, in difficult conditions. That night, Faxon and Andrade spoke and agreed to put in a call to Johnson and offer him one of the two remaining spots in their event.

``We called his agent the night he won,” Faxon said.

``We would have understood if he told us no, ” Andrade said. ``When you win The Masters you are going to have a lot of people after you. You can have the pick of pretty much anything you want.”

Happily for everyone involved in the CVS, Johnson is not one to carry a chip on his shoulder, not one whose head swelled when the green jacket was presented to him in Butler Cabin.

He said yes.

What already was an excellent field suddenly became perhaps the deepest, most attractive lineup the event has ever had. Even the 20th selection turned to gold. Faxon and Andrade picked another of the international stars, K.J. Choi, for the final spot. Two weeks later, Choi went out and won The Memorial at the house Jack Nicklaus built.

Even with Hall of Famer Lee Trevino, with Juli Inkster and Natalie Gulbis, the first LPGA stars to take part in the tournament proper, with rising stars Camilo Villegas and Trevor Immelman, Johnson is the feature attraction. Andrade and Faxon praise not only his ability on the course, but the way he handles himself off the course.

``He’s a good guy,” is the way Andrade puts it.

At age 31, Johnson is not exactly an overnight sensation. He has made himself into a success the old-fashioned way, with hard work and dedication.

Johnson was 5-feet-3 and 110 pounds when he began high school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He hoped to attend Iowa, where his parents had gone to school, but Drake was the only Division I school that offered him a scholarship. So Drake is where he went. He had a growth spurt after high school, getting to his current 5-11.

He had a solid college career, helping Drake win two Missouri Valley titles and three times reach the NCAA regionals. He was not exactly a top pro prospect. But he wanted to play so he did what so many others do. He began on the mini-tours and worked to develop his game. It did not take long for him to show he had possibilities. He began showing that he might be able to make a living with the game while playing the Hooters Tour in 2001, three years after turning pro.

Johnson won the final three events on the 2001 Hooters Tour. Some of his friends from those days still call him ``back-to-back-to-back Zach.” He reached the Nationwide Tour and, in 2003, and promptly led that tour with what was then a record $494,882 in earnings.

``I just kept getting better every year,” Johnson said in his acceptance speech at The Masters.

That still has not stopped. He is not someone who overpowers a course. When he won The Masters, he was 162nd on tour in driving distance. Not unlike Faxon and Andrade, he is a player who is best at getting the ball in the hole from anywhere and everywhere.

The Masters was not a one-time thing. Johnson, who won in Atlanta in his first year on the PGA Tour, won there again this year. He played well enough in the previous two years to have made the United States Ryder Cup team team last year.

As a rookie, he was eased in by captain Tom Lehman. But Johnson showed he was more than up to the challenge when he had seven birdies on his own ball as he and Scott Verplank won their Four-Ball match. That on a day when the other seven Americans on the course totaled eight birdies among them.

With his recent success, Johnson is now in the top 10 on the money list and the points list for the new FedEx cup. Those who know him say success has not changed him. He is still the small-town kid from Iowa. He is a regular at the PGA Tour’s Bible Study meetings. He is a frequent speaker at breakfasts hosted by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

``He loves life, loves his country and loves his God,” said Larry Moody, the PGA Tour chaplain, after Johnson won at Augusta. ``He’s the All-American young man.”