Lee Janzen

Lee Janzen spent most of his childhood in Baltimore, Md., where he played Little League baseball. When Janzen was 12, his father's company transferred him to Florida, and his parents started him in golf and tennis. He won his first golf tournament at age 15 as a Greater Tampa Junior Golf Association member. Janzen chose to attend Division II Florida Southern, where Rocco Mediate and Marco Dawson were teammates. In 1985 and 1986, Florida Southern won the Division II NCAA championship. Janzen was the individual medalist in 1986 and was a first-team All-American in 1985 and 1986. He turned professional later that same year. For two years, played on mini-tour events, and was the leading money-winner on the U.S. Golf Tour in 1989. At the end of 1989, he finished T-10th at PGA Tour Q-School, which helped get him on the PGA Tour in 1990. He was good enough to keep his tour card, winning for the first time at the 1992 Northern Telecom Open.
Won eight times in his PGA Tour career, with a pair of U.S. Open titles and a Players Championship to his credit. Claimed his first U.S. Open title in 1993 in a head-to-head battle with Payne Stewart at Baltusrol G.C. Shot 67-67-69-69 to equal the U.S. Open scoring record set by Jack Nicklaus in 1980. Went on to defeat Stewart by two strokes. Won his second U.S. Open title, in 1998, by recording the best final-round comeback in a U.S. Open in 25 years, coming from five strokes back of Stewart, the 54-hole leader. Closed with 68 to win by one over Stewart, who closed with 74 at The Olympic Club. The five-stroke comeback was the best in the championship since Johnny Miller came from six back to win in 1973. It was his first victory on Tour since 1995 and his eighth career win. Victory at the 1995 Players was the first of three titles that season, leading to his career year, eventually finishing third on the money list ($1,378,966). Janzen played on the PGA Tour between 1990 and 2014 and in 627 events made 407 cuts, finished in the top ten 66 times, was third eight times, and was runner-up seven times. He earned $16,038,979.
2014 Notes: Debuted on the PGA Tour Champions in early September at the Quebec Championship. A final-round 72 led to a T-23rd finish. His third Champions start had his best finish of the year with a T-6th finish at the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. Following the official season, he finished second in the Callaway Invitational, losing in a playoff to Tommy Armour III at Pebble Beach.
2015 Notes: Returned to the winner's circle for the first time in nearly 17 years when he won in a one-hole playoff with Bart Bryant at The ACE Group Classic in February. Made a clutch, 8-foot birdie putt on the 54th hole to force a playoff and then two-putted from 40 feet on the first extra hole for the win after Bryant's second shot landed in the water. The victory was his first since winning the 1998 U.S. Open at The Olympic Club, and it came in his 413th start since that win in San Francisco. The Naples victory ended a drought that lasted 16 years, 7 months, 25 days. He finished 6th at the Constellation Senior Players, then T-5th at the U.S. Senior Open, and T-6th at the Encompass Championship. He ended his year with a T-5th at the SAS Championship and a T-7th at the Toshiba Classic. Was 16th on the money list and 14th in the Schwab rankings.
2016 Notes: In 23 starts, he had a frustrating season, sliding from 16th to 56th on the final money list and posting just one top-10 finish (T-8th at the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic). The biggest issue was putting, where he fell from 1st in Putts per Round in 2015 (28.22) to 41st (29.59) in 2016 and from 2nd to 53rd in overall putting.
2017 Notes: Rebounded nicely from a disappointing 2016 season by finishing 12th on the final Charles Schwab Cup money list, up from 54th the previous year. He had five top-10 finishes and 16 top-25 finishes. He started the year with a T-4th finish at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. Had his second top-ten of the year with a T-6th at the American Family Insurance Championship. Was T-10th at U.S. Senior Open, then 2nd at Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship, a shot back of winner Jerry Kelly. Shared the opening-round lead with a 64 and trailed by one shot after 36 holes at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship and eventually finished T-2nd, one behind Kevin Sutherland. Had a pair of critical bogeys on the back nine (Nos. 13 and 16) on Sunday, which proved costly.
2018 Notes: Played in 25 PGA Tour Champions events with four top-ten finishes. Best was T-2nd at the Chubb Classic, 4 shots back of winner Joe Durant. Also was T-5th at the 3M Championship, with rounds of 69-75-69-70=283, and finished T-10th at the U.S. Senior Open. Advanced to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship for the third time in his career. Finished 32nd in the standings.
2019 Notes: Played in 26 PGA Tour Champions events with six top-ten finishes. Was 30th on the Schwab rankings. He was 10th at the Cologuard Classic, and the next week was T-8th at the Hoag Classic. At the Insperity Invitational, closed with a back-nine 32, including a hole-in-one with a wedge for eagle on the par-5 15th, en route to a final-round 67 and a third-place finish at the Insperity Invitational, five shots back of winner Scott McCarron. Was T-6th at the Regions Tradition. Finished T-9th at the Pure Insurance Championship, four shots back of the Triplett/Andrade playoff. At the Charles Schwab Cup Championship was T-27th.
2020 & 2021 Notes: Played in 33 PGA Tour Champions events with two top-tens and finished 41st in the Charles Schwab Cup. He was T-9th at the Cologuard Classic, and his best finish was in 2020. In 2021, defeated Miguel Angel Jimenez with a birdie on the first playoff hole to win the SAS Championship after recording rounds of 67-70-67.
2022 Notes: He played in 25 PGA Tour Champions events, with four top-ten finishes. He was 21st in the Schwab rankings and 24th on the money list, earning $785,673. He finished T-3rd at the Hoag Classic, six shots back of winner Retief Goosen. He was 4th at the ClubCorp Classic, a shot out of the Scott Parel/Steven Alker/Gene Sauers playoff. He finished T-7th at the Furyk & Friends and ended the season with a T-4th finish at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
2023 Notes: He played in 25 PGA Tour Champions events with three top-ten finishes. Was 37th in the Schwab rankings and 36th on the money list, earning $624,990. Finished T-6th at the Cologuard Classic and T-5th at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic. After opening with 71, he closed with 69-68 to finish T-10th at the TimberTech Championship.
2024 Notes: Played in 22 PGA Tour Champions events with one top-ten finish. Was 70th on the Schwab money list with earnings of $282,029. Opened with rounds of 68-69 at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic before closing with 73 to finish T-10th.
2025 Notes: Best finish T-32nd, Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.