Justin Charles Garrett Leonard (born June 15, 1972) is an American professional golfer. He has 12 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 five players to win the U.S. Amateur, the NCAA Individual Championship, and a major golf tournament.
Early life Leonard was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He graduated from Lake Highlands High School in 1990.
Amateur career 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. 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 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. 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 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.
Broadcasting career 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. Leonard joined Golf Channel in 2015 as an analyst for Golf Central "Live From" and PGA Tour live tournament coverage.
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.
In 2020, he assumed an elevated role on Golf Central "Live From" as an analyst on the program's primetime shows.
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.
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. 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. It was his best finish since winning the 2008 St. Jude Open. In February 2025, he won his first senior event, the Chubb Classic.
Amateur wins 1992 Western Amateur, Southern Amateur, U.S. Amateur 1993 Western Amateur, Southern Amateur 1994 NCAA Division I Championship
Professional wins (15) PGA Tour wins (12) Legend Major championships (1) Players Championships (1) Other PGA Tour (10) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up1Aug 4, 1996Buick Open65-64-69-68=266−225 strokes Chip Beck2Jun 8, 1997Kemper Open69-69-69-67=274−101 stroke Mark Wiebe3Jul 20, 1997The Open Championship69-66-72-65=272−123 strokes Darren Clarke, Jesper Parnevik4Mar 29, 1998The Players Championship72-69-70-67=278−102 strokes Glen Day, Tom Lehman5Sep 24, 2000Westin Texas Open64-68-65-64=261−195 strokes Mark Wiebe6Sep 30, 2001Texas Open (2)65-64-68-69=266−182 strokes J. J. Henry, Matt Kuchar7Apr 21, 2002WorldCom Classic - The Heritage of Golf67-64-66-73=270−141 stroke Heath Slocum8Mar 16, 2003The Honda Classic63-70-64-67=264−241 stroke Chad Campbell, Davis Love III9Jan 30, 2005Bob Hope Chrysler Classic66-67-68-64-67=332−283 strokes Tim Clark, Joe Ogilvie10May 29, 2005FedEx St. Jude Classic62-65-66-73=266−141 stroke David Toms 11Oct 7, 2007Valero Texas Open (3)65-67-64-65=261−19Playoff Jesper Parnevik12Jun 8, 2008Stanford St. Jude Championship (2)68-73-67-68=276−4Playoff Robert Allenby, Trevor Immelman
PGA Tour playoff record (2–5) No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result11996Phoenix Open Phil MickelsonLost to birdie on third extra hole21999The Open Championship Paul Lawrie, Jean van de VeldeLawrie 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)32002Bell Canadian Open Neal Lancaster, John RollinsRollins won with birdie on first extra hole 42004PGA Championship Chris DiMarco, Vijay SinghSingh won three-hole aggregate playoff;Singh: −1 (3-3-4=10),DiMarco: x (4-3-x=x),Leonard: x (4-3-x=x)52007Valero Texas Open Jesper ParnevikWon with birdie on third extra hole62008Stanford St. Jude Championship Robert Allenby, Trevor ImmelmanWon with birdie on second extra hole72009Children's Miracle Network Classic Stephen Ames, George McNeillAmes won with par on second extra holeLeonard eliminated by par on first hole
Other wins (1) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunners-up1Jul 11, 2000CVS Charity Classic(with Davis Love III)60-66=126−163 strokes Steve Elkington and Craig Stadler
Other playoff record (0–1) No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult12006Merrill Lynch Shootout(with Scott Verplank) Jerry Kelly and Rod PamplingLost to bogey on first extra hole
PGA Tour Champions wins (2) Legend Charles Schwab Cup playoff events (1) Other PGA Tour Champions (1) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up1Feb 16, 2025Chubb Classic68-65-68=201−154 strokes Billy Andrade2Oct 19, 2025Dominion Energy Charity Classic66-70-68=204−121 stroke Thomas Bjørn, Ernie Els
PGA Tour Champions playoff record (0–1) No.YearTournamentOpponentResult12023PURE Insurance Championship Thongchai JaideeLost to par on fourth extra hole
Major championships
Wins (1) YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunners-up 1997 The Open Championship 5 shot deficit −12 (69-66-72-65=272) 3 strokes Darren Clarke, Jesper Parnevik
Results timeline Tournament 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999Masters TournamentCUTT27T7T8T18U.S. OpenT68LAT50T36T40T15The Open ChampionshipCUTT58CUT1T57T2PGA ChampionshipT8T52CUTCUT
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009Masters TournamentT28T27T20CUTT35T13T39T20CUTU.S. OpenT16CUTT12T20CUTT23CUTCUTT36CUTThe Open ChampionshipT41CUTT14CUTT16T52CUTT16T8PGA ChampionshipT41T10T4CUTT2CUTCUTCUTT58T67
Tournament2010201120122013201420152016201720182019Masters TournamentCUTU.S. OpenT1459The Open ChampionshipCUTCUTCUTT13CUTCUTCUTPGA ChampionshipT39 Tournament202020212022202320242025Masters TournamentPGA ChampionshipU.S. OpenThe Open ChampionshipNTCUTT59
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 Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts madeMasters Tournament 0 0 0 0 2 6 15 11U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 5 17 12The Open Championship 1 1 0 2 3 7 23 11PGA Championship 0 2 0 4 6 6 17 11Totals 1 3 0 6 11 24 72 45 Most consecutive cuts made – 8 (1996 PGA – 1998 Open Championship) Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (1997 Open Championship – 1998 Masters)
The Players Championship Wins (1) YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunners-up 1998 The Players Championship 5 shot deficit −10 (72-69-70-67=278) 2 strokes Glen Day, Tom Lehman
Results timeline Tournament199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015The Players ChampionshipT34T65T371T23T22CUTT44T21T42CUTCUTCUTCUTT32T52T57T70T55T38CUT
CUT = missed the halfway cut "T" indicates a tie for a place.
Results in World Golf Championships Tournament199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010Match PlayR32R32R16R64R32R64R64R644QFR64ChampionshipT11T25NT1T11T28T46T34T9Invitational20T2T28T23T50T19T31T9T2044T22Champions 1Cancelled due to 9/11
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 Amateur Eisenhower Trophy: 1992 Walker Cup: 1993 (winners)
Professional Presidents Cup: 1996 (winners), 1998, 2003 (tie), 2005 (winners), 2009 (winners) Ryder Cup: 1997, 1999 (winners), 2008 (winners) Dunhill Cup: 1997 World Cup: 1997, 2003 Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (representing PGA Tour): 1998, 1999
References
External links