Love, Leonard Back Atop the Leaderboard

Seeing Davis Love and Justin Leonard atop the leaderboard at the Verizon Heritage a week after Trevor Immelman had his coming-out party at The Masters seems almost symbolic of golf’s slow but inevitable changing of the guard. Both Love and Leonard were once very big names on the PGA Tour, perennial contenders at majors and each the owner of a single major title. But they’ve been mighty quiet of late and all but disappeared from anyone’s power rankings out on the links. ↵↵Leonard’s lot has not been quite so bad as Love’s in the past few years. After a dismal 2006 that saw him fall out of the top 50 in the World Golf Rankings, he had a strong 2007 featuring a victory at the Texas Open and five top-ten finishes overall. He’s continued his excellent play this year, four more top tens including a second-place finish to D.J. Trahan at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.↵

↵↵But for a player of Leonard’s elite quality and history, success has to be measured in the rawest of terms, wins and majors, and on that score he’s suffered quite a drop-off from his salad years in the 90’s. He has one tour victory dating back to June of 2005, and his performance in majors since then has been dismal. Since making a playoff at the 2004 PGA, Leonard has not posted a top ten at a major and missed six cuts. ↵

↵↵Love, meanwhile, once a permanent fixture at the top of any major leaderboard, has seen a precipitous drop out of contention at the big tournaments. After top tens at the U.S. Open and the PGA in 2005, Love has missed five cuts in eight majors without posting a finish higher than 22nd. Over that time, he did not win a single tournament and managed only three top tens. ↵

↵↵Of course, he experienced a major setback last September with an ankle injury, one that forced a layoff that resulted in him missing the 2008 Masters, the first major he’s missed in almost 18 years. With that in mind, Harbour Town certainly seems like the place for him to make his resurgence, in that he’s won there a staggering five times before. Leonard too is a former winner at Harbour Town, champion of the 2002 tournament. Still, Thursday’s results aside, it’s been a long time since either Justin Leonard or Davis Love have been on the leaderboard that matters most in golf, the one that features the elite players of the sport and the prime threats to win major championships. At this stage of the game, one can’t help but wonder if they’ll ever be on that leaderboard again. ↵

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