JustinLeonard.com


	PLACEHOLDERMore
	PLACEHOLDERMore
	PLACEHOLDERMore
	PLACEHOLDERMore

Justin on his victory
"It seemed as though standing on the 18th green at Royal Troon, in the late afternoon shadows and sunlight holding the Silver Claret Jug, everything had come together. I will always remember the emotion I experienced when my thoughts turned to my family, friends, teacher,golf competitors and history. All the experiences that I had gained from each of those seemed to meet in that place at that time on the 18th green. Maybe they were bottled up in that silver jug, and as I was fortunate to get my hands on it and realizing it was mine, I was rewarded with the feeling of being at the center of all those things that I wanted, worked for and dreamed."

1997 Open Championship

The Setting
Justin came to Troon on a roll, having won the Kemper Open six weeks earlier and posting top-5 finishes in his two events prior to the British Open (T5 at FedEx St. Jude Classic and T3 at Motorola Western Open). Feeling comfortable heading into the week, Justin liked the golf course and spent considerable time during his practice rounds studying the differences between the front nine and back nine. He came to the event solo, with no family and friends, and was extremely focused without some normal distractions.

Day One
Leonard eagled No. 6 en route to an opening 2-under-par 69. Playing a later tee time, he noticed several players 5- or 6-under on the front nine because it was straight downwind. On the back nine, players were struggling.

With a 2-under on the front nine, Leonard was a little disappointed, but managed to shoot even par on the back nine in tough conditions, despite not hitting a green.

Day Two
Leonard switched from a wooden-headed driver to a metal one, adding as much as 20 yards to his tee shots and took advantage of calm conditions to fire a 5-under-par 66 and move within two shots of midway leader, Darren Clarke. His round included two eagles, on hole Nos. 4 and 6 (for second day in a row), giving him three for the tournament. On both of his eagles today, he hit 5-iron into the green. A missed five-footer on No. 18 for bogey kept Leonard from closing to within one shot of the 36-hole lead.

Day Three
Playing with 36-hole leader Darren Clarke, Leonard wasn't

as solid as the previous day, but hung in for an even-par round. After a birdie on No. 17, he looked at the scoreboard and noticed he would be paired with Fred Couples the next day and felt it would be a big advantage. Leonard felt Couples was a good partner because of his "been there, done that" attitude in that situation of contending for a major and his relaxing style of play.

Day Four
Leonard began the day five strokes behind the leader, Jesper Parnevik, and trailed Parnevik by two shots with five holes to play. His five-shot comeback tied the best fourth-round rally in British Open history, by Jim Barnes in 1925. He became the youngest British Open champion since 22-year-old Seve Ballesteros won in 1979. Over the first nine holes, seven of his pitch shots landed within 15 feet of the cup. He birdied three of the final four holes on the front side, pitching to four feet on No. 6,two-and-a-half feet on No. 7 and six feet on No. 9 to pull within one shot of the lead.

He trailed by two shots with five holes to play, but down the stretch, he ran home putts of 15 feet to save par on No. 15, from 15 feet again for birdie on No. 16 and from 30 feet on No. 17 for his final and decisive birdie of the day.

Top