KEMPER OPEN

June 8, 1997

Justin Leonard

JUSTIN LEONARD: Well, I got to sleep in, which is always nice on Sunday morning. And, let's see, I'll just start at No. 1. Hit a good drive, a good 7-iron to about 15 feet just on the back left fringe and made that for birdie. 2, hit a good drive and a 3-wood down there to lay up, and hit a 7-iron about 12 feet, made that for birdie. 3, I hit a good 3-wood right in the middle of the green and 2-putted for par. Parred 4. 5, I hit a sand wedge about 15 feet, and missed that, made par. 6 -- what's No. 6? That hole just -- I don't know, it -- I don't get along with that hole too well. And today, I actually hit a good drive down the left side, and I was -- that's not a green that I wanted to hit a 1-iron into. So I was between a 3-wood and a 3-iron, and I didn't think the 3-iron was enough, and I thought the 3-wood was too much. So laid it up down there to about 70 yards, and, actually, I hit a pretty good third shot. I think if the ball had been a foot shorter, it would have come back down the hill. But it skipped through the green into the rough, and I hit a good chip out for a putt. Tapped that in for par, which probably lowers my stroke average on that hole over the last three years. No. 7, I hit a good drive down there and kind of pushed a 5-iron to the back right of the green and 2-putted from about 60 feet. No. 8, I hit another good drive and a good 8-iron to about 15 feet, and missed that putt. 9, I hit a good 8-iron, kind of front left of the green and 2-putted. 10, I hit a good drive and a good pitching wedge to about 12 feet and I left the putt short, which was kind of a problem for me this week. 11, I hit a good 7-iron to about 3 feet, tapped that in for birdie. 12, I hit a real good drive and cut a 5-iron just on the right side of the green. So it was probably a couple feet further right, and it might have gone in the water. I left that putt short, right in the middle of the hole. 13, I hit a good drive at the left side, hit a 1-iron just short of the green, chipped it to about 3 feet past the hole and tapped that in. 14, I hit a good 1-iron. And I had 62 yards to the hole, and hit a good sand wedge to about 6 or 8 feet, and missed that putt. And then 15, I hit a good drive. I hit a -- just a nice smooth 8-iron, and hit that about 2 feet and tapped that in. 16, I blocked my drive out to the right, and I just -- I was standing on the cart path, but I had a pretty decent lie, so I didn't drop it. And I was just trying to take the front left bunker out of play because it's -- you can't make par from there. And so I hit it over the back of the green. And then I hit a pretty poor chip shot to about 15 feet short of the hole and missed my putt for par. 17, I was trying to cut a 5-iron and use that slope on the left to get it down to the hole, and I just hit it a little too far. 2-putted for par. And then 18, hit a good drive down there and a good 7-iron, and I think I had a pretty similar first putt as to what Mark had. And, you know, looks like we both misread the same way, just -- I didn't play near enough break. And then, you know, I guess it ran about 2-and-a-half or 3 feet past and I tapped that in.

JUSTIN LEONARD: No, I hadn't really conceded. I felt that, you know, 16, with that pin, is a tough hole. 17 is always tough. I felt that I would have needed to birdie 17 or 18. 18, I -- you know, I thought that putt was to win the tournament. And you know, having 2-putted, and then while I was signing my score card, I believe that was when somebody came over and said that Mark had just bogeyed 17. And, let's see, is that the way it worked? How did it work? No, he bogeyed -- he must have bogeyed 15 to go back to 11-under. Is that correct?

JUSTIN LEONARD: So, you know, I really felt like I was going to need to birdie 18. And then, you know, when he bogeyed 17 to go back to 10-under, you know, it's -- I walked in the locker room and, you know, he -- it sounded like he had a pretty good distance, he could go ahead and hit a 9-iron. You know, I actually thought that he was probably going to make birdie, just because he could go ahead and swing at it. And so -- but he didn't, and here we are.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yes.

JUSTIN LEONARD: No, there are two groups between us.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yes.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yes, I did.

JUSTIN LEONARD: No. I watched him play up, and then I grabbed a sleeve of golf balls out of my locker because, you know, you never know on these deals, and went back to the scorer's tent to watch.

JUSTIN LEONARD: No, the golf course this week has played difficult. But, I mean, I've played some pretty good rounds on this course. I think I shot maybe a 65 in the last round last year, and I wasn't in contention. But, you know, I knew that I had done that on Sunday, and so I felt that, you know, keeping the ball in play, if I could drive it well, then I could be aggressive. And, you know, the back 9, you know, I think 11 sets up pretty well for me. 13, 14, 15 and 18. So I felt like there were some holes where I can make up some ground and, you know, it was just, I think, a question whether Mark was going to run away from us.

JUSTIN LEONARD: You know, I really would have rather seen him make that putt and us go into a playoff. I've been in a playoff before, as some of you know. And, yeah, I would like to have another chance. You know, that's -- we all missed short putts this week. There's not a player in the field that didn't. And it's unfortunate that it had to happen on the last hole. But, I mean, to my credit, I played really well today, and you know, I'm happy with the outcome. You know, if it would have happened differently, I might have been a little happier. But, you know, it's -- you've got to take every victory you can get, because I know I'm going to miss some putts and lose some tournaments over the years, and so maybe I just got ahead by one here this week.

JUSTIN LEONARD: No, not really. You know, he was obviously pretty disappointed and, you know, he just congratulated me, and I wished him the best.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to put an asterisk on this tournament, you know, because of what happened on the last hole. I went out five shots back and won the golf tournament. And I played some good golf all the way throughout. You know, unfortunately bogeyed the 16th, but I made two good pars on 17 and 18. So I feel good about the things that I did this week, and, you know, not putting my attention into getting ready for next week. Actually, playing this tournament and, you know, knowing that Sunday night, that's when I'm allowed to think about the Open. So, you know, I felt like I had done a good job of playing this week and focusing in on this tournament.

JUSTIN LEONARD: You know, it's tough to say who they would be rooting for. I don't think too many people would, you know, remember Phoenix and say, oh, we've got to root for him now, or -- if they did root for him, I don't think it would be for that reason. But it's tough to say who -- hopefully they would have just rooted for both of us.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I went over there and walked around the course on Thursday. But, you know, really, after Friday's round. And I knew I was in the middle of the tournament. You know, I really tried to stay focused on this week. So I think, you know, had I not played so well the first couple days, then, yeah, I might have run over there and played a little bit in the afternoons. But, you know, I'm pretty happy I didn't have to do that.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Absolutely.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I think so. I think it's been that way the last-- you know, for a few years. Part of that, I think that college golf is so competitive, and now with the Nike Tour and so many different tours, guys come out here having won golf tournaments. And they know that feeling and how sweet it is, and they want to experience it. So I think now you're finding players that they may be rookies or in their 20s, but they're experienced and they know how to win tournaments.

JUSTIN LEONARD: You know, last year, I won the Buick Open the week before the PGA, and, you know, it was great. And it served as a really good confidence-builder going into the next week. I was kind of unsure going into the PGA, how am I going to react? Am I going to have a letdown? I think I ended up tying for fifth that week. So I'm going to draw off that experience last year and that knowing that after, you know, winning a tournament, I'm able to go out and play well the following weeks. And so hopefully I'll be able to go do that next week.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I'm thinking I really need to shoot 2- or 3-under par on the front side and get through No. 6. And then, you know, look at the leaderboard, see what's going on. But, you know, my main focus was Mark, whoever was in first. And, you know, I really thought that I needed to get it to probably 11 or 12-under, but, you know, the golf course has played hard all week long. I mean, just look at the scores. And so, you know, it's -- you know, the last three or four holes here, you know, you come off 13 and 14 after two good birdie chances, and then you hit a good stretch 15 through 18, and, you know, like we showed today, about anything can happen.

JUSTIN LEONARD: You know, it seems like there's, you know, guys who have never won, and then there's guys who have won one tournament, and then there's multiple winners. And so I guess I'm in a new category now. And, you know, it's -- I've been playing pretty well here the last few weeks and, you know, I thought going into Sunday at Colonial, I had a good chance, and wasn't able to make anything of it. So, you know, it's great to come out on a Sunday knowing I've got a chance, but being behind, and, you know, being able to catch up the way I did.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Well, probably the no-win, because, you know, actually my first year nobody asked me that question, but for really the next year and a half, you know -- and I thought about it a lot myself -- so I'd say that the first win is probably the hardest to get, but I'd say this victory is just as sweet.

JUSTIN LEONARD: You know, walking up 18, I was telling my caddie a story about my -- a friend of mine going through my office at home looking for a driver. His birthday is this week, and actually it's my sister's fiance, and so I was telling him this story as we were walking up 18. He was describing to me the drivers, and I was telling him whether he could take it out and hit it or whether I needed to keep it. And so, I mean, we just, you know, we don't talk too much about golf. We talked about the basketball game a little bit. You know, he's a big Bulls fan, so I was giving him some grief -- and, yeah, they're going to lose tonight. Just kidding. I don't know. And, you know, but he's able to keep me pretty loose and, you know, but there's times when he knows that he shouldn't say anything, and so I think that's, you know, what's the old saying for caddies: Show up, put up and shut up. And he knows how to do exactly which one of those at the exact right time.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Bob Riefke, R-I-E-F-K-E.

JUSTIN LEONARD: Thank you.