Final round: Leonard makes Memphis his again
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Justin Leonard thought he won on the final hole of regulation only to see his ball go left of the cup. Then he was a foot away from victory on the first playoff hole.
Luckily, his ball rolled one last turn into the cup on the next hole.
Leonard won the Stanford St. Jude Championship in a playoff Sunday, holing a 19-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to beat Masters champion Trevor Immelman and Robert Allenby.
Leonard blew a one-stroke lead with two holes left to drop into the playoff, but won on the 150-yard, par-3 11th when Immelman pushed his birdie attempt past the hole.
"I don't think that ball would've rolled another half-inch," Leonard said. "It just barely got there the greens are so dry and fast."
It's Leonard's 12th PGA TOUR title, his second at TPC Southwind and his first since the 2007 Valero Texas Open -- also in a playoff. He closed with a 4-under 68 to match Allenby (65) and Immelman (69) at 4-under 276, the highest 72-hole total since this event moved to the TPC Southwind course in 1989.
Leonard earned $1.08 million and now is fifth in the Ryder Cup standings with five Top 10s this year. He hasn't played in the Ryder Cup since 1999, when his 45-foot putt on the 17th hole at Brookline clinched the largest comeback in history.
Strangers still ask him most about that putt, not his 1997 British Open victory, and he even heard about it a couple of times Sunday. It's why he is so eager to play his way back onto the Ryder Cup team.
"I don't know how much of a lock I am, but I feel pretty good about making it. I'm looking forward to being on that team, and I'm looking forward to us winning again soon," Leonard said.
It was almost a perfect day for the Texan who spent last week practicing in the Dallas heat, albeit wearing shorts and riding a cart. He started Sunday tied for seventh and was one of 10 who had a share of the lead at some point in the final round with the temperature feeling hotter than 100 degrees.
Leonard was the closest to a birdie on the first hole of the playoff on the par-4 18th only to come up a foot short. All three parred, sending the playoff to the island green at No. 11, where each had good shots.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
"It was so nice to get back last couple days having that feeling again, the feeling that I've got a chance to win. And so that was exciting, and obviously my game is coming together somewhat for next week. You know, I'm going to have to go back and just make sure that I get a lot of rest and be fresh come Thursday because the U.S. Open, it's just a test from start to finish." -- Trevor Immelman on getting his game back just in time for the U.S. Open.
LEONARD'S WIN BRINGS HIM CLOSER TO RYDER CUP BERTH
By Bobby Hall, Special to PGATOUR.com
MEMPHIS -- Justin Leonard's playoff victory in the Stanford St. Jude Championship was as stylish as the sleek Seersucker jacket he was presented at the awards ceremony.
He was elegant and focused all week -- right down to his winning 19-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole with Trevor Immelman and Robert Allenby.
But within minutes of wrapping up his second victory at TPC Southwind, his mindset was locked in on another primary goal -- this year's Ryder Cup. And, no, he hadn't forgotten about this week's upcoming U.S. Open.
Leonard has heard that U.S. Ryder captain Paul Azinger has said, "I just want winners on my team." Sunday's victory was Leonard's 12th career win on the PGA TOUR, so certainly he qualifies.
"I played with Kenny Perry the first two days here," he said. "I didn't actually see Captain Azinger say it, but I heard Kenny repeat it. So those words were with me this week."
The victory propelled Leonard, who'll turn 36 on Sunday, into solid standing for the Ryder Cup matches in September at Vahalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. It's been too long, in his mind, since he's been on the American squad, and he's fired up.
"Not that there's been any emphasis lacking in the past, but I mean, you know, after you get drummed enough times, it's time to get it turned around, and I look forward to being a part of that," Leonard said.
"This (win) puts me in great position to make the team, which is something I've been wanting. For the last nine years, I've been looking forward to one."
But before that, there's next week U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego, Calif. If Leonard was aware that no winner of an event the week before the U.S. Open has ever won the major title, he didn't mention it.
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IT SLIPPED AWAY AGAIN
Tim Clark's peers on TOUR wonder why he hasn't won. They were probably rooting for him as much as anyone was as he took a two-shot lead into the final round of the tournament. But it wasn't his time yet.
The 32-year-old South African squandered his two-stroke cushion right out of the gate Sunday with a triple bogey on the 434-yard, par-4 first hole that would be impossible to recover from. Consecutive bogeys on Nos. 6 and 7 pushed him to 5 over for the day before he even made the turn.
A birdie on No. 10 did nothing to revive his game as he went on to bogey the 13th hole and then ended his round with another bogey on No. 18. Clark's final-round 76 sent him tumbling down the leaderboard, where he finally finished tied for 18th.
After Clark's third round in Memphis, he said "Obviously I would like for it [a win] to happen, but it's not something I think about a lot. ... I think it's the ones that you throw away and, you know, I haven't really done that a whole lot."
Unfortunately, Clark will walk away from Memphis knowing that, this week, he did.
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CAN YOU SAY VALIDATION?
Masters champion Trevor Immelman has had it rough since slipping that green jacket over his shoulders back in April. He missed back-to-back cuts at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and the Wachovia Championship and then withdrew, citing illness, from THE PLAYERS Championship.
| 1 | A tie for that is -– the position that Justin Leonard ranks in sand saves this week at TPC Southwind. |
| 12 | The number of PGA TOUR wins by Justin Leonard after the Stanford St. Jude Championship. |
| 290.2 | In yards, the average driving distance of winner Justin Leonard this week at TPC Southwind. |
His return at the Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley didn't do much for his confidence either, as he tied for a less-than-exciting 30th-place finish. People were starting to wonder just how bad that major hangover was.
With the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines just around the corner, and Immelman the only player with the possibility of grand slammin' it this year, the 28-year-old South African told the media not to count on him for that in the days leading up to the Stanford St. Jude Championship.
How quickly things can change. After an opening-round 74, Immelman pulled himself together this week in Memphis and shot 66-67-69 to put himself in contention over the weekend and earn a spot in the last pairing on Sunday.
Playing with fellow South African Tim Clark, Immelman stumbled with a double bogey on the third hole but refused to go down the same road as Clark and came back after the turn like his reputation depended on it. Birdieing Nos. 16, 17 and -- with the flair of a Masters champion -- 18, Immelman played his way into sudden death with Justin Leonard and Robert Allenby.
All three made it through the first test at No. 18, but it was Leonard who emerged victorious after the second test on the par-3 11th hole with a birdie to win it. Immelman didn't go home a winner this week, but he will arrive at Torrey Pines next week with a renewed sense of self confidence and will hold his head high as he goes for the grandest of slams.
DON'T FORGET ABOUT THIS GUY
Sergio Garcia is serious. Stuck in a win drought for a couple of years, the fiery Spaniard burned his way out of that mess with a huge win at THE PLAYERS Championship last month. But he's not done.
Almost out of nowhere, the 28-year-old rocketed up the leaderboard in the final round at TPC Southwind with a beautiful bogey-free 66 that, at one point, had him in contention for the win. He instead finished tied for fourth -- not bad after starting the day in a tie for 23rd.
And if you ever needed a reason to question resting the week before a major, Garcia just gave you one. After such a stellar Sunday performance, it's hard not to expect the young gun to come out firing next week at Torrey Pines with his second top-five finish under his belt in his last three events. "I think overall it was a good week to play before the Open," Garcia said.
Maybe he just gave himself a reason, too.
"I'll take a bit of a rest the next couple of days," he said. "And make sure that, you know, my energy level is all the way on the top for the U.S. Open."
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