Justin Leonard, one of Captain Jim Furyk’s four assistants for the Presidents Cup, took time out from preparing for this weekend’s PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach to sit down for an interview. He was more than willing to discuss his role at The Presidents Cup, his team-event legacy, and his quest to keep fit and competitive for the PGA Tour Champions.
At the moment, the 52-year-old Leonard ranks 52nd on the Champions circuit with $335,110 in winnings, but he is optimistic that his recent hard work on and off the course will start to pay off. The 1997 Open Champion at Troon, site of this year’s event won by Xander Schauffele, has 12 career wins on the PGA Tour. However, Leonard is undoubtedly best remembered for his 45-foot slam dunk against Jose Maria Olazabal on the 17th hole at The Country Club in the 1999 Ryder Cup that completed the biggest comeback in Cup history.
Although his first concern right now is to play well at Pebble and make amends for last year’s playoff loss to Thongchai Jaidee, Leonard also knows that the drama at The Royal Montreal GC will create international intensity. Leonard, who spent six years working broadcasts for the Golf Channel and NBC Sports, was at the top of this game at his interview.
Q: Of the dozen players on the team, six are captain’s picks. How difficult is it to make those picks?
A: It’s hard. I wish we could have 15 guys on our team. Somebody is always going to be left out, somebody who is deserving of a spot. But we only have 12 spots.
People are always going to have opinions. We’re not necessarily worried about that. We’re just trying to put the 12 best players who we feel that we can put into positions for success. And it’s also dealing with a very specific golf course in Royal Montreal.
Q: You’ve accomplished so much as a player in team formats. How much of an honor is it for you to join Captain Jim Furyk and the other assistant captains, Stewart Cink, Brandt Snedeker, and Kevin Kisner?
A: This is my first time being on the captain’s side of it, and I’m enjoying it. Between Stewart, and Jim, obviously myself, Kiz, and now Sneds—Keegan [Bradley] was in there for a bit and decided he didn’t like it, so he just played his way onto the team!—I feel like we all bring something a little different from our own experiences. Kiz and Sneds, and really Stewart as well—those guys still play on the Tour—whereas Jim and I haven’t for a while. They bring a little different insight to things.
We had a 30-minute phone call recently that turned into an hour and a half. We actually had some [constructive and differing] opinions on things. There’s been a lot of texting between us the last three or four weeks. First, it was about the Captain’s picks and the lead-up to the BMW and the Tour Championship. And immediately after that, we started talking about pairings. That’s been an interesting process to put the guys together for the two different formats [Foursomes use alternate shots, and Four-ball uses best ball]. So, you have to be aware of their personalities, what kind of golf ball they play, and all kinds of other things. It’s been a learning process, but one I’ve really enjoyed, that’s for sure.
Q: So how would you describe what you bring to the table as an assistant captain?
A: Honestly, I don’t have a lot of personal relationships with the players. So, I bring more of an overhead view, perhaps, coming from watching their games as I did through television for six years [in the TV booth]. Maybe I come with an almost “I-don’t-really-care-what-the-players-think” kind of attitude. I do think you need a mix of the two. The personal relationships, which these guys have, have already proved invaluable in setting them up for success. Maybe mine’s not so player-driven or individually driven, but maybe I have a “bigger-picture-in-mind” kind of view.
Q: Are the pairings already set?
A: I think we’re in a good place. I’m just going to leave it at that.
Q: You are a Ryder Cup icon, with that indelible performance at Brookline 25 years ago. Now that you’re getting a taste of what it’s like to lead a U.S. team in international competition, would you be interested in being Ryder Cup captain someday?
A: Yeah, I would love to be involved. I’ve really enjoyed this experience so far. But I’m really just focused on this week at Pebble Beach, because I’m playing. Next week I’ll be trying to help Jim and the guys accomplish a goal. It’s a lot of work, especially for Jim—making the decisions and having the discussions that need to be had—to try to provide a great atmosphere for the players. It’s a full-time job. Getting a peek at that doesn’t scare me away, but it certainly helps me understand what all that entails.
Q: It’s been a bit of an up-and-down season for you this year on The PGA Tour Champions. How would you assess your own game?
A: This year hasn’t been great. Let’s just be honest. I played pretty well the first event or two, and then I kind of struggled a little bit. But I’ve been working really hard. I’ve discovered a few things in my game after I played at Troon [at The Senior Open]. I just hit the ball so poorly. I started working with Mike Thomas [PGA Tour player Justin Thomas’s father], and I started communicating a little more with Randy Smith [his longtime coach who is pro-emeritus at Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas where Scottie Scheffler is a longtime member]. I had fallen into a couple of bad habits, like coming too far from the inside, which made it difficult to control the contact or have any consistency. So, I’ve just been working on that.
I finally saw some good things two weeks ago in St. Louis [Ascension Charity Classic, T-4].
Really for the first time in a few months, when I got to St. Louis, I thought my game was in good shape. I had some confidence going in. That was a great feeling because it’s been a while.
I know I’m on the right track. I know it’s not going to be smooth from here on out, but I’m looking forward to building some momentum from now to the end of the year.
Q: You are an Ambassador for GolfForever, as is Scottie Scheffler, a very successful and popular program to improve golf fitness, mobility, and power. What role has GolfForever played in your return to competition. How has it helped you? How do you think it could help amateurs, like your playing partners in pro-ams?
A: It’s about flexibility and mobility. I work on it every day, and I use my GolfForever Swing Trainer every day. I use it to warm up before rounds. It’s incorporated into every workout that I do. I do some other things on top of it. I think it’s a big reason why I’m hitting the ball farther now than I ever had. I’m understanding the swing a bit more, and I am able to really work on very golf-specific flexibility and mobility training.
As for amateurs, there is a very small percentage of people out there who are hyper-flexible. The rest of us aren’t. And GolfForever isn’t just for people over 50. There are juniors using it, college coaches, and college golf teams are using our app and our equipment. And I think the success of Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim are just proof that this is for a wide range of golfers with different skill levels and different physical levels.
Q: What else can you tell us about your own fitness regimen?
A: I love doing cardio. I wouldn’t say I was a big cardio guy early on in my golf career. But living in Colorado for seven years, I really enjoyed doing cardio. I like to mix it up. But the one thing that’s really a constant for me is the golf workout I do with GolfForever.
Q: Any goals for the end of this year going into 2025?
A: I’m not a big goal setter as far as things I want to check off the list. My goals are to win golf tournaments, which I haven’t done in a while. But, really, it’s to be prepared and be ready. I try to work harder when I’m at home so when I get on the road for tournaments it’s more about recovery and playing the game. I’m just trying to get that little one percent better each day, then just let all the results take me by surprise, if you will.
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