Leonard and Verplank similar in many ways

Sep. 23, 2005 By Melanie Hauser PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. -- They’re so alike, it’s scary.

Pretty entertaining too. If you like sarcasm, dry wit and, quite honestly, needles so long and sharp they’d send Dr. Phil into therapy.

Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank. Two guys who grew up in Dallas almost a decade apart, won U.S. Amateurs, have eerily similar grinding games and aren’t least bit afraid to slice and dice you -- all in fun, of course -- if you give them even a hint of an opening.

And, oh, did we mention that together they’re unbeatable? At least so far.

They’re not the marquee names on the roster, but they’ve morphed into America’s leaders this week. They’re 2-0 here at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, having disposed of Trevor Immelman and Mike Weir 2 and 1 in Friday’s Four-ball -- a comeback win that folds in oh-so-neat-and-tidy with their 4-and-2 opening Foursomes win over Peter Lonard and Stuart Appleby.

Next up? Retief Goosen and Adam Scott in the leadoff match and battle of the unbeatens in Saturday’s Foursomes.

“I think winning breeds winning,’’ Nicklaus said. ‘When you have guys who have been winning and they are pumped up about it, I think you give them a little bit more to chew or bite off each time. And I think we gave them a pretty good bite with Retief and Adam.’’

Bring it on. Verplank and Leonard don’t back down. Never have. Never will.

Take Friday. It wasn’t Leonard’s comeback win in singles at the 1999 Ryder Cup, but what was? This time, the American heroes bogeyed the opening hole and found themselves 2 down after three. They looked at each other and, well.

They were even at the turn. Verplank birdied the fifth to cut the lead to one, Leonard saved par to halve No. 8 with a 12-foot sidehill putt that broke 15 inches and then Verplank knocked a 7-iron to 6 feet to win the ninth.

They took the lead when Verplank birdied the 12th and then, after a weather delay, it was Verplank again -- this time at No. 13 -- to take the lead.

Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank. (Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)

“That was big,’’ Leonard said of the 15-foot birdie putt to go 2 up. “We just won the hole before and for Scotty to make that putt was huge. It kept us going after that hour-and-a-half delay.’’

Leonard made a 30-footer at the next hole -- Verplank stuck it to 6 feet -- and drained it to halve the hole.

“So I picked mine up,’’ Verplank said. “Gladly.’’

Immelman cut the lead to one with a 27-foot birdie putt at the 15th, but Leonard sank a 13-footer at the 17th hole for the win.

“I didn’t have my best today,’’ Leonard said, “but when one of us was in trouble, the other made up for it. We hung in there.’’

The two are mirror images of each other. Similar height, similar games. So similar, in fact, that Verplank had 102 yards to the pin at No. 17; Leonard 101.

“We play next to each other,’’ Verplank said. “We drive it very similar. We can definitely club off each other on par 3s. And even on other shots. If we both hit good tee shots, we’re pretty close to each other in the middle of the fairway.’’

They’re close friends off the course, too. So are their wives. And they were so excited to be playing together on the team that they flew in here three weeks ago to get comfortable on the course and wound up playing 36 holes in two days.

Leonard and Verplank have been talking about playing together on a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup team since Leonard turned pro. While they never played together as juniors -- Verplank is 41; Leonard is 33 -- they were aware of each other. And Leonard definitely took notice when Verplank won the 1985 Western Open as an amateur.

A decade later, they were playing practice rounds together on the PGA TOUR.

And now? They’re working on being one of those must-have, unbeatable partnerships.

One bite at a time.