Lee Janzen - Part 4 (Senior Tour and Life After Golf)

In the final chapter of our four-part conversation with two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen, we explore the deeper reflections and enduring values that have shaped his remarkable life in and beyond golf. Lee shares candid insights into the transition from the PGA Tour to the Champions Tour, the physical and mental adjustments required, and the motivations that keep him competitive today.

We hear entertaining stories of his playoff victories, including dramatic moments with Bart Bryant and Miguel Ángel Jiménez, and a memorable double hole-in-one moment with Scott McCarron that had everyone talking. Lee also opens up about his love for skiing, his passion for pickleball, and the importance of maintaining health and fitness to continue chasing new goals — like reaching the milestone of 1,000 professional events.

Beyond the trophies and tournaments, Lee reflects on his commitment to giving back, notably through his long-standing involvement with College Golf Fellowship, where he’s impacted the lives of many young players. As always, we close with our signature three questions, offering Lee the chance to share what he would have done differently, the Mulligan he'd love to take, and most importantly, how he hopes to be remembered.

Join us for a heartfelt and inspiring conclusion to Lee Janzen’s story — a testament to resilience, faith, friendship, and the timeless values that define a true champion.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to push the state.

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

So did you, as you're as you're kind of winded down your regular uh career, did you really back off much of the playing schedule leading up to turning 50 and going on to the champions tour?

Lee Janzen 0:27

I still played uh when I could. Um playing out of the past champion category. Um I could get in certain events, um, get an exemption here or there, even Monday qualified, which I did a handful of times. Um yeah, I qualified at Hartford a couple times and qualified in New Orleans one time. I made double on my first hole of a Monday qualifier. That's a terrible way to start a Monday qualifier, especially when it's a sprint. Boy, yeah. Um, but I buried the next six holes, so turned things around.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Yeah.

Lee Janzen 0:59

Um you never know how those things are gonna go.

Mike Gonzalez 1:03

Yeah. Uh yeah. Well we'll we'll we'll mention your playoff record really quickly because it's a good one. Uh and it's unusual. So, you know, you're you're one and oh in in PGA tour playoffs. And I have to say that uh you're you're you're better than most of the other 105 uh major champions and Hall of Famers that we've talked to, right, Bruce?

Bruce Devlin 1:25

Absolutely. We we always tell our great players that uh uh what would you what would you think the odds are winning a playoff? What percentage do you think?

Lee Janzen 1:38

They should be it should be 50-50.

Mike Gonzalez 1:41

Yeah, yeah. I guess I I guess what he's getting at is if you look at the playoff records of these 105 champions that we've interviewed, right? Right. What what do you think the winning percentage is of those elite players in playoffs?

Lee Janzen 1:55

Oh well, I I get the feeling that because you're asking this question, we've led you to perceptive that it's not as that's it's not even fifty percent. It is not, but you would it's about 43%. I think 75%. Yeah. Yeah, 75% would be a logical guess, right?

Mike Gonzalez 2:12

Yeah, yeah. 43%. Yeah.

Lee Janzen 2:15

Wow. So it'd be even worse if you didn't interview me. That'd be right.

Mike Gonzalez 2:19

Exactly. I mean, uh when I redo the stats, we've got to tick it up a notch. But it it does show that you know, when you adjust for multiplayer playoffs, you know, more than two, it probably is a just a 50-50 deal. Yeah. The greatest players that have ever played. Yeah.

Lee Janzen 2:38

Yeah. Um, you can be on the wrong side of a 40-footer, easy. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 2:46

Kathy Whitworth, 8 and 20, you know, greatest woman player ever.

Lee Janzen 2:51

28 playoffs, though. That's impressive.

Mike Gonzalez 2:54

Uh yeah. Um Ben Crenshaw. Oh and eight. Wow. It's not surprising to see some of the numbers, you know. Uh, but anyway, that's just our little story on playoffs. Let's just spin through some of the majors really quickly. I want to talk about your master's experience. You had a chance to to to play in uh in several masters, starting in '92 was your first one, I think, when Freddie won and and uh played at least through 2003. Uh tell us about Augusta. How did it suit your game and and what was that experience like?

Lee Janzen 3:29

Um, well, it didn't disappoint. I mean, just watching it on TV, hearing about it, and getting to go there for my first time, it was amazing. Um and playing it. I got to play with Tom Watson my last round of 92. Oh my. Oh, that was pretty cool. We weren't threatening to do anything, but you know, I got to go out Sunday morning and play with him and go home and watch all of the masters on TV. That's a pretty good day.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Yeah, that's a great day.

Lee Janzen 3:55

Um 93 was much better. I was tied for the lead after the first day. That's when they repaired. We played two's and they repaired every day. Now they, you know, they have threesomes and keep the same group both days. I was last off on Friday with Jack Nicholas. Um I I think that also had an impact on me a few months later at the US Open because that was nerve-wracking. Um you know, he is a hero, right? And and the fan hero. Um, and I made some rookie mistakes. Um, I hit it over the green on one and made a double. And I walked this next hole. I was just thinking that was just a perfect rookie mistake to make on Friday playing in the last group with Jack Nobles. Way to go. Yeah, yeah. Um, but just watching how calm he was and how his demeanor was was great watching. You know, that was seven years removed, so he's 53. Yeah. From you know, still a great golfer. Yeah. Um, so uh I got I played pretty good the first two days of the Masters, most of those years. Yeah. So that was about it. Well you had to shut off. It was somehow I just didn't quite figure out the golf course the way I needed to. Uh 99 was probably my best chance uh as far as uh I had to lead at some point Saturday afternoon um playing with Greg Norman in the last group. And then um I don't know what I would have needed to shoot on Sunday, but he and Olatho played incredible on the back nine Sunday, I think maybe with 31 and 32 or whatever, so they would have been very hard to catch from anybody.

Mike Gonzalez 5:40

Yeah.

Lee Janzen 5:41

And I probably went the other way.

Mike Gonzalez 5:43

Yeah. Well, uh I I had alluded earlier when you were talking about your uh your U.S. Open with Olympic Club. I I wanted Bruce to mention his experience with Ben Hogan, uh, which Bruce will have you do, but before that, why don't you just tell Lee about your experience uh at your first Masters with Mr. Hogan, 30 years before Mr. Jansen played in his first masters?

Bruce Devlin 6:05

Well, I was fortunate enough. I think Lee I might be the only player that ever turned down an invitation to the Gus to the Masters. Uh it might be. I yeah, I think so. I won the Australian Open as an amateur and got an invitation, but I had no money, so I couldn't go. And then uh then I then I turned pro and uh got an invitation again the next year, so I got to go to the uh 62 Masters. And my coach back then, Norman V Norman von Neider, was with me, and we walked in the locker room together, and Mr. Hogan was sitting in front of his locker putting his shoes on, and Norman walked up and he said, Uh Ben, would you would you like to play around with my young friend from Australia? And uh he said, sure. So my very first round at Augusta was walking on the practice tee, walking on the first T in a practice round with with Mr. Hogan. That was that was uh how about that that was a nervous experience, I could tell you. Yeah. So it was quite yeah, it was quite a quite a relationship that we had together over the years before he retired. And uh was a great gentleman.

Mike Gonzalez 7:33

Bruce, just uh quickly mention your trip with uh the Hogans and uh you and Gloria to uh that uh 66 US Open.

Bruce Devlin 7:41

Yeah, talk about the Arnold Palmer Billy Casper debacle there at Olympic Club. Well Mr. Hogan and his wife Valerie and Gloria and myself flew out there together and stayed at the Top of the Mark Hotel and went to the golf course every day together, played practice rounds together. It was just a just a fabulous, uh fabulous week for for both of us really to get to know the Hogans so closely, you know. Uh dinner with them every night, just about, but it was it was fun time. Yeah. Super guy.

Mike Gonzalez 8:14

That that that first dinner, the first night, Bruce uh gets up the nerve to ask him about what happened with the car wreck. Yeah. And Bruce, it took him how many dinners to finish.

Bruce Devlin 8:27

It took him, it took him uh until the end of dinner on Tuesday night to complete the story about walking up to win the open uh two years later. So it was uh it was a remarkable, uh, remarkable couple of nights.

Lee Janzen 8:42

Anyhow. Yeah, so yeah, Hogan and I have a couple things in common there. We both had bad car accidents and won the U.S. Open after.

Bruce Devlin 8:49

That's right, yeah, that's right.

Lee Janzen 8:51

And there's one more thing we have in common.

Bruce Devlin 8:53

Uh-huh.

Lee Janzen 8:54

Um, I had hernia surgery in 1994. I went to Long Beach. Dr. Carol Bellis invented the surgery, and he said, Come out a day early, we'll do a consultation. Uh, get there, and he says, You're a professional golfer. I go, Yeah. He goes, Well, in the late 40s, I operated on a professional golfer. I went, Ben Hogan? He goes, Yes, Ben Hogan.

Bruce Devlin 9:14

Wow.

Lee Janzen 9:15

So 40, yeah, 45 years later, he gave me the same surgery.

Bruce Devlin 9:22

Small world, isn't it? That's great. Yeah, that's great.

Mike Gonzalez 9:26

Well, let's talk about the open championship a little bit. Uh uh, you had a chance to play in the open. I think your first open was at Muirfield in '92, and uh uh that's always fun for Americans to go over there. Of course, you did it in an era where the money counted, there was more money to be had. You know, back when Bruce was playing, a lot of guys didn't make that trip because it wasn't worth it.

Lee Janzen 9:47

Yeah. Right. I don't know why we didn't count that. That was just seems silly. Yeah. That that wouldn't be counted as an official tournament on our tour.

Mike Gonzalez 9:55

But yeah, it didn't count and they didn't pay much. I mean, you had to win, or you you weren't gonna break even. Yeah.

Lee Janzen 10:00

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 10:01

Yeah. Well, which venues, open venues, were your favorites?

Lee Janzen 10:06

Um, well, Muirfield I loved. That was being my first one. Um, and we stayed in the hotel, the Marine Hotel, which was on North Berwick. Yeah. Um, and I remember I played the Scottish Home the week before, and we came down and you open up the window to look out back, and I see this golf course, and I was just amazed. I'd never seen anything like it. Yeah. Um, but I love I walked it and I loved walking it and seeing all the things, and I can see how it has influenced so many golf course designers since then. Yeah, yeah. Um, St. Andrews was great. Turnberry, I thought was fantastic. Um, those would probably be the the top three. Yeah. Uh Brookdale was also great. Yeah, that's a big yeah. Carnusty was just so tough. I don't know that enjoying 20-something over par over four days. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 10:56

And and St. George's as well, where you just got to accept what the course gives you because you're going to get some quirky bounces out there.

Lee Janzen 11:03

Right. Um, it's always fun watching that tournament because the ball bounds into the rough and nobody seems to be too bothered by it. Yeah. Um, where it is such a premium hidden in the fairway at a U.S. major.

Mike Gonzalez 11:16

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh if you if you talk about the PGA championship, you probably your best chance was uh what, what'd you say at Wingfoot? 97.

Lee Janzen 11:25

Um I was I was in great shape there, um leading after two days. I got off to a slow start and then caught fire.

Mike Gonzalez 11:34

Yeah.

Lee Janzen 11:34

I think I was four over after eight, and then at some point I might have been eight under.

Mike Gonzalez 11:38

Little 66, 66 finish.

Lee Janzen 11:41

And then yeah, and then birdied uh or bogeyed my last two holes on Friday. But anyway, uh Davis Love and Justin Leonard went lights out on Sunday or on the weekend. So um, you know, it used to be a major, whatever the halfway score was. That was probably pretty close to what was gonna win.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Yeah, yeah.

Lee Janzen 12:01

Um, and they may have been 12 under. I think Davis shot 12 under, possibly to win. Yeah, I don't remember what his score was. So I would have had to play even better on the weekend than I did the first two days.

Mike Gonzalez 12:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lee Janzen 12:13

But I got it got me picked for the Rodder Cup because I played with Tom Kite on Sunday and Birdie's 18. And his first response was, Well, you just took money out of my pocket, I'm not gonna pick you now.

Mike Gonzalez 12:29

Uh well, let's let's take you th take our listeners through the sort of the transition then, Lee, from uh uh regular tour and then and then sort of, you know, what do you do mentally, physically to prepare for turning 50 and uh maybe making it a go on the champions tour?

Lee Janzen 12:47

Right. Um well I asked a lot of questions of John Cook because he'd already been playing on the champions tour. Um and he'll, I'm sure, I don't know if he remembers all the questions I asked him, but I asked a lot. Um course setup, just whatever. Just um as I got on the north side of 45, I still felt strong physically, although I had to deal with the just the common aches and pains of the car accident. I just there were their exercises I could do to keep it away. Um but when you turn 48, you can play the Corn Ferry tour for two years leading up to the champions tour, unless you're exempt on the regular tour. So I was still getting in you know, 15 events on the regular tour. Um, I would have preferred to play more, and I would have preferred to play a lot better than I was playing. Um so my game wasn't great, but I was trying and I was working on it. Um, but it was exciting, turning 50 and moving on to the champions tour. Um, my last event on the regular tour was in Greensboro, and I played with Brooks Kepka the last day. And he was out driving me with a hybrid. Um, 60. He saw 64. I'm telling you, it could have been a 59, like it was nothing. Um and it was really that hit me then as my last tournament before I turned 50, was like I he just did me a favor. He he got me to realize that I need to go play with people my age who hit it my distance. Um, so yeah, then I made my debut and uh played six tournaments at the end of 2014, played Pebble Beach again, um which was great. Um so I played it on the regular tour and then on the champions tour in the same year. Getting to go to Pebble Beach twice in a year was great.

Mike Gonzalez 14:37

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, it didn't take you long. You come out and win the 2015 Ace Group Classic in a playoff, and we didn't count your two champions tour playoffs in your playoff rush, but uh you won both tournaments on the champions tour and playoffs, the first one uh over uh Bart Bryant.

Lee Janzen 14:57

Um, yeah, so the end of 2014 helped me get a taste of the champions tour, and then the couple months off helped me get ready for the next year. I went to Boca. Um that was my first turn of the year with high hopes. Didn't play well, didn't score well. Um I actually was doing everything pretty well, so it's a two-hour drive from Boca to Naples, so I got to stew about all the mistakes I made, and I just felt like if I could just cut my mistakes in half, I could play well. Yeah. Um so you know, Naples went well. Um I made lots of birdies, hits lots of good shots, and um with eight holes to play, I was in great shape to win the tournament. Um I bogey 12 and couldn't make a putt after that for Birdie. I kept hitting it close, like 10 feet every hole. Miss, miss, miss, miss, miss. And finally got to 18 and I needed Birdie to get in the playoff and made about a 10-footer to get in the playoff.

Mike Gonzalez 15:52

So I don't know if you if your experience is like a lot of the guys we've talked to, but Bruce, uh, you you remember a lot of these guys coming on the senior tour thinking it was going to be easy. Easy, yeah. A lot of guys did. Yeah. And they realized, man, these guys can play. They can still play. Yeah.

Lee Janzen 16:10

Yeah, it takes three good days to win. Yeah. Um little adjustment playing three rounds instead of four. But uh, you know, you just have to execute and play good golf every day. So, you know, it getting off to a slow start the first day is a little harder to come back from on the champions tour. Yes, uh Bart Bryant shot a 62 on Sunday, and that was who I had the burdy 18 to tie at the at the ace. Um but he had been done for a while, and I don't know how loose he was, but um he was waiting for me on 18T. We, you know, signed the scorecards, they took me back up there, and um, I just played the hole. Um, I think the wind changed ever slightly though, because I had nine iron in in the regulation, and he hit it in the water on a second shot, and I think it was into the wind, and it was not into the wind when he played it earlier, so I think that threw him off.

Mike Gonzalez 17:03

Yeah, yeah. Well, you got your la you got your last win about three and a half years ago at the SAS championship. Uh, this again was in a playoff with Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Lee Janzen 17:12

Yes. Um a little bit of a surprise to get in the playoff, um, actually. Um I played good, very well the first two days. Um was playing well Sunday. I don't know that I was really paying attention to the leaderboard, but I think I thought I was more than a couple shots back. I had a chance to birdie 17 and missed a pretty simple five-foot straight and uphill putt. Um, and then had about a 25-foot on 18. And I made that and we signed our scorecards, and I looked at the leaderboard and thought, well, somebody's gonna make Birdie and go ahead of me. So, but I went and secluded myself, so I didn't talk about it or anything, and they had to come find me in the locker room. I said, Hey, you're gonna be in a playoff. I'll go, okay, I'll go out there and hit a few putts. Let's go.

Mike Gonzalez 17:59

Yeah, yeah. Well, so uh bring us up to speed these days. How much are you playing? What else is occupying your time? What other interests do you have that's uh taking up a bit of your time as well?

Lee Janzen 18:11

Right. Um well sitting dangling out there, I just figured I should have something to shoot for. Um if I play a pretty full schedule on the champions tour over the next five years, I can get to a thousand events combined. Is that right? PGA Tour Champions Tour. It has been done, um, but not many have done it. So, but I got to stay healthy to do it, and I gotta be fairly competitive to do it too. And I, you know, I don't want to play them. I'm gonna finish 60th every week. Yeah, yeah. Um, there's gotta be at least a little bit of hope there. Um so I still work at it really hard, go to the gym all the time, and I still think that I can compete. And there are certain tournaments that I can compete better than other ones. Um, all you gotta do is look at Bernhardt longer. He doesn't hit it as far as I do, not that I hit it far, but he's very accurate and he's clutch, and he's got a good short game, and he makes the butts he needs to make. So there's a formula for me to win. Correct. So that's what I gotta do. I gotta be better at certain areas, and that's what I'll strive for. And um, if I get to a thousand, that'll be great, and that'd be a great way to say goodbye. Um but I I still like playing. I I don't like feeling hurt or injured or struggling to just to hit the ball, but I I really like playing and seeing golf courses and traveling. Yeah, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 19:35

So what what else occupies your time? What are the things you into?

Lee Janzen 19:38

Besides gym, well, I like playing pickleball. Uh people don't think that's a good idea. Well, um, but it's good to be athletic and keep moving. Um, I love snow skiing, I don't get to do that nearly enough, but now living in Michigan, um, I did go skiing um locally, which I didn't think I'd ever do.

Mike Gonzalez 19:59

But yes, um most people would go up to Boyne Mountain or something in Michigan, right? Yeah, yeah.

Lee Janzen 20:05

I may uh we may have to do that, go over up and spend the night.

Mike Gonzalez 20:08

Yeah.

Lee Janzen 20:09

Sounds like a deal.

Mike Gonzalez 20:10

I think when I when I turned 50, which was probably the last time I snow skied, I'd go down the hill and I'd see my golf career just flash before my eyes.

Lee Janzen 20:19

Well, there have been a couple professional golfers who have injuries from skiing. Craig Stadler's one of them, and um, he got hit from behind. So now I keep a head on a swivel. I look up behind me all the time to see if there's anybody flying down the hill.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Yeah.

Lee Janzen 20:35

Um, and I try and keep gaps to make sure I don't fly up on anybody else that doesn't see me coming and something happens. Um yeah, I try and be careful, but you know, it you know, you fall the wrong way and you can get injured. But skiing is a lot of fun.

Mike Gonzalez 20:50

Yeah, and and of course, when I was skiing uh when I was younger, there weren't any small snowboards out there. Now it's a little different deal, isn't it, with the mixed skiers and snowboarders.

Lee Janzen 20:59

Yeah. I prefer to go where there aren't snowboarders. Um it seems like there's only one way to snowboard, and that's all out. Um I don't snowboard, so I don't know, but everybody seems to be flying when they snowboard. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 21:12

All right. One thing I've been wanting to talk to you about and ask you about, I didn't know where it came in your career, but I seem to remember uh something involving you and Scotty McCarran at the Fax and Andrade event. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, and I've talked about it before. But it's a fairly fairly rare occurrence.

Lee Janzen 21:35

Yes, extremely rare. Um so making a hole in one's a big deal, you know, especially when there's a prize, right? So we knew that the hole in one on 17 would get a car. On 16, my partner Jim Furick, I said to him, I said, we need to birdie this hole so we have the honors next. Hole. He goes, Why? I go, Well, we don't want to take a chance that they make a hole in one before we do. Because the sign. Clearly said the first pro to make a hole in one gets a car. So anyway, I birdie 16, we get the honors. Jim hits, and then I hit and it goes in. I hit a draw and it bounced and spun left and went in. Um, you know, talking to Billy Andre, the co-host, later, he's playing with Jack Nicholas, and they're, you know, on the other side of the golf course. And Jack goes, that's a hole in one. Um don't let him listen to this. I don't want him to think I'm imitating him.

Mike Gonzalez 22:33

No, but you know what? I'll tell you what, you're not as good as Tom Watson as doing a Jack Nicholas impression of.

Lee Janzen 22:38

We'll say that. Um, anyway, Billy's like, really? How do you know that? And he goes, I've been around, I know that. So McCarron hits and goes in right on top of me. And now pandemonium, it gives even more bonkers. So now they're like, Well, I don't know. Was that a hole in one or not? Because there goes another, something crazy must be going on. Now they're thinking that maybe there was a streaker. Um, I don't know. Something wild going on. But yes, and then Tim Heron's rolling around on the ground, and we walk off the tee, and I put my arm around Scott and I said, Hey, would you read that sign for me? He was devastated because he thought he'd want a car.

Mike Gonzalez 23:19

Oh my. So they didn't break down and uh and offer up a second car to him then, huh?

Lee Janzen 23:24

No, they did, they gave him a card to him. They gave him. But it was fun making him think he wasn't going to get a car. Yeah, that's great.

Mike Gonzalez 23:30

That's that's a good story. Well, what one other thing uh we'd probably like to talk about, I know you've been into um involved with uh uh college golf fellowship. Uh tell us a little bit about that involvement.

Lee Janzen 23:44

Right. I got introduced to it through Paul Stankowski. Um when I first met the guys of College Golf Fellowship, there were just four of them on staff. Um Rick Massingel actually helped get them start, a longtime tour player. Uh Brad Payne, Stephen Bunn, Corky Kemp, and Steve Burdick were the four. Um and they Brad asked me if I'd want to host a retreat because Paul Stankowski had already done it a few times. So we said yes, invited them to our house. So it was between 40 and 50 college golfers come stay with you for four days. Um they bring in a teacher, so they do a quick Bible study morning and night, and in between, we do all kinds of things between flag football, uh playing around a golf, basketball. I had a basketball court in my house, so with lots of basketball, had ping pong pool, had a pool, had a side yard, we had a ball for four days. Um as much of an impact as it had on all those kids, it had a great impact on me, too. Um so we hosted for nine years before moving to a smaller house. Um, but lots of uh professional golfers on today's tour have taken up that mantle and host retreats. So um I get the newsletters and I keep up with them. Um and quite a few of the guys who went on and played professionally, I still am friends with um that stayed at my house. So um there's still a contact there. Great. Yeah, that's that's neat.

Mike Gonzalez 25:09

I I think uh Bruce would agree. One of the more poignant moments of the interviews we've done came when Bernhard Longer shared his experience of getting introduced at um at Harvard Town at that tournament, uh right after the first master's win to the tour Bible study, Larry Moody and that group, and and uh and and then his faith journey. Yeah. Quite quite interesting.

Lee Janzen 25:33

I've been to many studies with Bernhard and heard the story many times too. He's a faithful man, yes, he is.

Mike Gonzalez 25:40

Yeah, he really is. Well, listen, as we kind of wrap up your story, Lee, uh Bruce and I, as you may know, like to finish with the same three questions. And so we've asked these three questions 105 times to Nicholas and Plair and Trevino and you name it. And uh so you get your chance. And uh because Bruce has got me by a few years, I always give him the honor for the first question.

Bruce Devlin 26:05

By a few is correct. Yeah. So Lee, here's here's my first question. If you uh knew when you first started on the tour what you know now, what would you do differently?

Lee Janzen 26:24

What would I do differently? You could go to one moment in time, so I would get in a different lane and not get in a car accident, but I'm assuming that that's not one of the things I could do. Um, how would I prepare myself differently? I guess would be the best way to ask that question. Um I would be more health conscious uh starting out. Uh sleep would be important, training would be important, uh, mobility would be important. Um, I don't think that I would spend as much time practicing, although I love to do it. It wasn't like I did it because it was a burden. I love doing the practice. I probably would I would want to practice more efficiently. Um as we went through the years, you learn how to practice more efficiently, spend more time on the areas of the game that need more time, short game, putting, driving. Um instead of just hitting balls with irons on the range for hours because you know it's you hit what 12 iron shots a day, or well, you know, maybe a little bit more than that, but uh you driver almost all day long and you're gonna chip and you're gonna putt every day. So if you excel at those three areas, you're gonna be good.

Mike Gonzalez 27:34

And maybe uh treat your putters with more kindness.

Lee Janzen 27:37

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 27:38

Um yeah, that's crazy.

Lee Janzen 27:43

When I was uh younger before I ever got on tour, the amount of clubs I broke when I didn't have the money to repair them, then I had to repair them, then I got on tour and they're free to repair. I quit breaking them.

Mike Gonzalez 27:52

There you go. Yeah, I wouldn't break them as a kid, but man, there were a lot of whirly birds flying, I'll tell you. You know, but you know, the kids do that. Okay, second question. We're gonna give you one career mulligan, one do over, where do you take it? Wow.

Lee Janzen 28:12

Well, you'd think that all automatically that would end up in a win, right? So where would I want to win? Um, the 98 players championship, that one bothered me for quite some time. Um where would the mulligan be? Is it was it a whole just one shot? No, just a shot.

Mike Gonzalez 28:36

Yeah, just one shot. Would one shot in your career make a difference somewhere that you can that you kind of remember that you'd like to have over? That'd make a difference.

Lee Janzen 28:46

That is a good question. Because at the time you'd put so much weight into good and bad on one shot, and then you look back over a career and like, did it really have that much of an effect?

Mike Gonzalez 28:56

Yeah. Um, Nicholas, just as an example, he didn't even give us one of his shots. He gave us three that somebody else took.

Bruce Devlin 29:03

Yeah. Which was interesting.

Mike Gonzalez 29:06

Which which hurt him, you know, which which were ones that went against him. Can you think of one that where it would have made a difference? In a big, you know, in a big deal. Might have been a regular tour event, but it could have been a major.

Lee Janzen 29:19

Gosh, that's a good good question. I don't know that I had one shot that really did me in. Uh you know, you could say it changed momentum, and from there on it would have been different, but yeah. I should you still have to hit all the other shots too. Um I can't think of one right now that would have made a huge impact on my career. I hit plenty of bad ones I'd like to hit over. There's nothing to do with that, you know. Now, Jack, he could say he didn't miss any shots. I missed plenty.

Bruce Devlin 29:53

All right. Well, we've had a good time talking with you today. There's one final question, and that is how would Lee Jansen like to be remembered?

Lee Janzen 30:06

Oh. Um Well, I'm very fortunate to have some very good friends, and ultimately my golf career, if they don't even mention that, that'll be fine. Uh being loved by others and having love for others um has been great. Um I really count myself very fortunate to have the friends I have.

Bruce Devlin 30:29

So we thank you for your time today, Lee. It's been a it's really been a pleasure having you with us and uh uh all of our folks that listen to for the good of the game, they love to hear how all you great players grew up, whether you were in the game originally or not, and we thank you for your time today. It's been terrific.

Lee Janzen 30:51

All right, thank you. I'm glad we finally got to do this.

Mike Gonzalez 30:53

Good. Well, so am I, Lee, and I I appreciate you taking the time to share your story. Uh, you've joined a lot of other greats, uh, and hopefully in a hundred years, little kids are gonna be listening to this Lee Jansen story. But we uh we really thank you for being so generous with your time.

Lee Janzen 31:09

Thank you.

Mike Gonzalez 31:11

Thank you for listening to another episode of 4 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.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

So long, everybody whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. And it's time to smack off line. It headed for two, but it flipped off line. It went smacked down the middle.