Lee Janzen - Part 1 (The Early Years)

Join hosts Mike Gonzalez and Bruce Devlin for the first of a captivating four-part conversation with two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen on FORE the Good of the Game. In this episode, Lee reflects on his earliest memories growing up, from his birth in Austin, Minnesota, to childhood years in New Jersey, Maryland, and ultimately Florida, where he discovered his passion for golf. Lee shares vivid anecdotes of his introduction to sports, fond memories of the Orioles’ World Series triumph, and an unforgettable hotel encounter involving the Baltimore Colts.

Listeners get an inside look at Lee’s rapid progression in junior golf, a journey marked by dedication, resilience, and timely mentorship. He discusses how his game evolved from shooting rounds of 100 at age 14 to becoming a competitive junior player in just over a year, crediting influential advice from legendary instructor Rick Smith. Lee candidly opens up about the challenges he overcame, from mental barriers to playoff pressures, and how those formative experiences shaped his approach to the game.

Lee also recounts his standout collegiate career at Florida Southern College, detailing how a near-missed opportunity became a defining turning point that propelled him into the national spotlight. He brings listeners back to the excitement and awe of qualifying for his first U.S. Open at Oakland Hills as a 19-year-old amateur, an experience that included memorable interactions with legends Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw, as well as humorous anecdotes from the practice rounds.

Filled with rich storytelling, personal insights, and laughter, this episode sets the stage for a remarkable deep dive into the life and career of Lee Janzen. Whether you're a lifelong fan or new to the sport, tune in to hear Lee’s inspiring story of determination, resilience, and the moments that shaped him into a champion.

Transcript

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Welcome to another edition of FORE the Good of the Game and Bruce Devlin. We've got a guy today that's got you matched in tour victories, but he's got a couple of victories that you would love to have.

Bruce Devlin 0:27

Isn't that the truth? Yeah. What a what a uh a record this man has. Two two open championship victories, eight victories on the PGA tour, a couple on the champions tour. I think 16 all told, and it is indeed a pleasure to have Lee Janzen with us this morning. Lee, thanks for joining us.

Lee Janzen 0:50

It's my pleasure to be here.

Mike Gonzalez 0:52

Lee, great to have you. You know, we've been working on this for a while. We finally got our schedules aligned. And uh you've got a little break from your golfing, which we'll catch up on probably later in our discussion. But uh as you know, in telling the life stories of golf screens, we always start at the very beginning. And uh believe you were born in Austin, Minnesota, if that's correct. And maybe you can take us back to those early years. What are what are your earliest memories of growing up uh in those northern climbs?

Lee Janzen 1:22

Right. Born in Austin, Minnesota. We moved to New Jersey sometime around when I was three. Um, so I don't have any memory of Minnesota. Unless we go some do some deep hypnosis, maybe.

Intro Music 1:34

Yeah, there you go.

Lee Janzen 1:35

Uh New Jersey, I remember a little bit. Um, and then we moved to Maryland when I was six. Uh that must have been right at the beginning of the school year. Um the Orioles were in the World Series when we got to Maryland, uh, Westminster, Maryland, not too far from Baltimore. And then we moved to Florida when I was 12 in the middle of my seventh grade year.

Mike Gonzalez 1:58

Okay. All right. So so you you remember a little bit about New Jersey, but um uh with the Orioles being in the World Series, I'm sure you've got some memories of that. I I don't know if are you old enough to have enjoyed the Robinsons and Boob Powell and Palm and those guys?

Lee Janzen 2:15

That was 1970, and they just they won the World Series that year against the Reds. Yeah. Um and then that coming summer, uh, the neighborhood we lived in, we were building a house, and then once we moved in, the neighborhood had a lot of kids, and they were outside playing sports all the time. So that was my introduction to baseball and football, dirt bike riding, and anything else you did outside, sledding. Um, and then in the summertime we played baseball.

Mike Gonzalez 2:42

Yeah, yeah. I mean, that was the that was the sport of most of our youth was just play baseball all day. Yeah. Yeah. Until you got called to supper.

Lee Janzen 2:50

Yep.

Mike Gonzalez 2:51

Yeah, that's right. Um, so uh great teams, uh, the Orioles, some great players back then. Uh uh probably were you a little young to enjoy the the Colts at their peak with Johnny Unitis?

Lee Janzen 3:04

Um so they trained in the town we lived in in Westminster, Maryland.

Mike Gonzalez 3:09

Oh, cool.

Lee Janzen 3:10

And we were staying in a hotel while our house was being built, and they stayed in the same hotel.

Bruce Devlin 3:15

Oh boy. The Colts.

Lee Janzen 3:17

So I I did I was way too young to appreciate that, but my older brothers um they knew who they were. And uh apparently our dog and one of the people, one of the players on the Colts dog got into a tussle or something, and that was a big story. I remember the story, but I don't remember exactly what happened.

Mike Gonzalez 3:36

Yeah, the heyday of sports back then in in uh in Baltimore. So you mentioned a few sports. If you were like most of our previous guests, you were a multi-sport uh athlete.

Lee Janzen 3:47

Um, I played on the golf team, but I played all the other sports unorganized, I guess you could say. Pick-up basketball, sandlot football, and whatever. I played little league baseball till um I was 14. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 4:01

Always pretty good with hand-eye stuff?

Lee Janzen 4:04

Uh yes, as I think a lot of golfers are. I think you're right.

Mike Gonzalez 4:08

Yeah, yeah. And by hand-eye, I'm talking about you can shoot pool, you can bowl, you can throw darts, you can lawn jarts.

Lee Janzen 4:15

Play ping pong, racquetball, pickleball, anything.

Mike Gonzalez 4:19

Yeah. Um, so when did when did you when did you find the game of golf?

Lee Janzen 4:24

Well, we moved to Florida in the middle of school year, so that was the winter time. Um, and then when the school year ended in Maryland, that's when we played baseball, was during the summer. We moved to Florida and they played baseball in the fall and the spring. So I signed up for Little League Baseball, the season was ending, then they had All-Stars, which went into the middle of summer. Um, and then some kids that I became friends with through baseball invited me out to play golf at the local course that my dad had joined, but I had not really played any golf. I went to a clinic or whatever, so um they invited me out, I stunk. Uh but I kept playing and I got better and a little bit better and a little bit more better. So uh by the time I by the neck the next summer, let's see. Um the next year I still played baseball and was just playing golf a little bit, but by the next year, um I was I wanted to play golf every day, and I still signed up for baseball, and I remember that I kept forgetting when practice was, and that never happened before. So I I I came to the realization that my heart was now on golf and not baseball anymore, and I decided not to play it anymore. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 5:40

Bruce, uh, do you sometimes wish you'd found the game at an earlier age?

Bruce Devlin 5:43

Oh, yeah. But you know, uh, it's it's amazing. Some of some of our guests have uh found it at an early age, and then you see a guy like Larry Nelson, for instance, who you know really didn't get into the game until he was in his early twenties. So we never know what we're gonna find out when we talk about our guests who, you know, Bernhard Langer, for instance, you know, growing up in a little town in uh in Germany, and uh it's it's quite remarkable. You guys have come uh in lots of different paths, and uh we're happy to have you tell a story about all those young days. Uh, I think it's very interesting for the folks.

Lee Janzen 6:24

Yeah, and you know, who knew? I doubt that I would have ever become a golfer had we not moved to Florida. Probably the town we lived in had a nine-hole executive course, and I think the next closest course was maybe a half hour away, and I don't even really know what kind of course it was. Now, years after we moved away from town, they built a course in town. Um, so it's possible I would have taken up the game then, but that I would have been high school, college, I guess college age when they built that course.

Mike Gonzalez 6:54

So yeah. So what was it about the game that uh you think kind of got you at an early age?

Lee Janzen 7:00

Well, I didn't have much success starting out. Um I can remember playing the Greater Tampa Junior Golf, which has got quite a few kids that went through there and made it onto the tour that I played with Woody Austin, Scott Dunlap, Greg Kraft, John Houston. Yeah. I'm sure I'm leaving out somebody there, they'll be mad at me. Um they won't. Um, but yes, uh, so it was pretty competitive. Uh I was terrible. Like I said, my first year um playing, um, it wasn't unusual for me to shoot a hundred. So when my friends were shooting in the either the low 80s or high 70s, you know, we were only 14 then. Yeah. Um, but but things turned around really quickly, quickly. Um, it was just simple playing golf one afternoon, and Rick Smith came up to join us, and he saw my posture and alignment and setup and said, What are you doing? Um, he said, Try this. And I went from super bad to at least like hitting it down the fairway. And uh one, I guess once I got a taste of hitting good shots, I just went and hit balls and hit balls and hit balls. Um, and loved any tip I could get to help.

Mike Gonzalez 8:11

Yeah. So was he sort of the first influence on your game? Uh I mean professional influence, I guess, somebody that knew what they were really doing.

Lee Janzen 8:19

Yeah, I'd been to uh I did the junior clinic at the club, but um, I seemed to improve rapidly with just a little bit of his help. Um he could just drive by the range and tell me something, and I would hit balls the rest of the day on it.

Bruce Devlin 8:31

Yeah. Well, it it did happen quick because uh, I guess when you were 15 you won your first tournament there at the the Greater Tampa Junior Golf Association. That was that was a quick change from a hundred to winning.

Lee Janzen 8:47

Yeah, slightly over a year I was shooting a hundred in junior tournaments to being able to shoot under par. Um, so yeah, I did improve quickly.

Mike Gonzalez 8:57

So was Rick a regular presence at your club then?

Lee Janzen 9:00

He came in the wintertime. Gotcha. Um, but he was pulled in all kinds of directions. He was supposed to give lessons to have access to the course and a place to play, and his brother lived there, so he lived with his brother. Um, but he was always busy doing something.

Mike Gonzalez 9:14

Yeah. So tell us about that first golf course where you spent uh spent time. Nine hole, eighteen hole, what what yeah?

Lee Janzen 9:21

It's Imperial Lakes and uh just outside Lakeland, Florida.

Bruce Devlin 9:24

Uh-huh.

Lee Janzen 9:25

So um my dad talked a lot about joining the second we moved to Florida. He was a member of the club in Minnesota, which I have no memory of, but um, I think he really missed golf and wanted to have a place to go play. So we joined, um, which gave me a chance to play. And then we got on the range program where you just paid a lump sum to hit as many balls as you want.

Mike Gonzalez 9:48

You got your money's worth?

Lee Janzen 9:49

Yeah, we uh we definitely got our money's worth out of me. Um then I worked at the course too, which gave me privileges. Oh, yeah. So um I was pretty much out there as much as I could be.

Mike Gonzalez 10:00

So you didn't need to have your own shag bag then, huh?

Lee Janzen 10:03

No, but I had one. Uh course was closed on Monday, so I could go out there and hit my own balls on Monday, which I did.

Mike Gonzalez 10:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quite a bit. You count them all when you're done.

Lee Janzen 10:13

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 10:14

You don't want to lose any. You know, we talked to Al Geyberger. He used to paint his with nail polish to distinguish his balls from anybody else's. Funny. Yeah, valuable stuff. So nine-hole course, eighteen-hole course?

Lee Janzen 10:28

It was an 18-hole course.

Mike Gonzalez 10:29

Yeah, bunkers.

Lee Janzen 10:30

Yeah, it was a regulation course. Um short, but tree-lined and tight. And I didn't know you weren't supposed to hit driver every hole. Uh so it didn't matter to me that it was tight. I hit driver every hole.

Mike Gonzalez 10:47

Sure. Yeah.

Lee Janzen 10:48

So after college, um, I went back and maybe played it once or twice and hit and driver, and I'm like, well, I why was I hitting driver on this hole? So I learned how to just like work the ball and hit it different speeds to hit it the distance off the T I needed to hit it. But it was, you know, I learned how to drive it straight and play the course and play position golf.

Mike Gonzalez 11:08

Yeah. So how would you describe the development of your game from you know your early years up through even turning professional? Was it a gradual sort of uh smooth slope in terms of improvement, or did you see step changes as you picked up various things about t-ball, wedge play, chipping, etc.?

Lee Janzen 11:29

Right. Um, I I know that you know, junior high, I was the last guy to make the team in eighth grade. And in ninth grade, I shot underpar in qualifying, which was a huge jump. Um, but then I had to do it in matches and shot underpar first match. And I just remember the mental uh facing this new mental challenge that I'd never faced before, um, and you know, dealing with it. So I I learned, I uh you know, I learned a lot from my mistakes. I made plenty of them too. So um, you know, sometimes that's what golfers do, they focus on what they did wrong all the time. But yeah, if it's painful enough, we'll do anything to not do it again. So I can remember, you know, going to the future masters to try and qualify and completely blown it, ended up in a playoff and missing, and how uh devastated I was from that. You know, of course you are when you're a teenager. Yeah. Um, everything's the end of the world. But yeah, you know, I just I always thought, well, I'm never gonna let that happen again. So I always worked on how to be in certain areas. Um so I I learned how to be good in playoffs because I was terrible in them. I think I lost every playoff I was in for a while. And uh Charlie Matlock, my golf coach at Florida Southern, said, Well, it's because you stand around talking to people after you're done, waiting for the other guy to finish.

Bruce Devlin 12:52

Good ass.

Lee Janzen 12:52

I said, Okay, that is it. I said, Okay, so I realized that I needed to seclude myself away from everybody so I could keep my mind focused. So that is what I do now. But yes, I mean there's all kinds of things I learned. I I remember uh Tom Gleaton, he played at Florida Southern. Um, he made it to the PJ tour one year. And one of our courses we played in Florida Southern was lone palm. So I was out hitting balls, and I think he just saw me out whacking balls and maybe not with the proper focus. So he just came out and said, you know, you hit you've already figured out how to hit the ball solid. Why don't you work on hitting some shots? You know, curve some balls right to left, curve some balls left to right, have a game with yourself. So um at that point, that also helped me develop. So there's you know, little steps along the way that I picked up things, and um, but I think the biggest challenges were the mental hurdles I had to get over. Yeah um shooting underpar in high school and going to play on a college team with all these guys from around the country, uh, that was a new thing. Um, I had to learn how to do that again. So I had to learn how to shoot underpar in qualifying, and then I had to learn how to shoot underpar in tournaments. Um, and then the you know, get over the nerves when I actually got in contention in a in a college tournament because this was a much bigger deal than high school.

Mike Gonzalez 14:13

Sure. Yeah. Sure. And you're talking about at a time when it's still uh still a little early on for mental coaches, right? I mean, there was the odd person that was still doing this, but uh that wasn't too common back then to to get outside help for for these mental issues that you were working through yourself.

Lee Janzen 14:30

Right. Um I think people were trying to figure out why Jack Nicholas was so good. Um I mean, it wasn't just that he he could overpower a golf course, he obviously was mentally very strong. So I I think that that that's what everybody was after was to figure out the mental side of the game, to emulate that, figure out what he was thinking about. Um so I think there might have been some books and some tape series, but yes, um, we know so much more now than we did then. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 14:58

How how big a how big a part of Jack's success was the mental side, Bruce? Because you played with him a lot.

Bruce Devlin 15:04

Oh, he was just uh He had the he had a great I think the greatest ability that he had was you could walk down the fairway with him and you could talk about anything, didn't matter what the subject was, he would, you know, interface with you. And then about fifteen yards from where his golf ball was, usually uh uh in front of mine, I might also say, but uh he he had the great ability to just turn it all off and um he reminds me a little bit of Bert Yancey who used to s you know have his caddy have a stopwatch and he'd say, When I pick the golf club up, I want to hit the golf ball in a certain number of seconds. And that sort of to me that related a little bit to Jack, too. He'd shut off all the conversation and then it was you know, what's in front of me now? Great ability.

Lee Janzen 15:58

And yeah, I I guess I asked Jack the question, that how did someone teach him that, or is that something he just figured out on his own?

Bruce Devlin 16:06

What did he say?

Lee Janzen 16:07

I don't know. I'd be a good question to ask him, right?

Bruce Devlin 16:10

Oh, I see. I thought you said you'd like to have asked me. Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't know. I don't have an answer to that too, but but but it sure was uh it was a trait that he had which was terrific.

Mike Gonzalez 16:23

Uh next time we have him on, Lee, we'll uh we'll ask that question and we'll pass along the answer to you.

Lee Janzen 16:28

I know he did say he never hit a shot till he was ready to hit it. Like knowing that he was gonna be successful when he hit it. That's when he then hit it.

Mike Gonzalez 16:36

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about your high school uh team experience then and uh and then uh sort of the process you went through in thinking what you're gonna do after high school.

Lee Janzen 16:46

Right. So I went to Lakeland High School. Um another thing that kind of helped me direct towards golf was I grew late when all my friends hit puberty early, or when you're supposed to. Um I did not. So I started high school, I was still four foot eleven in the tenth grade. Um I got my driver's license. I had uh an August birthday, so I I graduated from high school when I was 17, so I got my driver's license a junior year, and I can remember lying on my license saying I was 5'1. Um but then it grew. But anyway, uh Lakeland had a pretty good reputation as a good high school team. Uh we were perennial, the best in our district. We usually won the district, and we had a really good team. Um my junior year, we all had under par stroke averages, and I was the fourth guy. Wow. So we went to we we had high hopes about winning state. Um, and maybe our best player uh dove off a diving board and hit the bottom of the pool just hard enough to break his arm.

Mike Gonzalez 17:55

Oh my.

Lee Janzen 17:56

Um, so we we lost him, and then um his replacement didn't play great, and none of us played great either. So we had a fifth place finish, we were disappointed, but yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 18:07

Um play all four all four years.

Lee Janzen 18:13

Um yeah, we all it was high school, it was a three-year high school when I went.

Mike Gonzalez 18:16

Oh, gotcha. Okay.

Lee Janzen 18:17

So um I did play, I get to play on the golf team for three years and won to our district, my senior year, and which is another one of those moments driving to the golf course in the morning. Um the district was a big deal, and I don't know what particular put me in the right frame of mind, but I got to the golf course like it was the most important day, and I was ready to play.

Mike Gonzalez 18:39

Um I had I had that same experience back in about uh oh, let's see, probably would have been about 1971. I show up in uh the Belleville, Illinois area, and I'm ready to go. And uh Jay Haas throws a little 65 at me like it was nothing. See you, Mike. He probably could have given me a stroke of hole that day. Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 19:09

So what led to uh Florida Southern College after high school? Where was uh any thought of another college or like a larger college, or that was close to home, or what?

Lee Janzen 19:21

Yeah, um, so my junior year in high school in this in the middle of the year, I was in a car accident. Um pretty severe. Uh severed an artery in my right arm. So I was in the hospital for a week, and uh my arm was swollen pretty bad, so I I wasn't able really to do anything for a couple months. But our golf was in the spring, and I was able to at least get back and play on the golf team that year. Uh, but still it set me back a little bit. I missed uh out on some um junior events that I'd gotten invited to. Florida was going to play a match with Great Britain, and I had made the junior team to play that, and I missed out on that and missed out on a couple other junior events. So I felt like I missed out on some recruiting opportunities with colleges. Um, but I really wasn't interested in going to a big college, and I didn't help myself any with um reaching out to colleges either. I got letters from Yale. I think Yale sends letters to everybody. Um West Point, I think they send letters to everybody too. At least they did back then. Um but you know, uh in in the state of Florida, nobody really showed any interest. Um, so right before, about two weeks before school, I was planning on going to Brevard Junior College because they had um a good reputation of guys going there for a couple years and then moving on to a big school. So I thought that might be what would be perfect for me. Um I won a junior tournament local to Lakeland called the Billy Tomasello in Bartow.

Intro Music 20:55

Uh-huh.

Lee Janzen 20:55

It's actually a Donald Ross course. I didn't know it at the time, but um and the and Charlie Matlock at Florida Southern just thought I'd already had an offer somewhere else, so he didn't really recruit me in my hometown and said we still have some money left over if you're interested in Florida Southern. So literally within two weeks of school starting, I I wasn't even going to Florida Southern, and that's where I went. Oh my.

Mike Gonzalez 21:17

Interesting. So when in your high school career did you pretty much have it set in your mind that you did want to play college golf?

Lee Janzen 21:25

Um well, I go back to ninth grade. I wrote a report on the difference between a golf pro and a professional golfer. Well, there you go. And it was very slanted towards a professional golfer. So I had it in my head then that I wanted to be a professional golfer, so I had to go to college and play golf first.

Mike Gonzalez 21:41

Yeah. Yeah. Very interesting. Well, you had some success uh at Florida Southern. Uh you won the D two uh team championship both in 85 and 86. You must have had a few good players around you, too.

Lee Janzen 21:53

Yes. Um so as I entered my freshman year, they were uh two time defending national champs. Uh Rocco Mediate had just transferred in. His school no longer played golf, and he thought Florida would be a great place to go. And Marco Dawson was also on the team. Oh my. Boy. And we're all still playing together 40 years later. So yeah, there was quite a few good players on the team. It was a tough team to crack my freshman year. And then the sophomore year, I learned how to qualify. Then I had to figure out how to play good in the tournaments, too. And then by the end of my sophomore year, I started getting a feel for that. We went to nationals. Being a Florida boy, we played at Erie and it was cold. Like it takes the cold a lot better back then than I do now.

Mike Gonzalez 22:44

Yeah, I think that's true of all of us. So yeah.

Lee Janzen 22:47

But the last four tournaments, I you know, our conference, our district, our regional and nationals, I ended up uh low man on the team each time. Um ahead of Rocco. And Rocco was a first team All-American Division II. But um, so I I had made great improvement, even my sophomore year.

Mike Gonzalez 23:08

Yeah, medalist at that uh at that national championship in 1986. Uh you got a chance while in college to play the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills.

Lee Janzen 23:19

Yes. So um trying to think if I tried qualifying before. That might have been the first time I tried qualifying. Um played the local at Disney World, and the sectional was at Bay Hill.

Intro Music 23:31

Yeah.

Lee Janzen 23:33

Um hot day. I think it was 100 degrees. Uh we had a rain delay somewhere in the middle of the second round. Uh not unusual in Florida that time of year. Right. I was in the very last group, and there was a kind of a group waiting on 18 to see how I finished because if I parred, um, I would be in a playoff. Of course, we don't you don't know any of the scores.

Intro Music 23:57

Yeah. Yeah.

Lee Janzen 23:58

Um, so 17 and 18 at Bahill back then. Yeah, that was a one iron and a driver one iron.

Bruce Devlin 24:04

Pretty, pretty tough finish right there. Yeah.

Lee Janzen 24:07

Uh no, that one iron's probably today's three iron.

Mike Gonzalez 24:11

Um or five iron. I don't know. Yeah.

Lee Janzen 24:14

And you know, the ball just didn't go as far back then. And Bahill was a pretty good golf course. So I ended up in a playoff with um Woody Blackburn. No, I'm sorry, it was Mike Blackburn, his brother. Lee Rinker, another brother. Sure, yeah. Yeah. Um, Jay Overton, great club pro player, Mark McCumber, oh boy, and myself. A 19-year-old kid from Florida Southern. For one spot? No, it was five for four.

Mike Gonzalez 24:40

Oh five for four, okay. All right.

Lee Janzen 24:42

So I'm sure they all looked at me and thought I'd be the one that wouldn't make it.

Mike Gonzalez 24:45

Yeah.

Lee Janzen 24:46

Um. So after three holes, three of the spots were gone, and it was just Mark McCumber and I for the last spot.

Bruce Devlin 24:56

I'll be done.

Lee Janzen 24:57

And we had to come back the next morning and play the fourth hole. So this configuration of Bahill, number one was a par five. My tea box was way back by the clubhouse, and then number four number four was a par four. Ah. So um, anyway, I was just off the edge of the green and he hit in the bunker and almost made his bunker shot, and I chipped in. Um, and that was it.

Mike Gonzalez 25:21

Oh my. Oh my. So you turn up at Oakland Hills, and and of course, uh, as Bruce can attest, we've talked about that venue a lot on the podcast because we've talked about everybody that's won a tournament there probably over the years. In this particular year, it was Andy North uh over TC Chen, among others, uh TC with the famous two chip that year. But uh uh what do you remember about just showing up on the range uh that first time that week and looking around and saying, what am I what am I doing here? Huh?

Lee Janzen 25:54

Yes. Um yeah, talk about being a deer in headlights. Um just from walking in the locker room and seeing people in the locker room that I've been watching on TV. Uh, you know, it's kind of a surprise to get there and make it. So it wasn't like I was expecting to be around these guys. Um, Al K-line, great Detroit Tiger player. Sure. Well, he spent his winters in Lakeland at my home club. Uh super nice guy. So I got to know him some, and he volunteered that week in the locker room. So I was happy that I had somebody in the locker room look after me.

Mike Gonzalez 26:30

Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure he did.

Lee Janzen 26:33

So that was helpful. My college roommate lived about a mile from the course, and he ended up caddying for me, and I stayed at his house. So there was uh a couple comfortable things about the week, but the golf course was not comfortable, it was very tough. I had never played anything like that before. Uh growing up in Florida, I'd never played on greens even remotely like that. Um, and that was probably my biggest challenge. Um the USGA for some reason put me in a group. I played right behind Jack Nicholas. Um Jack Nicholas and Hal Sutton and Scott Verplank. And then the group behind me was Fuzzy Ziller, Sebi Balisteros, and Sam Randolph.

Bruce Devlin 27:17

And you were in the middle.

Lee Janzen 27:18

Wow. Yeah. Um, so those six players were around me. I might not have exactly who was who, but I know Nicholas played in front of me because I was on the putting green the first day. And when he left the putting green to go to the first tee, and it was only about a 25-yard walk, just gobs of people lined on both sides. The cheer he got, I almost couldn't even go to the first tee myself. I'm like, oh my gosh. Yeah, how am I gonna even tee off? Like, I thought I had a good game plan about where I was gonna hit it off the first T. And then once that happened, I'm like, I just hope I get it in the air.

Mike Gonzalez 27:57

The game plan just went right out the window. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm looking at the first and second round leaderboard. I don't see Lee Jansen anywhere.

Lee Janzen 28:06

Nope. You didn't. You might want to start on the other end of the list.

Mike Gonzalez 28:10

On the other end. Yeah. But you know, you mentioned a couple of guys, uh top 10 now, as I look at the the the finishers. You mentioned Fuzzy, he was in the top 10, and you mentioned Sevy, he finished uh T5, so they were they were right there that year.

Lee Janzen 28:26

Yes. Um an interesting thing happened during the tournament, number 12, par five. Um, ABC was covering the tournament at the time. And I don't know if you remember, they always had that balloon at the golf course they used to bounce off the TV signal, I believe.

Intro Music 28:43

Yeah.

Lee Janzen 28:44

Well, the wind started whipping, and they didn't have enough weight to hold the balloon in one spot. So the thing was blowing across the big open field, and the balloon ended up right over the 12th green and was crashing down into the trees behind the green. And I'm like, I can't hit with that going on, and I can hear fuzzy behind because the wind was blowing that direction. Like, come on, kid, hit the ball. Oh boy. Just what you needed. What do I do? You know, it's it was already nerve-wracking enough. I didn't need that.

Mike Gonzalez 29:18

Yeah, I bet. Did you stay for the weekend?

Lee Janzen 29:20

I did, and I went out and watched.

Mike Gonzalez 29:22

Yeah.

Lee Janzen 29:23

Um, Curtis Strange was if he wasn't number one in the world, he was close to it. Um, and I used a ping zing too because of him.

Intro Music 29:31

Okay.

Lee Janzen 29:32

Um I'd say in college I used a lot of different putters because I had a habit of breaking them. But um, I did like ping zing too.

Mike Gonzalez 29:40

Just accidentally, of course.

Lee Janzen 29:42

Yeah, accidentally. Yeah. Um so I yeah, I went out and watched him play some. It's very hard watching golf when the crowds are that big. Yeah. Yeah. Um and then watched a lot of it on TV. Um the weather wasn't great. It was June, but you would have thought it was in the fall in Michigan. Um, I remember sweaters were the common thing to win. But I I was uh it did hit me watching Andy North win it, that you didn't have to be perfect to win a golf tournament. Um that was the big thing I took away from that.

Bruce Devlin 30:17

He and you uh both have something in common as well. Both won two US Open Championships. Andy North and Lee Janssen. Pretty special.

Mike Gonzalez 30:30

Yeah, and Curtis as well. Of course, we visited with those guys and talked at length about this tournament, you know, and in particular with uh with Andy, obviously. Uh, but what an experience for a for a youngster to you know to get that first taste of whoa, this is the big leagues here.

Lee Janzen 30:46

Yes, I got to play a practice round with Ben Crenshaw. He was a family friend of my college roommate, um, a master's winner from the year before. So that was just great to hear the advice. Um, he said take a little steeper angle in the rough. Um, you know, try and stay below the hole. You know, I I was thinking a little bit more simple was just get it in the air. Don't make a fool of myself. But yes, um, you know, finishing, I don't know, I I may have beaten one or two guys in the field. I don't think I finished dead last. At least that's not my memory of it. But you know, that that scenes sounds like a failure, but there was so much I learned that had an impact on me going forward. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 31:30

So so that particular experience, um, how did it weigh uh uh in on your ultimate decision to want to do this for a living?

Lee Janzen 31:38

I was ready immediately. So um give me more and I I really thought the regular progression was I qualify for the U.S. Open in 85, I'd qualify again in 86 and win.

Bruce Devlin 31:52

Well that's a hell of a good habit.

Lee Janzen 31:55

I see I didn't even qualify.

Mike Gonzalez 31:57

I was gonna say, I I see a gap in your record from 1985 until your next open in 1991 in Hazeltine.

Lee Janzen 32:03

So yes. Um, I did try qualifying every year though, but you know, Jack Nicholas was the standard. He was winning majors at age 21, and I was getting to be close to that age. I better step it up.

Intro Music 32:13

Yeah.

Lee Janzen 32:13

Uh forget that I wasn't even on tour yet.

Mike Gonzalez 32:17

So speaking of tour, then let's uh let's go through that decision process. You perhaps your family, coaches, others would have gone through to say, okay, uh graduation is upon me. What's the plan?

Lee Janzen 32:29

Right. So um my schooling, uh, my freshman era was my student. Um, I would not have made first team All-American student in my first year. I failed two classes. I had to go to summer school, take two classes, uh, get my hours back up and my GPA up high enough to be eligible to play golf. Um valuable lesson I learned. Um I then was a much better student. But by the time my senior year ended, I still needed eight hours to graduate. Uh my eligibility was up. Uh, my term pro immediately after college ended. And then I went to I went back in the fall, took three classes, graduated while I went to tour school. Um, I didn't get through, but uh when I graduated, that next morning was the best day ever because I got up early and went to the golf course and knew I never had to go back to class. I could just go out to the golf course and play golf all day, every day if I wanted to.

Mike Gonzalez 33:28

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 33:49

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. And it's time to just like just smack off line. It had it for two, but it flipped off line. My headaches, as long as you're still in the stage, okay.