Leen survives lean times, makes 14th career cut

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COLLINGWOOD, ONTARIO, Canada -- Leen.

There is no shortage of irony in that surname, pronounced lean.

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Then: In 1997, Randy Leen's amateur credentials were especially impressive. He beat a young Tiger Woods in '96.

If truth is told, there is no more apropos descriptor of Randy Leen's professional career, one that dates back to 1998. And not so coincidentally the surname has applied to his bank account on far too many occasions.

"I wish it wasn't,'' Leen said, laughing while making the obvious reference.

But it is what it is. Now here's the thing about Leen. He says he has managed to perform at his best in his darkest hours.

"I don't know what it is, but I've managed to produce when the chips were down,'' he said after shooting a bogey-free three-under-par 68 at the Georgian Bay Club in the second round of the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic presented by Samsung. "Something keeps me going.''

Add it to first round of 6-under 66 at The Raven at Lora Bay, the other course being used in this $800,099 pro-am, and you'll find Leen's name near the top of the leaderboard through 36 holes with the prospect of a sizable paycheck in the offing should he play like he believes he can on the weekend.

"That clearly will be on my mind,'' said Leen, 32, whose glittering credentials as an amateur belie his decade of struggles as a pro. "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't. I know what's at stake. I've got my work cut out for me. But I've got to black that out and play cliché golf, taking it one shot at a time.''

The good news is Leen has work to do. That hasn't been the case in 27 of his 41 career starts on the Nationwide Tour. So making the cut with the opportunity to fatten his financial standing is no small victory.

A conditional member, Leen has played in just five events in 2008, one of the reasons he finds himself mired at 172nd on the money list. That makes his singular goal for the next two rounds clear cut. He needs to play well enough to make a big enough check to squeeze into the top 144 (he's short by less than $5,000 from there). If he does he'll gain entry into the next event, the Nationwide Tour Players Cup, which will offer the first $1-million purse in Tour history. Another made cut there likely will allow him to plan a schedule for the rest of the season.

"I didn't get into anything in the first part of the year,'' said Leen, whose first start came in early May. "I tried Monday qualifying but didn't make it. It was getting frustrating.''

Leen is awfully familiar with frustration. It has been his constant companion since he turned professional. But who would have guessed after Leen finished off a college career by being named the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year three consecutive times. He also was a member of the Walker Cup and, in 1996, he was low amateur in the 1996 U.S. Open where he beat a Stanford player named Tiger Woods.

"It's a few billion dollars for Tiger later,'' Leen said, shaking his head at a pair of careers that have taken drastically divergent paths. "If someone would have told me 10 years ago I'd be where I am today I wouldn't have believed it. I was 20 when I made the cut in the U.S. Open. I figured I could keep doing it.''

Leen paused, likely considering all the detours he has taken and all the pit stops he has made in professional golf's hinterlands a.k.a., the mini-tours.

"It's amazing how fast it's gone,'' he said. "But ask me if I do it again and I'd say, 'absolutely.' It's amazing how much character it builds. I'm blessed with a strong support system and I've learned how to handle any situation.''

Learned the hard way, that is.

Leen qualified for the Nationwide Tour in 2000, but was stunned by the high level of play when he came out. He went from being a big fish in a thimble to a little one in the Atlantic. He started pressing right away and playing every week until he about dropped from the exhaustion of missing cut after cut.

"I decided my game needed a lot of work,'' he said. "My short game was day to day. And somewhere along the way I lost my confidence.''

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Now: Leen fired rounds of 66 and 68 in the first two rounds of the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic.

Lose that invaluable commodity and a player might as well lose his clubs along with it. Leen languished on the Hooters Tour and the Golden Bear Tour. He even tried something called the Minor League Golf Tour. He was so broke at the end of 2004 that he took a job caddying at The Medalist, Greg Norman's high-end track in Hobe Sound, Fla.

"I was getting up at 6 a.m., wearing the bib, carrying the bags of 20 handicappers,'' Leen said. "That'll motivate you.''

Four months later Leen received an offer he couldn't refuse. Several men offered to sponsor him on the Gateway Tour in 2005. He rewarded their confidence by winning the money title, making more than $200,000, with the majority going to them.

"I signed a bad deal,'' he said.

Leen finished second on the Gateway Tour money list in 2006, playing for the same sponsors. So when an offer from some new money came to get him out of indentured servitude, he jumped at the chance. When Leen got off to a slow start, the sponsors quit calling. Even worse, check one never arrived.

"I was completely busted again in May,'' he said. "And right after that I found out my wife (Jennifer) was pregnant.''

Leen took matters into his own hands. He marched into a bank and took out a loan for $25,000. He promptly finished second, third, fifth and second, earning more than enough to pay off the debt and do something odd: Make a deposit.

It's almost a year later. Perhaps times they are a changing. Leen is by no means fat, but opportunity knocks to dine with the Nationwide Tour's big dogs.