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Leonard is also part of the Texas golf tradition handed down from Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan to Jimmy Demaret to Lee Trevino to Kite and Ben Crenshaw. Growing up in Dallas, Justin was so golf-mad that he wrote school papers on Nicklaus, Player and Palmer and practiced his short game inside the house. He recalled one hole as "up the stairs, around the dining room table and over the dog." The enormity of his desire was somewhat mitigated by his small stature, but Leonard delighted in beating opponents who far outdrove him. Because Leonard rarely loses his composure, tour friend Brad Faxon calls him a flat-liner. That trait is, in one way, a gift from his father and his golfing buddies at Royal Oaks--they routinely threw tees and taunts at the kid just as he would swing.
While at the University of Texas, Leonard won both the 1992 U.S. Amateur and the 1994 NCAA championship. Last year he earned nearly $1 million, drove away with the Buick Open and found himself in Cosmopolitan as one of the magazine's most eligible bachelors. Even though Leonard won the Kemper Open in June, he was still on the fringe of the Ryder Cup team. The week of the British Open he had dinner with Kite, a fellow Longhorn alum, and Kite told him, "Why don't you just go ahead and take care of your Ryder Cup spot this week?" Just as the Prince Andrew look-alike finished his final-round 65 to win by three strokes, Kite, who had finished 10th, was at the airport preparing to fly home. The Ryder Cup captain decided to return to Royal Troon to tell Leonard, "Welcome to the team."
There is another theory to explain the sweet birdies of youth. As with most sports, the athletes are simply better than they once were, and that has enabled them to make a quicker impact. Woods is, of course, Exhibit A, the longest hitter on the tour despite his tender age and slender build. But Els is also a prime example of the new athleticism. When President Clinton saw the 6-ft. 3-in. Els at Congressional, he commented, "Big, strong kid, isn't he? Looks like a linebacker."
Growing up in Johannesburg, Els showed promise in tennis, rugby and cricket, as well as golf. When Els at 14 beat Mickelson for the Junior World Golf championship, his father, who owned a trucking company, decided to scrap the tennis court in the backyard and build a putting green. Following high school, Els spent two years in the army, then turned pro. But it wasn't until after a post-party car accident that Els decided to take golf seriously. "I wasn't living right and just felt like it was time to get focused, stop the bull and go for it."
After Els introduced himself to the world with his victory in the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont, Pa., playing partner Curtis Strange said, "I think I just played with the next god." Eschewing that elevation, Els said he thought he might win another Open some day. That day came last June, when he outlasted Tom Lehman, Colin Montgomerie and Jeff Maggert at Congressional.
Els isn't the only tyro from outside the U.S. Appleby, who is 9th on the money list, is from Australia. At least four members of captain Seve Ballesteros' European Ryder Cup team are under 30: British Open runner-up Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland, 28; Lee Westwood of England, 24; Thomas Bjorn of Denmark, 26; and Padraig Harrington of Ireland, 25. "This youth thing is definitely catching on," says Kite.