Marty Leonard is a staple for PGA Tour in Fort Worth

The Leonard name is synonymous with golf in Fort Worth, and it rings true even today.

Marty Leonard remains a staple whenever the PGA Tour makes its annual stop at Colonial Country Club, the course her father, Fort Worth businessman Marvin Leonard, built. In fact, Leonard and the course were born the same year — 1936.

Few, if any, courses have that type of direct lineage to its history.

“I don’t even know if Augusta has something like that,” Colonial tournament chairman Rob Hood said. “To have a living historian with you is not only important, it’s beneficial. And it’s just kind of cool to have someone there who was around at the beginning.

“She’s just a great asset for the club.”

Leonard doesn’t have an exact number of tournaments she’s been to at Colonial, but it’s almost all of them, except for possibly a couple during her college years.

She’s seen Fort Worth’s signature golf course host major events, such as the 1941 U.S. Open and 1991 U.S. Women’s Open — a tournament she was instrumental in bringing to Fort Worth while serving 18 years on the USGA women’s committee — as well as the 1975 Tournament Players Championship (now called The Players Championship).

In 1946, Colonial started its annual tournament, now known as the Dean & DeLuca Invitational, that has been running strong for seven decades. The winner’s list is a who’s who of golf, ranging from the tournament’s first champion, Ben Hogan, to Sam Snead to Arnold Palmer to Jack Nicklaus to Tom Watson and current tour stars Phil Mickelson to Sergio Garcia.

Colonial hardly ever sees a “fluke” winner. That’s why players who win Colonial are usually in contention for golf’s major titles, such as Zach Johnson and reigning champ Jordan Spieth.

“You look at those past champions and that tells you who wins the tournament,” Marty Leonard said. “Most are or become major champions. That tells you something about the tournament.”

Leonard is a walking encyclopedia about the course and history of the tournament.

She remembers the relationship between her father and Hogan well, when a young Hogan used to caddie for Marvin at Glen Garden Country Club, which closed in 2014. Marvin Leonard then sponsored Hogan when he turned professional.

There wasn’t a more fitting winner for the inaugural Colonial tournament than Hogan.

Marvin Leonard built the course because he wanted bent grass greens, which are difficult to maintain in the North Texas heat. Marvin Leonard tried to get his home course at the time, River Crest Country Club, to install a couple of bent grass greens that he offered to pay for, but club officials refused.

“The story goes that they said, ‘Well, Marvin, if you’re so hell-bent on it, why don’t you go build your own golf course?’ ” Marty said. “He did. Daddy was a builder and he just fell in love with the game and that’s what spurred his interest in golf. Once he built one, he couldn’t stop there.”

Marvin Leonard went on to build Shady Oaks Country Club on land he purchased from former Star-Telegram publisher Amon Carter. He also built Starr Hollow in Tolar, a private nine-hole course with two sets of tees and pin placements.

“He might’ve built another one if he lived long enough,” Marty said, laughing. “I wouldn’t put it past him. He was quite a guy with a lot of vision. My father was a true visionary.”

Colonial remains the most visible of his courses with the annual PGA Tour event and the history of it. When Colonial hosted the 1941 U.S. Open, it marked the first time the USGA had brought the championship south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Craig Wood earned his second major title that year, winning with a 4-over-par 284.

But that U.S. Open layout in 1941 is different than what players see today. The course underwent significant changes in 1949 with the Trinity River flood, and again after the 2011 tournament when they lengthened the course and added strategic bunkers that pleased players such as Johnson and irked others such as Mickelson.

Over the years, though, Colonial has kept its reputation as a shotmaker’s course.

“No question. It’s a classic golf course and that’s one of the reasons it’s stuck,” Marty Leonard said. “They had to have some alterations in it through the years, but it’s still the basic golf course with the exception of what they had to do for the flood control in ’49.

“But it’s stood the test of time. There’s no question about that. It’s appreciated by golf purists who love classic golf courses.”

Added Hood: “It’s a course that you have to know when to go for birdie and avoid bogey. I think that’s what wins at Colonial — knowing when to go for it and guarding against the big number.”

The course has aged seamlessly. It’s been around for more than 80 years and hosted professional tournaments for more than 75 years, and there’s no sign of it slowing down anytime soon.

Colonial remains a source of pride for the city and the Leonard family.

“It is a golf legacy in Fort Worth with my dad and, not just because it’s my dad, but I’ve tried to maintain that because he exposed me to golf early on,” Marty Leonard said. “That’s one of the reasons I built Leonard Golf Links (in west Fort Worth) because we didn’t have good practice facilities except at country clubs, and not everyone can belong at a country club.

“So, as I say, the Leonard name is pretty synonymous with golf around here with good reason.”

This story was originally published May 23, 2017 at 10:31 AM with the headline "Marty Leonard is a staple for PGA Tour in Fort Worth."