Exclusive: Golf legend Justin Leonard on joining the PGA Champions Tour, working with Dick's Sporting Goods & more
A true legend of golf, Justin Leonard amassed 12 victories during his lengthy career on the PGA Tour, including a Major tournament victory at the 1997 Open Championship. Justin Leonard has represented the United States at the Presidents Cup five times and the Ryder Cup three times, winning twice. Leonard has recently transitioned to the broadcast booth where he now serves as an analyst.
The PGA helped to restore some normalcy with some tournament play last week, inspiring many to up their golf game or take a swing at it for the first time. But before hitting the course it’s important to have the proper equipment to do so. I spoke with Justin Leonard about such -- including shout-outs to Dick's Sporting Goods -- and plenty more for Sportskeeda on June 16, 2020.
The full interview with Justin Leonard is embedded below for your viewing pleasure, while part of it has been transcribed exclusively for Sportskeeda.
Excerpts from Justin Leonard's interview
On the return of pro golf:
Justin Leonard: We're all excited to see live golf again. It brings a sense of normalcy to very abnormal times... It's a game that, even during this time, when social distancing -- and we're paying very close attention to each other... -- golf is a great game to be able to do that. The fact that the PGA Tour has returned, just the interest level in the game I think is going to rise.
On whether any rules of golf have changed as a result of social distancing:
Justin Leonard: As far as competing on golf courses, most golf courses that I know of, you don't touch the flag sticks, the ball doesn't go down to the bottom of the hole, and there's no bunker rakes. They let the maintenance staff take care of that each night. Those are the biggest changes, just preventing people from spreading germs so that people can be comfortable in their social distancing and can comply with local and state authorities as far as what their rules and regulations are.
On getting his start as a golfer:
Justin Leonard: My father taught me how to play the game and unfortunately back then, because it was 40-something years ago, we didn't have Dick's Sporting Goods or Golf Galaxy to go to. My set were a set of hand-me-downs from my grandmother that they cut down and gave to me, an old set of Ben Hogans. But times have certainly changed. For my boys at 10 and 13, for their golf needs and any sport needs, I go to Dick's Sporting Goods or Golf Galaxy... It's a great time to pick those things up right before Father's Day.
On future projects:
Justin Leonard: I just turned 48 here in the last couple of days, so I've got two years 'til I'm Champions Tour'-eligible. I don't know exactly what that looks like yet, I really enjoy my TV work as an analyst for Golf Channel and NBC. It's interesting, the timing of things, because my contract is up when I'm 49 1/2.
I'll have an idea then if I'm going to stay and do television or I'm going to return to the golf course, or the most likely scenario where it's a combination of the two.
It's interesting, as I get closer, my interest in playing increases a bit. I'm sure it does for all professional that are in my age range. But I also know, I've covered a couple Champions events, those guys are really good.
I haven't played competitively for four years, so that would be a six-year layoff. I think it would take some time to really get back into the competition. And then the prospect of trying to go out and beat Jim Furyk, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen -- I couldn't beat them 20 years ago, what makes me think I'm going to beat them now? (laughs) But I've got some time to figure that out and I'm looking forward to playing a bit more and possibly playing competitive golf in a couple of years.