Tag: Justin Leonard

David Duval is back in Tucson where he once shot a 62 (with 2 hole-out eagles) and then blew a 7-shot lead before winning by 4

David Duval won one of his 13 PGA Tour titles in Tucson in 1998. Now he’s back with the senior tour.

The 1998 Tucson Chrysler Classic just about had it all.

Well, aside from Tiger Woods. The then-22-year-old waffled on a commitment to the tournament before ultimately deciding against it.

The desert stop—sandwiched in between the United Airlines Hawaiian Open and the Nissan Open (remember those?)—did have a field of Phil Mickelson, Nick Faldo, John Daly, David Duval, Justin Leonard, David Toms, Tom Lehman and Andrew Magee. It also had some weather, a 62 and a blown seven-shot lead.

Duval was still about a year away from reaching World No. 1 but he arrived in Tucson having won three of his last eight starts. By that Sunday night, he was leaving town with another, giving him four wins in nine outings — the best in professional golf since Nick Price won four out of six PGA Tour events in 1994.

Along the way there was some bad weather. The back half of Friday’s second round was hit by a rainstorm but Duval was out early and posted a second-round 62 that featured two hole-outs from the fairway for eagle.

Duval is back in Tucson, Arizona, this week as a rookie on the PGA Tour Champions, with some recollections of that wild week 24 years ago. He will tee it up in the Cologuard Classic starting Friday on Omni Tucson National.

“I played in the morning on Friday and shot 62. Basically, as I putted out on 18, all hell broke loose with the weather, with wind and cold and the temperature dropped,” he recalled during a media session on Wednesday at the Omni Tucson National. “So I had a sizeable lead because of conditions.”

His 62 was aided by some serious flag-hunting.

“I remember thinking to myself in the ninth fairway, I hadn’t really paid close attention to it, I guess, but I was like, ‘Oh, man, I’m 6 under after eight holes. If make birdie here, I shoot 29. That’s always cool.’ I holed out a 5-iron for a 2, so I shot 28.”

Friday’s weather led to some late starts Saturday and the third round didn’t get done before darkness set in. On Sunday, by the time Duval completed 54 holes, he was sitting on a seven-shot lead. By the time he got to the 15th tee box, however, Justin Leonard had tracked him down and the two were tied with four to go.

Duval made a birdie on 16 after he chipped one in, and did so again on 18 after he drained a 30-footer. Leonard, meanwhile, bogeyed both holes, leading to a rollercoaster four-shot victory for Duval.

Tucson Chrysler Classic 1998
David Duval celebrates with a first-place check in the amount of $360,000 after winning the 1998 Tucson Chrysler Classic. (Photo: J.D. Cuban/PGA Tour)

There was no title defense for Duval. The PGA Tour returned to Tucson in 1999 but with the newly created World Match Play Championship, relegating the “regular” Tucson event to second-tier status. Duval later played in those events in 2005 and 2006, missing the cut both times.

What would it mean to win this weekend?

“That would be spectacular, especially having won here before. That would be a real dream come true,” he said.

Duval is committed to a mostly full playing schedule as a rookie on the senior circuit in 2022. That means he’s cutting back on his TV work.

“This year I’m not going to be doing any Live Froms this year,” he said, referring to the popular Golf Channel segments before and after golf tournaments. “I just can’t fit it into if I’m going to try to play a full schedule of whatever it may be, call it 22 weeks.

“I can’t add in six more weeks of leaving my family and my daughter, who lives at home—my son is at a boarding school—and be that selfish. I still have to be a husband and a father along with being a professional golfer.”

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Maxwell Moldovan breaks 28-year-old scoring record in Southern Amateur runaway

For Maxwell Moldovan, the Southern Amateur title is a major breakthrough and the sign of a drought ending.

Justin Leonard, the 1997 British Open champion, has been a familiar presence on the Open broadcast all week. But Leonard’s name had another reason to enter the golf conversation this week. On Saturday, 19-year-old Maxwell Moldovan shattered the previous South Amateur scoring record that Leonard had held since 1993.

Moldovan won with a 72-hole total of 2-under 264 at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Mississippi. Leonard’s winning Southern Am score in ’93 was 270.

For Moldovan, who is entering his sophomore year at Ohio State, it’s a major breakthrough and the sign of a drought ending.

“I haven’t won a major golf tournament in just over two years now,” Moldovan told the Southern Golf Association. “To put myself in a position to do that this week and to play the way I played yesterday and today, it feels incredible.”

Scores: Southern Amateur

Moldovan, from Uniontown, Ohio, was a highly touted junior. He was the AJGA’s Rolex Player of the Year in 2019 and was a two-time Ohio High School State Champion (2017, 2018) in addition to the 2019 Ohio Amateur champion. His freshman season with the Buckeyes was partially upended by COVID-19. Teams in the Big Ten didn’t compete until the spring season. Still, in eight starts this season, Moldovan averaged 71.5, the best on the team, and finished in the top 10 three times. That included a runner-up finish at the loaded Valspar Collegiate.

At Old Waverly, Moldovan strung together rounds of 64-68-65-67. He didn’t make a bogey in either of his final two rounds.

Since Ohio State bowed out of the postseason in May by failing to advance through the NCAA Tallahassee Regional, Moldovan has been busy. The Southern Am marks his fifth competitive start this summer. It’s his best result since finishing 11th at the Dogwood Invitational to start the summer.

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‘Epic’ fall ahead: November Masters could play right into Rory McIlroy’s hands

Having the Tour Championship, U.S. Open and the Masters later in the season could help McIlroy’s chances.

With a new November date for the Masters, and a revamped golf schedule that could see a number of key tournaments played in late summer and through the fall, golf great Jack Nicklaus said earlier this week that he thinks Rory McIlroy could be poised for a huge second half of 2020.

“He seems to play better in the fall,” Nicklaus said on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive. “… He’s won the Tour Championship a couple times. Played in Atlanta, very similar conditions. I think this scheduling will be to Rory’s favor.”

The Golden Bear isn’t the only one who feels the fall conditions could set up nicely for the world’s current No. 1 player.

During a call on Thursday, Golf Channel analysts Justin Leonard, Brandel Chamblee and Rich Lerner all backed up Nicklaus’ comments, suggesting McIlroy could win multiple events.

“I think if we are able to play the schedule as it is laid out right now, I think it does favor a guy like Rory McIlroy, who can get on a run, keep putting himself in contention. From what I hear, I’ve never been to Augusta in November, but my guess is that the golf course could play a little bit softer. It could be a little bit cooler,” Leonard said. “You know, coming off of the summer months, my guess is that the golf course is typically a little wetter that time of year. We know how well Rory McIlroy plays in kind of softer conditions.

“I think it is an advantage for a guy like that, and also, as good of shape as he is in, too, to make a lot of big tournaments there in a short period of time, I think that not only the physical aspect of it, but the mental aspect of it will be tested when you’ve got a number of large events, talking about the PGA, the U.S. Open and The Ryder Cup in September, and then the Masters there in the middle of November. I definitely think it suits Rory McIlroy.”
— Justin Leonard

Lerner, the longtime Golf Channel host, went a step further, saying he thinks McIlroy is poised to make his mark on history with the revised slate. If the new schedule is carried out, the Tour Championship in Atlanta will be played from Sept 4-7, and the U.S. Open will now be played Sept. 17-20. The 84th Masters, which was supposed to be played this week at Augusta National Golf Club, has been re-scheduled for Nov. 9-15 in Augusta, Georgia.

“I think McIlroy could become the first bona fide legend of the post-Tiger — we’re still in kind of the Tiger era, but the post-Tiger generation, let’s just put it that way,” Lerner said. “And I think he could also lay claim to the title —  maybe the best European player ever.”

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Augusta National will certainly be impacted by the schedule change, as the course will not play the same. But Brandel Chamblee also noted that cooler temperatures will impact the field’s veterans.

“I was looking at some weather charts from November for Augusta, and in 2014, the average temperature for the entire month was 49.2 degrees, and on November 19 of that year, it was 15 degrees. It can be quite cool there, obviously, that time of year,” said Chamblee, another Golf Channel analyst. “My friends who have played there in November tell me the golf course plays quite long. There is, on one hand, I think the sort of thought that the postponement of the majors in general would help, you know, the likes of Tiger (Woods) and (Brooks) Koepka and (Louis) Oosthuizen and Jason Day, who are dealing with some injuries.

“So it’s good news on that front if these events actually come forward because there were some hobbled superstars and there’s a chance they could show up in better physical condition, which is really good news. But cold temperatures are not particularly good on old backs. So yeah … I can’t imagine any scenario that doesn’t favor Rory.”

Rory McIlroy on the 18th green during the third round of the 2019 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. McIlroy won that tournament, following a win in the 2016 event. Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports

Chamblee added that McIlroy has plenty to gear up for — if the schedule remains intact, he’ll have a chance to become the first back-to-back FedEx Cup champion. He also was the PGA Tour Player of the Year winner in 2019, the first time he won the award since award 2014.

“Rory seems to be playing — which is hard to believe, as close to playing the best golf of his life,” Chamblee said. “So yeah, I think it is setting up to be another epic year for Rory, and I would have thought and I think most people would agree, he’s easily a favorite to win his next major championship at some point this year.”

So can anything slow McIlroy down at this point? Notah Begay III said the one thing that could cause a hiccup for the four-time major champ is the current delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Any time you’re forced to take time off playing the kind of golf he was playing, it’s like, I finally got this thing where I want it, and now I can’t run with it,” Begay said. “I think that is a bit of a hindrance as far as, OK, how long is it going to take him to get back to running at the same sort of pace he was running at?”

PGA Tour players share memories of best Christmas presents they’ve received

Justin Thomas still has one of the treasured golf gifts he received as a kid.

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Editor’s note: This story originally ran on Dec. 22, 2017.

Back in the day, when golf manufacturers weren’t sending boxes upon boxes of goodies for free, William McGirt had to rely on Santa Claus for his next addition to the golf bag.

While the winner of the 2016 Memorial said most of his presents at Christmas were golf related, the gift he got when he was 15 stood out.

“I remember one year when graphite shafts first came out and I was dying to have a driver with a graphite shaft. I don’t remember the exact model of the shaft, but I do remember it was a Mizuno driver and I thought it was the greatest thing in the world,” McGirt said.

Only one problem.

“I couldn’t hit it very well,” McGirt added with a laugh.

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A driver Brian Harman got worked very well.

“I got a TaylorMade Burner Bubble driver when I was 13,” said the winner of the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship. “That was the driver to have back then. And boy, did it work. It was great.”

With the holiday season upon us, some of golf’s best players in the world took a drive down memory lane to the times they unwrapped their presents hoping to see the latest golf equipment that would head straight to their golf bag.

“As a kid, I remember my first set of irons,” former world No. 1 Luke Donald said. “I was 12 years old and I got Seve (Ballesteros) irons and they were the greatest thing I ever saw.”

Justin Thomas still has one of the gifts he got as a kid. The 11-time winner on Tour said his mom and dad would play a little game of hide-and-seek with his “big” present hidden somewhere else in the house.

“I remember one year, I don’t know how old I was, but I was opening my presents. I was sitting on the floor and I (saw) a golf club box or whatever wrapped under the couch,” Thomas said. “I’m like, ‘What’s that?’ And they saw that I saw it and noticed I pulled it out. I think it was a Scottie Cameron that year that I still have. That was a pretty cool gift.”

World Golf Hall of Fame member Davis Love III didn’t have his own full set of clubs for years after he picked up the game. His bag was full of his mom’s leftover clubs, or his dad’s backup clubs. That changed as he unwrapped his presents when he was 15.

“I got a set of Hogan Apex irons from my dad, who was on the Hogan staff,” Love said. “I finally had my own clubs. When I got those Apex irons, it was great. And that’s exactly what I asked Santa for.

Patrick Reed said the best golf-related present he ever got was an early Christmas present gift he received from a friend of his. He got it a few weeks ahead of the 2016 Ryder Cup, where he played a starring role as the U.S. defeated Europe for the first time since 2008.

It was a golf bag, but not just any golf bag. No, his friend got a Callaway staff bag made specifically to honor Arnold Palmer at the Masters one year. Then his friend got the King to sign the bag for Reed.

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“I always wanted to get a bag signed by Mr. Palmer but I really was never around him much,” Reed said. “And I got it before the Ryder Cup and it’s in my office and I see it every time I walk into the office. It’s just great. Best golf present I’ve ever gotten.”

Justin Leonard can’t remember the best golf-related Christmas present he got. He said he obviously got plenty of golf presents as a kid but nothing, no matter how long he jogged his memory, popped up. Instead of a driver, a lightsaber stood out in his Christmas presents.

“Seriously, I can’t remember any golf equipment,” said the winner of 12 PGA Tour titles, including the 1997 Open Championship. “But I remember when I was 5, I got a sweet Stars Wars watch. That was the coolest thing I ever got.”

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U.S. holds off Internationals to win Junior Presidents Cup

The U.S. won the 2019 Junior Presidents Cup after holding off a furious rally from the Internationals to win 13-11 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

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MELBOURNE, Australia – U.S. Junior Presidents Cup captain Justin Leonard interrupted an interview with his opposing captain, Stuart Appleby, to congratulate him on his team’s furious rally, which came up just short. Team U.S.A. held on for a 13-11 victory over Team International at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, but not before giving them quite a scare.

“Your guys came out swinging today,” said Leonard, whose side entered the day with a 9-3 lead from the opening day’s Four-Ball and Foursomes sessions.

“Otherwise, your guys would’ve been skipping around after nine holes,” Appleby said.

“I’m glad you did,” Leonard said. “I told my guys it was going to be a lot harder than you think it is.”

The players on the 12-man teams experienced a very different Royal Melbourne, which flexed its muscle as a “hot northerly,” as the locals call it, blew in raising temperatures in excess of 100 degrees. Appleby compared the winds, whipping more than 40 mph, to the Santa Ana winds in California.

Ian Siebers earned the first point of the day with a 7-and-6 walloping of Chuan-Tai Lin – the shortest match in the competition’s history – but then the Internationals bounced back and won the next five matches. First, Jayden Schaper took down Jackson Van Paris 2 up and Kartik Sharma, a lefty whose mannerisms remind Appleby of Mike Weir, handled Stephen Campbell, Jr., 3 and 1. Andu Xu gained a big scalp with a 1-up victory over Maxwell Moldovan. When Bo Jin (3&2 over Benjamin James) and Jang Hyun Lee (5&4 over Jack Heath) tacked on wins to cut the deficit to 11-8, the possibility of an epic comeback started to become a reality.

“It was a great comeback,” Appleby said. “We needed to show resilience and they did. The headlines would’ve been ‘The Melbourne Massacre or The Sand Belting.’ We dug in. It was ‘Chariots of Fire’ on the beach stuff. We pounded down the beach and America turned around and saw us. That’s what I wanted. We made it a great fight. The only thing better would’ve been to have found one more match.”

Jackson Van Paris and Preston Summerhays of Team USA celebrate winning their match at the 2019 Junior Presidents Cup. (Photo by Con Chronis/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)

But the 9-3 advantage entering singles play was too much to overcome. Michael Thorbjornsen took care of Aussie Karl Vilips 4&3 before Alexander Yang, a two-time Rolex Junior All-American, put the red, white and blue on the brink of victory with a hard-fought 2-up win over Jordan Duminy to bring the U.S. Team’s total to 12 points. Yang never held the lead against Duminy until the 17th hole which he won with a par and then clinched match for the Americans after his rival got into trouble with an errant drive on 18.

“As a team, we fought back in the closing holes really well,” Yang said. “I was worried but I thought I could certainly win my match. It was kind of worry and confidence at the same time.”

Vishnu Sadagopan and Ian Siebers celebrate at the 2019 Junior Presidents Cupon December 8, 2019 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. (Photo by Con Chronis/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)

It was all over when Vishnu Sadagopan of Pearland, Texas, clinched the winning point with a 2-up victory over Australia’s Joshua Greer. Sadogpan was the only player to win all three matches this week.

“It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever accomplished in my life,” Sadagopan said. “To win the winning point for my country is amazing.”

South Africans Samuel Simpson and Martin Vorster each won the final two matches to give The Internationals an 8-4 edge in singles.

“They can go home feeling proud that they nearly did it,” Appleby said.

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