Justin Leonard - Part 2 (The 1997 Open Championship)

Music playing  00:00

Devlin, Bruce  00:14

So Justin. You finish your career in college by winning the NCAA in 1994. You were the individual champion there at Stonebridge Country Club. Your team finished second but, and I guess they lost by four shots to Stanford but that had to be a great way to finish college.

Leonard, Justin  00:37

It was a great way to finish it was close to home. I would have loved, the only thing I felt like I wasn't able to accomplish was getting that team title. We won conference every year that I was in school, but not able to win an NCAA title. We had a great chance on a Golf Course we were very comfortable with unfortunately Stanford and this is before Tiger was there. Stanford with you know, Notah Begay and Casey Martin and Will Yanagisawa  they played the last couple holes better than we did as a team and ended up winning but you know, and trust me Notah, who's become a very close friend. He likes to remind me of that quite often. But to be able to win, you know, my final college or amateur event close to home it was it was very special. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez  01:32

So when during your college career with all this great success you had the the the kind of come into your mind, I think I want to do this for a living.

Leonard, Justin  01:42

Well, as I spoke earlier, of playing in those, those tour events, and playing in three majors, you know, I missed the cut at Bay Hill, I missed the cut at the Masters. But I made the cut at the Byron Nelson. And then I made the cut again at Colonial and it just gave me a level of comfort and understanding. You know, a little bit what a week looks like on the PGA Tour. What in both those weeks I was able to stay at home, my parents lived in Dallas and then going to the U.S. Open and and you know, going back to the 93 Masters. I didn't I wasn't able to play a practice round with Jack Nicklaus and Mr. Nicklaus came over to me on Thursday, Friday and said, Hey, I'm sorry, we didn't get to play together. Let's play on Tuesday at the U.S. Open. I said, Great. So about the week before the U.S. Open, I realized that that Tuesday was my 21st birthday. So on my 21st birthday, I played a practice round with Jack Nicklaus at Baltusrol. But it was playing in those events and being around Tour players and because of my my friendship with Vinnie Giles, he was captain of that 92 World Amateur team. He was captain of the Walker Cup of 93 You know, Tom Kite, Lanny Wadkins, Davis Love, Bobby Wadkins, all those guys were were clients of his as he was an Agent/Manager, being able to spend some time and play practice rounds with those guys. And having just a taste of success, I think is what made me realize, Okay, I think this is something that I can do. And so a lot of the next two years, I kind of took some of the things that I learned in practice and playing practice around those things into my amateur and college events, as far as understanding a Golf Course and things to look for, and how to, when you're playing a practice round, it's not all just all about, you know, where's the pen or where the pen is going to be, but where are the spots where you can miss it, get the ball up and down from and figuring those things out. All of those things I learned playing in those tour events and then took with me moving forward and kind of helped prepare and then, you know, on top of that Tom Kite was such a great friend and mentor. The Christmas break my senior year, so the end of 93, beginning of 94. Tom called me right after right after New Year's, and I didn't have to be on campus back on campus for another week or two and, and he said, Hey, how would you like to come meet me over to Ben Hogan factory in Fort Worth? We'll just spend a day over there. I said, That'd be fun. And so I met him over there. I thought I was going to watch him, you know, work on a set of his clubs and everything. Well, actually, I got there and we were working on a set of clubs for me. And I had no idea what I was doing, how to articulate what I liked. I was playing a set of Cleveland Classic blades at the time. And he told me bring my clubs so I did and so that's how my you know kind of association with the Ben Hogan company began And Tom was on their staff. I you know, after that round at the NCAA is I signed a contract with the Ben Hogan company and I was with them for for a few years. So, all of those things and and the people that, you know, the good Lord put in my path kind of helped prepare me for turning professional and 94 Literally the night after that NCAA championship.

Mike Gonzalez  05:26

Gotcha. So that was at age 22, you're coming out of college, you had a chance to bypass Q school.

Leonard, Justin  05:34

I did i So, you know, I signed on with Vinnie Giles. Um, and he because of his relationship with different events and things like that, and some of my amateur accomplishments I was able to get at the time you could get I think it was five sponsors, exemptions. So and he lined them right off, I tried to go qualify for the U.S. Open, I didn't get through qualifying. So my first week is professional was that the Travelers Championship, and he knew somebody at Hertz Rental Car, because at the time you couldn't rent a car unless you're 25 years old. And not every tour event had courtesy cars. So he knew somebody at Hertz an executive. And so I got moved up to Hertz platinum status where there were no questions asked. So I was able to rent cars and and you know, I missed the cut in that first event. I think the second event I played was the Western Open, which I actually played the year prior from winning the Western Amateur. And I made the cut there. And so playing Cog Hill, I made the cut, I actually played with Tom Kite, we got paired together either Saturday or Sunday. And so you know, that's I made my first check. And then my third event was, I think it was called the Michelob Championships at Kings Mill, Virginia. And so, you know, I go in there, it's about 105 degrees in the shade, reminded me a little bit of Dallas, to be honest. And I just I had a really good week, I was playing well. And I ended up finishing third that week, to basically jump to where now I've made enough money, I think is equivalent to 100/50 on the previous year's money lists. So I gained what's called temporary status. And I could get any, you know, I could get unlimited number of sponsors exemptions. And so I that year, I got a bunch of exemptions. I played I think 13 events, I may have I finished like six or something and in an event a couple of weeks later up in Pleasant Valley. And then I went through a little law where I miss some cuts and and the last event that I was that I was in that year was the Texas open and I needed I needed a pretty good week the the last event of the year the following week in Las Vegas, I did not get a spot to and so I played a lot of practice rounds with Bobby Wadkins, Lanny's brother. And so the last day I was in I was in decent shape. I was like 15th or 20th. And I kind of need to pretty much hold my position. And I started out I think I bogeyed the first two holes. I was so nervous. This is on Sunday. And so we're walking down the third fairway and we're playing in twosomes, and Bobby puts his arm around me. He goes, and he used to call me junior or junior pro. He goes, Listen, JP, he goes, it's just you and I out here. We're playing a Tuesday practice round. Let's just have some fun from here on out. And that instantly, like call my nerves i played really well from there on out. I think I finished like 15th in the tournament. And then at the time, it wasn't like a hard 125 There were certain guys that were exempt for different reasons. And so I think I finished 127 on the money list, and I think it was 129 Guys got their cards that year. So made it by a couple guys but and obviously all the people I mentioned I owe a lot to because they all got me through that whole experience.

Devlin, Bruce  09:28

That's great. Well, just to

Mike Gonzalez  09:30

recap for our listeners, professional career of Justin Leonard mentioned turning professional and 94. He had 13 Professional wins, including 12 on the PGA Tour, and one major championship which we'll talk about that being the Open Championship at Royal Troon in 1997. So it didn't take you too long. You know it was 1996 when you picked up that first went on tour that was at the Buick Open at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club By five over Chip Beck.

Leonard, Justin  10:03

Yeah, it was and I had a couple of close calls before that. I lost a playoff in 95 to Phil out in Scottsdale.

Mike Gonzalez  10:15

At the Phoenix Open. Yeah,

Leonard, Justin  10:16

at the Phoenix Open. And it was funny about that week at Warwick Hills, actually wasn't playing that well going in there. And did Tuesday, Wednesday, things just didn't feel quite right. Thursday, we actually had a fog delay on Thursday morning, and I was supposed to play early. So it's one of those times when Bruce, you remember where, you know, you're just basically you're, you're on hold, they give you updates every 15 or 30 minutes or something. And so I just went on the range in the fog and down to the far end of the range. And I just hit balls, and I hit balls I couldn't see but about 40 yards in front of me. And something about not being able to see where the ball was, but just having to feel what I was doing. I found it. Yeah, and all of a sudden, I started hitting it better. And our fall delay lasted for a couple of hours, and I hit balls the entire two hours. And all of a sudden when the fog lifted, the ball was still going where I thought it should be. And you know, I was kind of off and running and just played really well all week. I made a hole in one that week, I think on the 11th hole a par three, somewhere early in the in the in the week and and I played with Bob Tway in the in the final round two I played quite a few practice rounds with he and Scott verplanck. Another couple guys that kind of taken me under their wings. And and so it was very comfortable pairing and nice to be able to that first one to be able to walk up, you know, 17 and 18. And you know, have a pretty secure feeling that I was going to win.

Devlin, Bruce  11:56

You might mention to that he shot 65, 64, 69, 68  266, 22 under par that's pretty good score around Warwick Hills.

Leonard, Justin  12:09

Yeah, and it's fun now with the Champions Tour. I'm gonna go back there and play again in August. So and if if memory serves from watching, you know, a little bit, the place hasn't changed very much. So I'm looking forward to get back.

Devlin, Bruce  12:23

You're right. It does look the same, doesn't it?

Mike Gonzalez  12:27

So after that opening 65, 64 Do you remember what kind of lead you had? I assume you had a fairly decent lead.

Leonard, Justin  12:34

I don't remember I just I think I think I had the lead going in the last day, maybe a couple shots if memory serves over Bob. And again, just played real solid consistent. Bob didn't get off to a great start. And you know, it was a pretty comfortable day.

Mike Gonzalez  12:55

So validation came the following June at the Kemper opened in 1997. That was at the TPC at Avenel. And that was a little closer contest by one over Mark Wiebe.

Leonard, Justin  13:08

Yeah, it was, you know, very hilly Golf Course. And the U.S. Open was the following week at Congressional. So it was basically two weeks, you know, kind of in the same area, which is pretty rare for professional golf. And it was it was a different experience, because I think I might have even come from behind a little bit in that event, but yeah, they you know, people say are the first ones the hardest was sometimes the second one is just because you do you want to feel a little bit of that. A little bit of that validation. And you know, but But yeah, it's certainly a fun week and then turn around and like, you know, play Congressional the following week at a U.S. Open, but you know, it's always nice. And I won. When I went to 96. The next week was the PGA at Valhalla. And so, you know, it was always nice going into major playing well, but coming off a win, which Bruce, you know, like, it can be a little tiring. It takes a couple days to kind of regroup and all that, you know, and I played Okay, both weeks after, but I wouldn't trade him for the world. But it was. It was interesting. Both those first wins came the week before major championship. Yeah.

Devlin, Bruce  14:29

Interesting. So then, we come to a big, big highlight in your career in 1997. I must say, the last round you shot at that Open Championship at Troon. That year was quite remarkable. You shot 69, 66, 72 and then close with a 65 to win that championship. Over Darren Clarke and Jesper Parnevik.

Leonard, Justin  15:02

So I went over and qualified in 95 and 96 because I wasn't exempt. And back in that day, the qualifier was at a different course somewhat nearby. And the qualifier was on Sunday and Monday just prior to the Open Championship. So, you know, I flew over there, got in there Friday morning, played a practice around Friday afternoon, slept played a practice round Saturday, and then the qualifier and then you know, if you make it to the qualifier, which I did, I did both times, you only have two days to get ready on the actual Open Championship venue. So 97 was the first year that I was exempt. And I see you know what, I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity. So I got to Royal Troon on Sunday morning. And I played it was pretty windy that week, especially early on, I played 72 holes of practice. And then two days I went out and played for more holes rather than go to the range and battle all that I just went on the Golf Course and played you know, one and two, and then back 1718. So I played 80 holes in practice, and felt like, you know, I don't think anybody outside of maybe Colin Montgomery because I believe his dad was, you know, you know, head of the golf club there at Royal Troon knew the Golf Course as well as I did. And so the first day was very windy, really tough conditions. And the wind was straight into us on the back nine. And I think I read somewhere recently where I think I hit one green and regulation on the bat nine and shot even par one over par or something like that. Now, obviously a couple of those are just putting from just off the green and those kinds of things. But I remember the 18th hole, I couldn't get it to the fairway, I hit a good drive. And it was still in the wispy stuff and had to hit a six iron down the fairway and hit like a wedge on the green. And then after that day, then the weather actually got pretty good. It warmed up a little bit, the winds subsided somewhat and played a really nice round on Friday to get the lead. I think I played with Darren Clarke on Saturday, and didn't play very well as you said 72 shot one over par that day. And I really kind of felt like I let maybe let my chances slip away. So I was at dinner at the hotel on Saturday night. And because I played late, you know, it was nine o'clock or so before I was able to sit down and eat dinner. And I could see Jack and Barbara Nichlaus, you know, across the room there are quite a few tables between us and but the restaurant was starting to empty out a bit. And Barbara Nicklaus walked over to me and put her hand on my shoulder and bent over down to my ear before I could stand up and she said you know you can go out and win this tomorrow. Now just go do it. And that completely changed my whole mindset. I was I was sitting there licking my wounds from the day you know what should have been what could have been that kind of thing. And I completely changed thank you to Barbara because I started to think about what I need to do to you know to to get back in it and the opening nine offered a lot of good birdie chances. A couple of par fives that even I could reach and so I just became you know I changed my whole mindset thanks to Barbara Nicklaus and and I went out at a great pairing playing with Fred couples I was in the next last group so I only had to pass to people and and so I played a very good front nine you know Darren Clarke and yes for part of it had never won a major championship either up to that point there and obviously got his later at the open. But you know, those guys were in the same boat. Yes, they had a little more experience. But you know, I just I felt so common with the Golf Course and what I was trying to do, played really aggressively and it all kind of really paid off. I shot a great front nine. I saw leaderboard when I was maybe around making the turn 10 or 11 and I saw that I was maybe within one or so of yes for and kind of put my head back down and just kept playing in the back nine played a little bit tougher. You know, I made a great par save I hit a poor iron shot on 15 out short right of the green and hit a pretty decent pitched about 10 feet. I made that for par 16 I couldn't reach the green into but I got it right up in front of the green pitched up to seven or eight feet. I made that for birdie. And then 17. And I still didn't know exactly where I stood 17 very difficult part three, I hit a three iron about 30 feet towards the back part of the green and I made that for birdie. Still didn't know exactly where I stood, but I knew I was either I was either in the lead or I was you know, tied something like that. And you walk a good ways back to the 18th Tee. And Darren and Jesper were putting on 16. And I couldn't see because of the the amount of people that are in between us. But I just heard a groan when somebody had hit a pot. And I looked at my caddy, Bob Reifke guy said that's probably really good for us. And so I hit a three wood off 18 T, avoided the bunkers. I hit a six iron in the middle of the green, I had about 25 feet. And I didn't want to look up at a board. I didn't want to see what was going on. I had a pot up there about a foot or so from the hole I tapped it in. And I looked over my caddy I said and you know, there's a leaderboard, you know, right up there on the grandstand. I still didn't want to look Bruce, I looked at Bob. And I said, Bob, where what's going on? Where are we? He said, Well, you've got a two shot lead over. Yes, Bert, and they're teeing off on 18 right now. And I said, oh, so it was a good day. He goes, Yeah, it's a very good day. I think so. Yeah. So ended up winning by three, I think, yes, we may have made a bogey on 17 or eight days. But yeah, but yeah, just one of those times where I, I just kind of I had a sense of where I was, you could tell by the reactions, there weren't roars or anything going on behind us. And, you know, I was just able to make some some very timely pots,

Mike Gonzalez  21:54

Champion golfer of the year and winner of the gold medal. Justin Leonard, how did that sound?

Leonard, Justin  22:02

It sounded fantastic. And I wasn't, I wasn't aware of, you know, the, those things in the, you know, how they bring out the winner. Until those words were said and certainly have a great deal of respect for it now, back then being 25. You know, I was just excited that they wanted to talk to me. And I remember sitting sitting in the scoring trailer. And they've, you know, sign the card, and they've got the monitor in there. And I was watching Yes, for a Darren finish. And, and I wasn't even thinking that I was going to need to give a speech, I just I hadn't even gotten there yet. And I was kind of still almost in that little bubble of of competition. And the press secretary for the R&A came over and handed me a couple of note cards with you know, the Secretary of the club and the ground superintendent and and Barkley Howard had won the low amateur and, and, you know, it wasn't a speech written out, but it just had those particular names and it and when people of all the comments that I've gotten about that open over the last, you know, 20 something years. Far and away more comments. 9% of the comments are about the speech I gave not about any golf shot that I hit. But no, it wasn't written. I had not written anything, I hadn't even thought of a speech. And Bruce, I don't know if you've done this, but in my head, I've written about 50 speeches, and I've only been able to give a very few of them. So I don't do speeches anymore. As far as like oh, here's what I'm gonna say and do and all that I don't go there anymore. But yeah, it was one of those where I was just blessed for you know, the right words at the moment. I remember I had watched Barkley Hauer one of the days when I was finished you go when you're over there you watch the BBC coverage and so they were following him very closely. And so I made a mention of watching him and something about his play and and you know and then when I started talking about you know my parents weren't there and and you know it all just kind of that's when it all sink sank in was in the middle of my speech and and so anyways it's fun memories of course and you know when I saw I you know spent the night well go I don't know if you have any questions I got a whole bunch of stories I could keep going but if you've got any questions in the meantime, I'll take a break here for a sec.

Mike Gonzalez  24:50

Well one of the questions I would have no one Royal Troon a little bit would be what what was your favorite hold on that Golf Course.

Leonard, Justin  24:57

Oh, Ah, favorite whole, I mean, you know, the Postage Stamp is is certainly the most, probably the most famous whole, I wouldn't say it was my favorite because it's so daunting. You know, and the hard thing about it is you kind of you play out one direction primarily for the first seven holes and then all of a sudden, you've got to turn around and hit this little short iron into the wind to this green that's no wider than my desk. And if you miss my desk, yeah, good luck, you may not be able to chip in on the green. It's that severe. And so, you know, fortunately, I got through that hole unscathed. But yeah, looking back, I mean, it's probably that hole. You know, the 11th hole is so hard. It's kind of a blind shot, over course you got out of balance to the right and the fairway kind of goes in angles, you can't really see any of it and so you're just kind of relying on on, you know, your imagination as far as where the fairway is. You know, I think 16 is is a really fun par five. And then the last two holes are very difficult. It's just, you know, it's a special place for me. You know, when I went back in 2016, Mark Calcavecchia and Todd Hamilton also went open championships there and they made all three of us honor re members. So I look forward to going back next year and playing for the first time since 2016. In the open because it'll be back at Troon and 2024. Be great, but yeah, it's a special place.

Mike Gonzalez  26:44

You mentioned number 11, which is a brute. In 1982 Tom Watson a 1989 Mark Calcavecchia won there, but they got to play number 11 as par five they made you play it as a par four. Little different as a par four.

Leonard, Justin  27:00

Yeah, a little different. Yes, it is.

Mike Gonzalez  27:02

Yeah. So you use rumor has it? Although I know it's a matter of public record. That one putt you made on 17 That wasn't the last time you tried that pot?

Leonard, Justin  27:16

Well, it it actually was the last time I tried the putt. Okay. However, I did have dinner out there on Sunday night. So, you know, we the leaders tee off around three o'clock local time we finish it. Seven 715 Of course, you do the ceremony on 810 A lot of press and everything. You know, you go around to the volunteers, they're having their parties. You know, you go in the locker room clean out, you know, that kind of stuff and go do you know, at ESPN interview, all of a sudden, it's like 11 o'clock at night before, you know get back to the hotel. And my caddy Bob Reifke had, he'd already had a couple at the bar at some point. And so he rode to the hotel with me. He was staying with a local family and and I said, Okay, here's what I want you to do. I said, I'm going to go to the room, drop off the Claret Jug, take my clubs up there. I want you to order an entire tray of pints. And when I come back, we're going to walk out to 17 grand because the marine hotel is literally adjacent to the 70. We're going to walk out to 70. Order a couple of pizzas and we're going to go we're gonna go at dinner on the 17th green. So I go in I talked to my parents briefly I talked to Randy Smith. I go back out. pints are full. Pizzas are ready. We walked out to 17 and a couple of the family to Bob stayed with had two young boys and so they came out they were I mean young. They were 13 and maybe 16. So they were there with us. And then a couple others kind of saw what we were doing. I think Cory Pavin came out there with us. Lee Janzen was around, he came out. So anyways, we had pizza and beer on the 17th green with nobody else around and it was one of the best meals I've ever had.

Mike Gonzalez  29:25

I bet it was the other thing that's when did was it locked down a spot for you and your first Ryder Cup and

Leonard, Justin  29:30

it's right. It did. Tom Kite, who was captain that team in 97. He was actually already at the airport. He was flying down to Valderrama, I think privately to do some Ryder Cup press. And actually, he hadn't taken off yet. He saw that I was going to win got in his car and came back to the Golf Course and congratulated me when I walked off the 18th green gave me a big hug said welcome to the Ryder Cup team. So, you know, a it was kind of exciting to be able to play for Tom but be for him to turn around and come back to the, to the Golf Course and do that was was obviously another kind of special moment there.

Mike Gonzalez  30:12

Yeah, yeah, just a factoid, to put a bow on this and then you might have some more stories, but at this 1997 Open Championship Bruce, your good friend he Ian Baker-Finch who won at Birkdale in 1991 He opened this particular major with a 92 never played another round in a major championship again,

Devlin, Bruce  30:32

that amazing, amazing other

Mike Gonzalez  30:37

remembrances of that week, Justin?

Leonard, Justin  30:41

Um, well, so, you know, we finish up on Sunday night, and, you know, I go in, I get, you know, whatever, maybe two or three hours of sleep, get up, catch a flight home on on Monday morning. And as I'm getting on the plane, you know, I've got this huge metal case with the Claret Jug in it. And I'm getting on my flight. And, you know, going through security, they want to look through it. Well, they they weren't suspicious what was in it, they wanted to see the cleric job. And so I get on the flight and, you know, they, you know, the American Airlines are great. They said, Look, we're gonna put you on blast, just sit here sit tight, you know, this and that. So, so anyways, I get on and the pilot comes out, and he looks at me, I go, do you want to see it? He's like, Yeah, so I opened it. They stole it kind of where they put their their things and, and, you know, usually it typically I'll sleep a good bit on a flight home like that. I don't think I slept a wink. I was so excited. So I landed at DFW and, and my parents were there, my sister was there. A few friends and, you know, a couple news crews and that kind of thing. And so my parents picked me up, we get in the car and I go, Oh, I can't wait to get home and just like, take a shower. I feel like I hadn't showered or slept in a week. And they go, Oh, we're not going home. I go. What? What do you mean? No, we're going out to Royal Oaks. I do not go to Royal Oaks. I'm exhausted. And they're like, no, no, we're going to Royal Oak. So basically, I didn't have any power over is my parents. My dad's driving. They drive me to Royal Oaks. And there's 600 people there. Every member at Royal Oaks the ballroom. I took the cleric jargon and you know anyway, so that lasted for two or three hours. But it was you know, again, great memories, a lot of fun. But boy that we go, you know, it'll live on my memory forever. But I just I just remember how tired I was after, after all of it.

Mike Gonzalez  32:47

Yeah, well, it was destined to be one of the great great closing rounds, two in the Open Championship. And then who comes back to Troon in 2016. But Stenson versus Mickelson.

Leonard, Justin  32:59

Yeah, yeah. That was something else. That was I played that weekend. I missed the cut. I was starting to do a little work with NBC. And so that final day, I sat in the 18th tower in the back on a headset and watched the whole thing but able to listen to the producers and everything that was going on. Yeah, that was that was some pretty epic battle there in 2016. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez  33:27

Well, the great thing about being an Open champion is they can never take that away from you.

Devlin, Bruce  33:32

No, that's true. And you know, something just a new you newly added another major that year too. Didn't you? 77 PGA Championship at Winged Foot. I mean, yeah, I have a chance to get your hands on that trophy too.

Leonard, Justin  33:48

Yeah, three or four weeks later. I took a couple of weeks off and then I think I played the week before Castle Pines and then went to Winged Foot and it was course was set up brutally difficult as it always is. Fun pairing the first two days I was paired with Tiger because he'd won the Masters that year Ernie Els had won the US Open so played with those two guys in the first two days and actually didn't did drive the ball very well, which I think is a prerequisite at Winged Foot. But my wedge game was so good. I just hacked the ball out, get it up, you know, within 100 yards and seemed like I got it up and down most the time Tiger was giving me a hard time about it, you know, on Fridays round, you know, saying he asked me if I was ever going to hit a fairway but got through those first couple days and then found a little something off the tee on Saturday played really well and shot 66 and gotten the final group with Davis. And then Davis is just played so well on that Sunday. You know, fun to be there. and be with him as he won. Obviously, I would love to have played a little bit better, but I don't think regardless of what I could have done that day that I was going to be data he just played so well. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez  35:11

Well, you had what I would call your second major the following year because you won the Players Championship in 1998. TPC Sawgrass. This was by to over Glen Day and Tom Lehman. Shooting 10 under but coming from five back behind Lee Janzen after 54 sounds a little bit like your Open Championship win.

Leonard, Justin  35:33

Yeah, they were very similar in that. I was five back. I was playing in the next last group. I think it was just Glen Day and Lee Janzen and you know, playing behind us. Had a good pairing. I think I played with Mark Calcavecchia that day. And again, same thing I knew I needed to get off to a good start, which I did I think I made Eagle too and and made a couple other birdies and and you know, I almost knocked a one iron in the hole at number eight made Birdie and, and and then you know really like I think I've already 1011 13 and 14 on the back nine to kind of get up there. You know, right near the lead. Len Matisse was playing really well. I think he had the lead at some point during the final day, lead and have a very good day, but glenday was playing well. And, and I remember I made a good up and down at 15 for par and I was playing 16 I had to lay up because I missed the fairway and Len Matisse was playing 17 and a group in front and he hit his tee shot in the water and he was from Jacksonville had a lot of people there rooting for him. And I heard like three consecutive just deflating groans. And you know, he had his tee shot in the water. He went to the drop circle, I think he hit he either hit that one in the water in the bunker. Anyways, he made a seven or an eight there. And I think at the time I was maybe one behind him. And so you know, I was able to just kind of get it on the green with my third shot because I had a little tree issue to potted. And then of course, there's the tee shot there at 17. The last thing I wanted to think about was what Len Matisse had done, but I had a good club, it was just a good solid nine iron for me. And you know, aim at the middle, the green try and get it moving just a little bit left to right, was able to get it down there on the proper level. And you know, that's the biggest sense of relief. Maybe one of the biggest senses in the game is when you're you know, you're playing the 17th at sawgrass at the players and you're right there and you hit it you're dry on 17. And, you know, I didn't play team great. I think I hit it on the green at two but three potted but I think at that time I had a two or three shot lead. And so it was it was it was fine.

Mike Gonzalez  38:05

Let's go on to the next year and you know, the probably a lot of people forget at Carnoustie that you were involved in that whole John Van de velde meltdown. Tell us a little bit about that experience that week.

Leonard, Justin  38:21

Yeah, that was probably the hardest Golf Course I've ever played. They'd had a very wet spring. Yeah, that very wet spring and early summer. The rough was you know, you've always got kind of the higher wispy stuff but below that was you know, it was like Winged Foot taper off. It was very lush and green and dense. And, and actually I remember during the practice rounds, even Tuesday and Wednesday they were starting to cut some of the rough back a little bit and widen some of the approaches because it was so tight and so severe. And you know one of those it was a it was a test of survival the last day the weather wasn't very good. And you know, Paul Lori went out shot out incredible round I think he shot 64 that day. I think he started out the day like 10 back and you know John Van de velde play great all day and and you know, I was standing there and 18 fairway he was going up 17 And I think at the time he was up by two or three and you know, so I was I had an okay line the first cut but it was a three wood and I said well if I any chance I've got to go for this and so I ended up hitting it in the burn and then got it up and down from 50 or 60 yards or whatever and finished i i figured well you know it tied for second and then set the scoring trailer and watch you know, all that he did there at 17 You know and I like everybody else was kind of looking at okay, wait, he was over there and one there two and then three out four in the bunker and five. And so you know, I was like wait a second, I think I might be in a playoff. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez  40:10

And you were so that was a four hole playoff three ways and and Paul Laurie prevailed course everybody remembers the John Van de velde thing unfortunately for Paul fewer people probably remember that he won or even that you were involved with the playoff

Leonard, Justin  40:27

yeah, there's I've heard that as a trivia question at times, usually people say in front of me, they'll say who was the third member of that playoff and, and nobody can get I was like, actually it was made. Yeah. So yeah, it was a it was odd. Nobody was expecting the playoff including the R&A. It took a while they're trying to get us out there and, and get things situated, you know, we go back out to the 15th tee and play the four holes and, and, you know, none of us played that first hole very well, I think because nobody was expecting it. And then, you know, sure enough, Paul kind of played the last three holes the way he played the rest of the round. And I think he made a couple of birdies in there and won pretty easily.

Mike Gonzalez  41:09

Thank you for listening to another episode of for the good of the game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe. Spread the word. Tell your friends until we tee it up again. With the good of the game. So long, everybody

Music playing  41:31