2025 Chubb Classic Title Gives Perspective to How Far Justin Leonard Has Come
By Doug Milne
When Justin Leonard began last year’s Chubb Classic presented by SERVPRO, the T8 and T19 he was coming off of in his two previous PGA TOUR Champions starts gave him confidence and encouragement.
The then-52-year-old may have also been a little curious. After all, 17 years had elapsed since the native Texan had won his 12th and final PGA TOUR-sanctioned event at the 2008 Stanford St. Jude Championship.
Last year’s Chubb Classic start marked the 1997 Open Championship winner’s third time competing in the event and followed finishes of T6 in 2023 and T61 in 2024.
Also a 12-time PGA TOUR winner with a major championship title to his credit – the 1993 PGA Championship – PGA TOUR Champions’ lead television analyst, Paul Azinger, was calling all the shots as the action unfolded. And, in Sunday’s final round last year – specifically Tiburón Golf Club inward nine-hole stretch – there was a lot about Leonard to report on.
“I remember not playing great on the front nine Sunday,” Leonard said of the even-par 35. “I made a nice save at 11 for par, after having to chip it out. I got it up-and-down from about 130 yards.”
That par followed a bogey at No. 10 but preceded a birdie at the par-5 12th. The 1998 PLAYERS Championship winner then did something he doesn’t normally do. He looked at a leaderboard on 13.
“I saw that I was either tied for the lead or maybe one back,” Leonard recalled. “I was actually thrilled, because I hadn't played very well and figured somebody had run out to a two- or three-shot lead. I just kind of buckled down and I played some really good golf at the end of that round.”
After sinking a 30-foot putt for birdie on the par-4 17th, Leonard was again uncertain as to where he stood.
“I still wasn't sure what was going on, so after I made the putt I asked my caddie to look at the leaderboard, see where we are and if there was anything I needed to know playing the last hole,” he recalled. “He turned around, looked at the leaderboard and when he turned back around, he had a bit of a smirk on his face. He said, ‘I think you need to know that second place is at 11-under…and you’re at 15’.”
With room to breathe, Leonard closed in style, making birdie at the 54th and final hole. With birdies on five of his last seven holes, he closed with a 4-under 68 to reach 15-under 201, four strokes clear of Billy Andrade.
“I got to have fun playing that last hole just to let it all sink in,” he said. “It's a great feeling to know that you've got a tournament in hand and can't really mess it up.”
With the victory, Leonard snapped a winless streak of 16 years, 8 months, 8 days since the win in Memphis.
“It had been 17 years since winning my last PGA TOUR event,” Leonard said. “It was certainly a great feeling to be able to walk up 18 and experience my first win with my caddie, Shawn. He caddied for me for five or six years on the PGA TOUR. It was a great feeling for sure.”
“It was impressive, I know that. We all knew it had been a while,” said Azinger. “I wasn't a big scoreboard hawk, but sometimes I had to know. Justin is the same. But, when he looked at the board, he got this little bit of inspiration and buckled down. That's how it happens. The ability to pounce and close is always still in there, even if it's been 17 years. It was emotional for me because Justin was on my Ryder Cup team. I love Justin. I was thrilled.”
“I wasn't even really looking for a leaderboard early on the back nine. I just happened to lift my head up and there it was,” Leonard said. “I'm glad I saw it. I think that's fate or divine intervention that I did see it, because it gave me that boost. I just put my head down and played every hole as its own little tournament. I actually think my best golf is played when I forget about where I am in the tournament and just run through the finish line and see where I end up.”
“I was thrilled for Justin, because we all knew he could do it,” Azinger said. “He had been in contention and played well prior to that.”
After three top-10 finishes in a four-start stretch beginning last year in late July, Leonard added a second PGA TOUR Champions title at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond, Virginia.
“I feel ready to go. I worked TV until 2022, so doing seven years and having that time off, I feel like I got reenergized,” Leonard said. “I got to watch the best players in the world on the PGA TOUR and how they do it, how they take care of their body and how they practice. I've incorporated a lot of that into my own routines. I think those are the things that have really started to pay dividends. That, and just the competitive fire. I enjoy playing. I enjoy practicing and working on my game. I wake up in the mornings trying to figure out what I’m going to do just to get that one percent better today. It doesn't always happen, but that's the goal. I’m excited about this season and what lies ahead.”
As far as what lies ahead with respect to the Chubb Classic is the challenging Tiburon Golf Course.
“I've never played the event at Tiburón, but I did go study the Tiburón course since I was broadcasting it,” Azinger said. “I was really impressed. I wondered how I would feel trying to win down the stretch on some of these tee shots. I knew it was going to be a real test for whoever won it, and Justin won it. He kept putting it in play. He hit some great shots down the stretch, and you could tell he was the most comfortable, especially on the greens.”
“The golf course itself is probably one of the tighter courses we play,” Leonard said. “There's trouble everywhere you look and, being kind of a straight driver of the ball, I enjoy that. It's a course where if you're playing well, you can certainly score. If you're not hitting it very good, it makes it very difficult.”
Not only did Leonard’s 2025 win on Tiburón’s challenging track put him back in the winner’s circle for the first time in 17 years, but it came just shy of the 30-year anniversary of his first career win on TOUR at the 1996 Buick Open. With life seemingly moving as fast as a well-struck tee shot, Leonard looks back now to see just how far he – and his family – have come.
“It's crazy to think 30 years ago I'm still playing professional golf and still loving it as much as I do,” Leonard said. “It's a real blessing and a gift to be able to play this game at a high level for a long time, and I try not to take it for granted. I'm just grateful and thankful to be able to do what I do for a living and to be able to have an opportunity like the PGA TOUR Champions where I can stay competitive, sharp and work on my game.
In stark contrast is the Justin Leonard when he was new on the PGA TOUR scene and seeking that TOUR’s first title.
“Those early years on TOUR was just golf,” he said. “I was single, 22, 23 years old. Now, I've got three kids. Two are in college and our youngest in high school. It's a little different now. I also have a wife I love being around. There is just more these days than what tournaments I want to play. It’s fun, and I wouldn't change it for the world. I'd say I enjoy my career more now than I did when I was in my early 20s, just because I've got people to share it with. My kids are able to see the amount of work and stuff that I put in. Hopefully, it inspires them a little bit.”
In addition to the longevity and success of Leonard’s career on the course, he and his family are equally inspired by all the TOUR does for charity.
“PGA TOUR Champions is a traveling circus, and we have a big impact on the places that we get to play,” Leonard said. “It's not just about the tournament and who wins. There's a lot that goes on during the week, like at the Chubb Classic, that impacts the local areas.”
Just one of those examples is Blessings in a Backpack. When competing on the PGA TOUR, Leonard and his family became actively involved. To this day, they remain connected to the program.
“Just last year, our son Skylar – a freshman at the Benjamin School – starting a Blessings in a Backpack club through his school, and we're helping feed kids in our community who are in the free and reduced federal meal plan,” Leonard said. “Being able to do that with a charity that was introduced to my family by the PGA TOUR more than two decades ago is special. So, having that kind of impact and then passing it down and our kids wanting to serve on those things is a testament to the PGA TOUR and the PGA TOUR Champions.”
“This is Chubb's 28th year as title sponsor, the longest running title sponsor on PGA TOUR Champions,” said Executive Director, Sandy Diamond. “Chubb continues to be an awesome partner of ours, and we’re grateful for everything they do with the competition on the course and the charitable impact they help us make off the course.”
Early commitments already include five-time Chubb Classic winner Bernhard Langer, former World No. 1s David Duval and Tom Lehman, as well as past Chubb Classic champions, Joe Durant, Lee Janzen, Miguel Angel Jiménez and, yes, Justin Leonard.
“This will be my fourth year playing the Chubb Classic,” Leonard said. “It's great for me, it’s a great event, Naples is a great town and the weather usually makes it a place where you want to be in February.”
So, too, does returning as the event’s defending champion.
