Leonard Wins St. Jude in Playoff
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Justin Leonard thought he won on the final hole of regulation only to see his ball go left of the cup. Then he was a foot away from victory on the first playoff hole.
Luckily, his ball rolled one last turn into the cup on the next hole.
Leonard won the Stanford St. Jude Championship in a playoff yesterday, holing a 19-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to beat Masters champion Trevor Immelman and Robert Allenby.
Leonard blew a one-stroke lead with two holes left to drop into the playoff, but won on the 150-yard, par-3 11th when Immelman pushed his birdie attempt past the hole.
“I don’t think that ball would’ve rolled another half-inch,” Leonard said. “It just barely got there the greens are so dry and fast.”
It’s Leonard’s 12th PGA Tour title, his second at TPC Southwind and his first since the 2007 Valero Texas Open — also in a playoff. He closed with a 4-under 68 to match Allenby (65) and Immelman (69) at 4-under 276, the highest 72-hole total since this event moved to the TPC at Southwind course in 1989.
Leonard earned $1.08 million and now is fifth in the Ryder Cup standings with five Top 10s this year. He hasn’t played in the Ryder Cup since 1999, when his 45-foot putt on the 17th hole at Brookline clinched the largest comeback in history.
Strangers still ask him most about that putt, not his 1997 British Open victory, and he even heard about it a couple times yesterday. It’s why he is so eager to play his way back onto the Ryder Cup team.
“I don’t know how much of a lock I am, but I feel pretty good about making it. I’m looking forward to being on that team, and I’m looking forward to us winning again soon,” Leonard said.
It was almost a perfect day for the Texan who spent last week practicing in the Dallas heat, albeit wearing shorts and riding a cart. He started Sunday tied for seventh and was one of 10 who had a share of the lead at some point in the final round with the temperature feeling hotter than 100 degrees.
Leonard was the closest to a birdie on the first hole of the playoff on the par-4 18th only to come up a foot short. All three parred, sending the playoff to the island green at No. 11, where each had good shots.
