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Leonard Thompson
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EXEMPT STATUS: Top 31
on 2001 SENIOR TOUR Money List
FULL NAME: Leonard Stephen Thompson
HEIGHT: 6-1
WEIGHT: 220
BIRTHDATE: January 1, 1947
BIRTHPLACE: Laurinburg, NC
RESIDENCE: Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
FAMILY: Wife, Lea; Marti (6/7/67), Stephen (4/6/74);
two grandchilden
EDUCATION: Wake Forest University (1969)
SPECIAL INTERESTS: Fishing
TURNED PROFESSIONAL: 1970
JOINED TOUR: 1997
CLUB AFFILIATION: Pablo Creek Club, Jacksonville,
FL
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| PGA TOUR Victories |
| (3) 1974 Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic. 1977 Pensacola
Open. 1989 Buick Open. |
| SENIOR TOUR Victories |
| (3) 1998 Coldwell Banker Burnet Classic. 2000 State
Farm Senior Classic. 2001 Enterprise Rent-A-Car Match
Play Champ. |
| Current Year SENIOR PGA TOUR Money
and Positions |
| $92,225 (52) |
| Current Year SENIOR TOUR Best Finishes |
| T17--Verizon Classic; T24--Liberty Mutual Legends of
Golf |
| Current Year SENIOR TOUR Best Round |
| 65 at Round 2, ACE Group Classic |
| Best BUY.COM Finishes |
| 6--1996 NIKE Tallahassee Open. |
| Best 2001 SENIOR TOUR Finishes |
| 1--Enterprise Rent-A-Car Match Play Champ; T5--MasterCard
Championship; T7--BellSouth Senior Classic at Opryland,
FleetBoston Classic; T9--Verizon Classic |
| 2001 Season SENIOR TOUR |
| Tournaments Entered--31; in money--30; Top-10 finishes--5 |
| 2001 Season Highlights |
| Finished in the top 31 for the fourth straight year
and recorded an official win for the second consecutive
year...Claimed his third career SENIOR TOUR title when
he bested Vicente Fernandez 2-up in the finals of the
Enterprise Rent-A-Car Match Play Championship near St.
Louis in May. The victory was worth a career-best $300,000
and also avenged his loss to Fernandez in the finals of
the unofficial 2000 Chrysler Senior Match Play Championship
in Puerto Rico. Played 104 competitive holes on his way
to the victory near St. Louis, the most of any player
in the field...Moved past the $5 million mark in all-time
earnings when he won $12,123 at The Home Depot Invitational...In
addition to his victory, also had four other top-10 finishes,
including a T5 in the year's first event at the MasterCard
Championship, and a pair of T7s at the BellSouth Senior
Classic at Opryland and the FleetBoston Classic. Other
top-10 was T9 at the Verizon Classic near Tampa...Had
an impressive showing in the season-ending SENIOR TOUR
Championship at Gaillardia when he fired a closing-round
5-under-par 67 in windy conditions, the low round of the
day by two strokes, that jumped him from 25th to 14th
place in the final standings. |
| Career Highlights |
| 2000: Hit the $1-million mark for the first time in
his career when he finished T3 at the IR SENIOR TOUR Championship...Earned
$1,013,837 in 34 starts, nearly $400,000 more than he
won the previous year...Collected his second SENIOR TOUR
crown along the way when he ended almost a two-year victory
drought with win at the State Farm Senior Classic. Birdied
the third playoff hole to defeat Isao Aoki at Hobbit's
Glen near Columbia, MD...Lost in 19 holes to Vicente Fernandez
in the finals of the Chrysler Senior Match Play Challenge,
the week after the official season ended...Credited a
nutritionist and sports psychologist, Dr. Deborah Graham,
for his improved play after the start of May. 1999: Recorded
his two best efforts of the campaign in his first third
of the season...Closed with a final-round 66 at the Royal
Caribbean Classic to finish T3...Shot two rounds of 70
at Desert Mountain and eventually had a T3 at The Tradition
after the event was shortened to 36 holes...Also closed
with a 63 at the Kroger Senior Classic, his career-low
round on the SENIOR TOUR...Topped the SENIOR TOUR in Total
Eagles (13). 1998: Won the rain-shortened Coldwell Banker
Burnet Classic. Birdied the second hole of a sudden-death
playoff to defeat Isao Aoki for the title at Bunker Hills
GC...Official earnings of over $900,000 were more than
twice what he made in his rookie season and 14th-place
finish on the final money list was the highest standing
in his career. 1997: As a rookie, played in 30 events
and finished 40th on the money list with $384,806...Two
of those appearances were as a Monday qualifier (Toshiba
Senior Classic and Nationwide Championship)...Posted seven
top-10 finishes, with his best effort at the U.S. Senior
Open (T5) at Olympia Fields CC outside of Chicago. |
| Personal |
| Played collegiately at Wake Forest University, where
he was a teammate of Lanny Wadkins...Inducted into Wake
Forest Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997...Has worked with
instructor Jimmy Ballard...His hero is fellow Wake Forest
product Arnold Palmer...Was a standout high school basketball
player who turned down scholarship opportunities to play
college golf...His daughter is an attorney and his son
is a biomedical engineer. |
| SENIOR TOUR Playoff Record |
| 2-0 |
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