JustinLeonard.com

"You have to find your own way to measure progress outside of results. But, you know, there's no better way to validate it then to come out and win a golf tournament like this.”

Look at Justin Leonard's win in Texas

George White, GolfObserver.com

“You know, you can tell me all day long I need to play more aggressively and, you know, do this and do that in order to play well. But, until I really get it into my thick head and it becomes my own - that's when I think I see progress. And so it wasn't just one person telling me.”

It happened at the British Open exactly 10 years ago, that Sunday when Justin Leonard and Jesper Parnevik were slugging it out over the final nine holes a decade ago Sunday. Parnevik had the lead when that day started, but he was steadily giving ground as the day waned on.

Finally, at the 13th hole, the cave-in began in earnest. Jesper would bogey there, in fact bogey 4 of the final 6 holes, and Leonard resolutely marched on to the championship.

Now, 10 years later, they were in the same position on Sunday. Parnevik didn’t exactly crater at the Valero Texas Open, but the end result was the same. Leonard and Jesper dueled down the stretch, even took it 3 holes deep in a playoff, but finally a 10-foot birdie did in the plucky Swede. Leonard, now a husband, a father, and a 35-year-old veteran of 13 seasons, won for the 11th time in his career.

Leonard and Parnevik are two guys whose careers have more or less intertwined each other. Parnevik is 42 and he has narrowly missed at two British Opens. Leonard missed a 2nd Open in 1999 when he lost in a three-way playoff to Paul Lawrie. And they both have struggled of late. Leonard finished 109th on the money list last year and was 94th this year before the win at San Antonio, Parnevik finishing below the top 100 two of the past 4 years before entering last week down at No. 138.

Parnevik missed the cut in 4 of his first 5 tournaments this year. But Leonard was even more lost, going though his first 6 without playing on the weekend. That’s when he decided it was time for a change, switching from Butch Harmon, who had been tutoring him for six years, to Randy Smith, who had been his tutor from the time that Leonard was still in grade school.

Actually, though, Leonard’s real problem may not have been physical, as he himself is the first to admit. This exercise, he says, requires learning every single day, of firmly committing yourself to being ‘aggressive,’ of having the confidence and the verve to thinking positive. Unfortunately, you don’t just become aggressive or become confident by telling yourself to do so.

“You have to take what people tell you and make it your own,” he said.

Justin’s big problem this season, in fact, may not have been his swing as much as it was his putting. Once one of the game’s premier rollers, this year he languished down at No. 177 on the TOUR’s putting stats before last week. When he finally got that sorted out, he could concentrate on the mental aspects of the game.

“You know, I think I've been guilty a lot this year of just going out and playing and kind of finding my game along the way, and kind of trying to ease into the round a little too much. I think the last couple weeks I've come out trying to play more aggressively and make some birdies and I've been able to do that quite a bit.”

On top of all the physical maladies, on top of the mental difficulties of sliding into too-timid play, he had unwittingly gone done the blind alley of playing too much. Because he had missed the first 6 cuts of the year, he felt he had to give himself every opportunity to play, even though he should have realized that too much play is counter-productive.

“It's hard to play out here when you're tired,” he says. “I added, three, four, five tournaments trying to give myself more opportunities because I got off to such a slow start.

“And not that I want to go back and do the same thing again because I had to, but I think my play last week just kind of showed - I didn't touch a club for 10 days. … But, yeah, for me it makes a big difference to be rested, especially this time of year because everybody is tired. I'm not the only one.”

So he has worked diligently on change when he found himself slip-sliding down the rankings – changed coaches, changed his work schedule. And eventually he even changed his luck, resulting in a win last week.

Along the way, he may have revamped who Justin Leonard is.

“Yeah, probably,” he agreed. “I'm certainly a different person. I ride more of an even keel, I'd say. The lows aren't as low and the highs aren't as high, because this is not the most important thing to me anymore like it was back then.

“So, you know, am I a different golfer? Probably so. I probably can't tell you how much of that has changed. I can tell you exactly how I've changed as a person and that's been a fun ride.”

All because he has worked so diligently at change.

"You know, you don't always see the fruits of hard work out here,” he said. “Sometimes you do but not always.

"You have to find your own way to measure progress outside of results. But, you know, there's no better way to validate it then to come out and win a golf tournament like this.”

-- October 8, 2007