By Garry Smits
Florida Times-Union sports writer
Morris News Service

PONTE VEDRA BEACH - Justin Leonard's Saturday was every golfer's nightmare.

He was playing in the final pairing of the day and only two shots off the lead of The Players Championship. And coming off rounds of 65 and 70, Leonard was in perfect position to make a run at the PGA Tour's richest prize.

But a funny thing happened on the way. Although rain-softened greens and light winds enabled 65 percent of the golfers in the field to break par, Leonard ballooned to an 80 - including a 43 on the back nine - and went from Saturday's last pairing to Sunday's dew-sweeper.

That's the derisive term golfers give to the early starters who have shot the highest scores. But Leonard felt he recovered adequately by putting up a respectable even-par 72 and ended up with a 1-under-par 287.

And he was even able to find a ray of light about Saturday's debacle.

``At least it wasn't on Sunday,'' Leonard said. ``It would have been worse if I had to get on a plane and think about it for a few days before I played again. I feel pretty well now and I'm pretty happy about the way I finished. I played some good shots. I just had to forget about yesterday.''

Leonard made par on every hole and playing partner Dan Pohl said the 24-year-old Texan did as well as he could.

``Justin didn't have a whole lot of birdie opportunities but he played very solidly,'' Pohl said. ``He was pretty serious when the round started because I'm sure he wanted some good things to happen early and get out to a good start. But when it didn't, he never lost patience. I was probably a good person for him to play with today because I got him talking, maybe got him a little looser as the day went on. He's a class kid and I don't think Saturday is going to affect him and his routine.''

Leonard even went to the Tour's autograph tent after his round and spent 20 minutes signing and bantering with fans. He said he heard the shouts of encouragement from fans late in his round Saturday and said it's one positive thing he'll take from the round.

``People were yelling things like `keep your head up,' and `next time, Justin,''' he said. ``That meant a lot to me.''

Leonard said it still may take some time for him to put Saturday behind him.

``It's hard, I won't be able to forget about it for a while,'' he said. ``But I think I did a few things to redeem myself today.''

Pohl, the 16-year Tour veteran, predicted Leonard would forget a lot sooner than he thinks.

``You don't call days like that learning experiences,'' Pohl said. ``I mean, what do you learn? That you can shoot a high number when conditions are bad? Justin's going to go to Atlanta (this week's BellSouth Classic), have a good round and he'll forget about an 80 here. He's young but he's been around long enough to understand the nature of this game.''