As usual, Leonard feels right at home in Memphis
By Bobby Hall, Special to PGATOUR.com
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- If Justin Leonard can rally his way into the Seersucker jacket that will be presented to the winner of the Stanford St. Jude Championship, it'll definitely be a different experience than the time he won here in 2005.
One reason is because this is the first year of what tournament officials are calling "Seersucker Sunday," in which a stylish jacket will be awarded to the champion. Another is because in 2005 Leonard took an eight-stroke lead into the final round.
Never mind that he won by only one stroke and fell to the green in a mock collapse after making a short putt for bogey on the final hole.
"Just relief," he later explained.
In Saturday's third round, Leonard charged into contention with a 67 -- matching his best total in the 11 trips around TPC Southwind since his victory.
"It was nice to get a few under par and give myself a chance for Sunday," Leonard said. "I played pretty well today. I was 3-under on the front nine. I missed a couple of 8-footers on 12 and 13, but made a couple of nice ones coming in at 15 and 16."
Leonard is tied for seventh at 208 -- three shots behind leader Tim Clark.
When Leonard won in Memphis, he said he'd been in "kind of a valley." Actually, he hadn't planned on playing here, but his wife, Amanda, started looking at his schedule for the year and his history at various events.
She noticed he'd had two top-five finishes and another top-10 finish since 1996. She basically asked, "Why isn't Memphis on our schedule?"
Apparently, it was a good question.
Leonard decided to play in 2005, shot 62 in the first round and was coasting toward the 10th victory of his career before the combination of his 73 on Sunday and a charging 63 by runner-up David Toms made things more interesting than he would have preferred.
This year, Leonard arrived in 13th place on the year's money list with $1.8 million, which isn't exactly a "valley," but it's not quite what he expected after his start in 2008.
Through six events, he had finishes of second, fourth, fifth and a tie for eighth. But since March, he's had only three top-20 finishes.
"I was doing everything so well at the beginning of the year," said Leonard, 35, winner of the British Open in 1997.
Then everything didn't go so well.
"My short game went downhill for a little while," he said.
It was the kind of inconsistency that bothers any golfer, especially a PGA TOUR pro.
"We don't ever get used to it," Leonard said, citing the peaks and valleys. "I think everybody goes through it a little bit. It can be frustrating, and that's what makes this a frustrating game. You can feel so good and so in control one day, and the next day something is a little off and it's hard to put your finger on it."
With a smile, he said, "Certainly this game will teach you patience. I've learned quite a bit about that the last couple of years. You just have to keep the frustration level down and just keep working hard."
Leonard is coming off a missed cut at THE PLAYERS Championship and a tie for 33rd at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
"I struggled to make the cut at Colonial, but played well over the weekend and I'm kind of continuing that here," he said. "I'm starting to putt a little better, and I'm chipping a little better. When you know you can count on your short game, it's a lot easier to be more aggressive, and I'm getting back to that.
"So I'm playing a little better and this is a good time of the year to get it going."
He's far more comfortable at TPC Southwind after winning on the course that was redesigned after the 2004 event, including the switch to Champion Bermuda greens.
"I said after I won that this is one of the better, if not the best, re-design of a course that we play on," Leonard said. "It's amazing what a huge difference the changing out of the greens has been. And then you get the wind like we've had this week, and the golf course is just brutal.
"When you're playing on a calm day, it's challenging but not overly hard. You come out here with 15-20 mph wind, and all of a sudden it gets dicey here. But I do enjoy it because I know the golf course is going to be firm and fast and that's how I like to play."
Not surprisingly, Leonard hasn't missed the Memphis stop since his victory.
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