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Justin Leonard

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Justin Leonard
Leonard in 2008
Personal information
Full nameJustin Charles
Garrett Leonard
Born (1972-06-15) June 15, 1972 (age 52)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight170 lb (77 kg; 12 st)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceAspen, Colorado, U.S.
SpouseAmanda
Children4
Career
CollegeUniversity of Texas
Turned professional1994
Current tour(s)PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Professional wins13
Highest ranking6 (May 10, 1998)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour12
European Tour1
Other1
Best results in major championships
(wins: 1)
Masters TournamentT7: 1997
PGA Championship2nd/T2: 1997, 2004
U.S. OpenT12: 2002
The Open ChampionshipWon: 1997
U.S. AmateurWon: 1992
Achievements and awards
Haskins Award1994

Justin Charles Garrett Leonard (born June 15, 1972) is an American professional golfer. He has twelve career wins on the PGA Tour, including one major, the 1997 Open Championship. He currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He is one of only 5 players to win the U.S. Amateur, the NCAA Individual Championship and a major golf tournament.

Early life

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Leonard was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He graduated from Lake Highlands High School in 1990.

Amateur career

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Leonard attended the University of Texas in Austin. With the Longhorns he won 4-straight Southwest Conference Championships (1991-1994) and went to 4 straight NCAA Championships, with the team finishing in 2nd place in 1994. He won 10 individual events in college, including the individual NCAA championship in 1994 and the Southwest Conference Championship a record 4 times (1991-1994). He won the 1992 U.S. Amateur. He made the All-Southwest Conference team every year he was in college and was a three-time 1st team All-American (1992, 1993, 1994) - and a 2nd team All-American in 1991. He won the Haskins Award and Jack Nicklaus Award in 1994 as the most outstanding collegiate golfer. [2] That same year, he became only the fourth player to go directly from college to the PGA Tour without going through Q School, following Gary Hallberg, Scott Verplank, and Phil Mickelson.

Professional career

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Leonard's wins on the PGA Tour included one of golf's four majors, the 1997 Open Championship, as well as the 1998 Players Championship. He ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for 24 weeks in 1998 and 1999.[3] Leonard also had opportunities to win other major championships, notably at the 1999 Open Championship and the 2004 PGA Championship; in both instances he fell into a playoff with a bogey on the 72nd hole.

At the 1997 PGA Championship, Leonard was tied with Davis Love III for the 54-hole lead. Love shot a final round 66 to win by five shots over Leonard, who finished solo second. Leonard was ahead by three shots at the 54-hole mark of the 2002 PGA Championship before shooting a final round 77 and finishing tied for fourth.

Leonard qualified for the United States Ryder Cup team in 1997, 1999, and 2008. In the 1999 event, Leonard made a 45-foot (14 m) putt for birdie on the 17th hole to complete a remarkable comeback by the U.S. team on the final day. The victory was somewhat marred by the celebration following Leonard's putt, when other U.S. players, their wives, and a few fans ran onto the green even though Leonard's opponent, José María Olazábal, still had an opportunity to match Leonard on the hole.

In 2015, Leonard moved to Aspen, Colorado, which is not conducive to the year-round practice of golf and began to transition to a career as a golf announcer.[4] After using his career money list exemption for the 2015–16 season and failing to make the FedEx Cup, Leonard played the 2016–17 season with past champion status. He played in only 16 tournaments that year, his best finish being a tie for 16th at the Northern Trust Open. In 2017, he played in only one tournament, the Texas Open, where he finished in 58th.[4]

He returned to the PGA for one event in 2022, competing in the Byron Nelson where he failed to make the cut. It was his last event before turning 50 and qualifying for the PGA Tour Champions.[5]

PGA Tour Champions

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Leonard made his PGA Tour Champions debut at the 2022 Senior Players Championship where he finished in 61st place.

In 2023, his first full season on the tour, he carded a course record score of 62 in the first round of the American Family Insurance Championship at University Ridge Golf Course in Madison, Wisconsin and finished tied for 4th, his best finish since 2014.[6] Later that season he finished in a tie for 1st at the PURE Insurance Championship, but lost the playoff to Thongchai Jaidee on the 4th sudden-death hole.[7] It was his best finish since winning the 2008 St. Jude Open.

Broadcasting career

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Leonard joined Golf Channel in 2015 as an analyst for Golf Central "Live From" and PGA Tour live tournament coverage. In 2020, he assumed an elevated role on Golf Central "Live From" as an analyst on the program's primetime shows.[8]

Amateur wins

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Professional wins (13)

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PGA Tour wins (12)

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Legend
Major championships (1)
Players Championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (10)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 Aug 4, 1996 Buick Open 65-64-69-68=266 −22 5 strokes United States Chip Beck
2 Jun 8, 1997 Kemper Open 69-69-69-67=274 −10 1 stroke United States Mark Wiebe
3 Jul 20, 1997 The Open Championship 69-66-72-65=272 −12 3 strokes Northern Ireland Darren Clarke, Sweden Jesper Parnevik
4 Mar 29, 1998 The Players Championship 72-69-70-67=278 −10 2 strokes United States Glen Day, United States Tom Lehman
5 Sep 24, 2000 Westin Texas Open 64-68-65-64=261 −19 5 strokes United States Mark Wiebe
6 Sep 30, 2001 Texas Open (2) 65-64-68-69=266 −18 2 strokes United States J. J. Henry, United States Matt Kuchar
7 Apr 21, 2002 WorldCom Classic - The Heritage of Golf 67-64-66-73=270 −14 1 stroke United States Heath Slocum
8 Mar 16, 2003 The Honda Classic 63-70-64-67=264 −24 1 stroke United States Chad Campbell, United States Davis Love III
9 Jan 30, 2005 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic 66-67-68-64-67=332 −28 3 strokes South Africa Tim Clark, United States Joe Ogilvie
10 May 29, 2005 FedEx St. Jude Classic 62-65-66-73=266 −14 1 stroke United States David Toms
11 Oct 7, 2007 Valero Texas Open (3) 65-67-64-65=261 −19 Playoff Sweden Jesper Parnevik
12 Jun 8, 2008 Stanford St. Jude Championship (2) 68-73-67-68=276 −4 Playoff Australia Robert Allenby, South Africa Trevor Immelman

PGA Tour playoff record (2–5)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1996 Phoenix Open United States Phil Mickelson Lost to birdie on third extra hole
2 1999 The Open Championship Scotland Paul Lawrie, France Jean van de Velde Lawrie won four-hole aggregate playoff;
Lawrie: E (5-4-3-3=15),
Leonard: +3 (5-4-4-5=18),
van de Velde: +3 (6-4-3-5=18)
3 2002 Bell Canadian Open United States Neal Lancaster, United States John Rollins Rollins won with birdie on first extra hole
4 2004 PGA Championship United States Chris DiMarco, Fiji Vijay Singh Singh won three-hole aggregate playoff;
Singh: −1 (3-3-4=10),
DiMarco: x (4-3-x=x),
Leonard: x (4-3-x=x)
5 2007 Valero Texas Open Sweden Jesper Parnevik Won with birdie on third extra hole
6 2008 Stanford St. Jude Championship Australia Robert Allenby, South Africa Trevor Immelman Won with birdie on second extra hole
7 2009 Children's Miracle Network Classic Canada Stephen Ames, United States George McNeill Ames won with par on second extra hole
Leonard eliminated by par on first hole

Other wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runners-up
1 Jul 11, 2000 CVS Charity Classic
(with United States Davis Love III) 		60-66=126 −16 3 strokes Australia Steve Elkington and United States Craig Stadler

Other playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 2006 Merrill Lynch Shootout
(with United States Scott Verplank) 		United States Jerry Kelly and Australia Rod Pampling Lost to bogey on first extra hole

Playoff record

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PGA Tour Champions playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2023 PURE Insurance Championship Thailand Thongchai Jaidee Lost to par on fourth extra hole

Major championships

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Wins (1)

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Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runners-up
1997 The Open Championship 5 shot deficit −12 (69-66-72-65=272) 3 strokes Northern Ireland Darren Clarke, Sweden Jesper Parnevik

Results timeline

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Tournament 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Masters Tournament CUT T27 T7 T8 T18
U.S. Open T68LA T50 T36 T40 T15
The Open Championship CUT T58 CUT 1 T57 T2
PGA Championship T8 T5 2 CUT CUT
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament T28 T27 T20 CUT T35 T13 T39 T20 CUT
U.S. Open T16 CUT T12 T20 CUT T23 CUT CUT T36 CUT
The Open Championship T41 CUT T14 CUT T16 T52 CUT T16 T8
PGA Championship T41 T10 T4 CUT T2 CUT CUT CUT T58 T67
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open T14 59
The Open Championship CUT CUT CUT T13 CUT CUT CUT
PGA Championship T39
Tournament 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Masters Tournament
PGA Championship
U.S. Open
The Open Championship NT CUT
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

LA = low amateur
CUT = missed the half way cut
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 2 6 15 11
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 5 17 12
The Open Championship 1 1 0 2 3 7 23 11
PGA Championship 0 2 0 4 6 6 16 10
Totals 1 3 0 6 11 24 71 44
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 8 (1996 PGA – 1998 Open Championship)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (1997 Open Championship – 1998 Masters)

The Players Championship

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Wins (1)

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Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runners-up
1998 The Players Championship 5 shot deficit −10 (72-69-70-67=278) 2 strokes United States Glen Day, United States Tom Lehman

Results timeline

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Tournament 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
The Players Championship T34 T65 T37 1 T23 T22 CUT T44 T21 T42 CUT CUT CUT CUT T32 T52 T57 T70 T55 T38 CUT
  Win

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Results in World Golf Championships

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Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Match Play R32 R32 R16 R64 R32 R64 R64 R64 4 QF R64
Championship T11 T25 NT1 T11 T28 T46 T34 T9
Invitational 20 T2 T28 T23 T50 T19 T31 T9 T20 44 T22
Champions

1Cancelled due to 9/11

  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
NT = No Tournament
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

U.S. national team appearances

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Amateur

Professional

References

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  1. ^ "Week 19 1998 Ending 10 May 1998" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  2. ^ "2011-12 Texas Golf Fact Book" (PDF). www.grfx.cstv.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  3. ^ "69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking" (PDF). OWGR. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  4. ^ a b "Ryder Cup hero and British Open champ Justin Leonard left the course to find his peak". golf.com. July 12, 2017. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  5. ^ "AT&T Byron Nelson". Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  6. ^ Bartholomew, Colten (June 10, 2023). "Why a long break from golf helped Justin Leonard set an AmFam Championship record". Wisconsin State Journal.
  7. ^ "2023 PURE Insurance Championship". Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  8. ^ "NBC Justin Leonard Bio". Retrieved June 23, 2022.
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