Brookline memories inspire Leonard

FOR many professional athletes, it is the moment rather than the career that defines their legacy in the public’s perception, and Justin Leonard’s victory prance across the 17th green at Brookline nine years ago is quite definitively his moment.

The British Open in 1997, a Players Championship 12 months later and the US Amateur title in 1992 may well be included in the 36 year-old’s biography, but that 45-foot putt at the 1999 Ryder Cup and the wild celebrations it prompted at the end of a remarkable day’s golf will stay with the Texan to his dying day.

As he prepares to resume Ryder Cup action at Valhalla this week, Leonard’s putt has once again come to the forefront as Americans cling to a now distant memory of a victory in the competition they used to dominate.