Tom Lehman Takes Colorado

He had come close many times since winning a major in 1996-this time he sealed the deal

By Steve Trivett

Contrary to urban legend, nice guys don't always finish last.

During his long career on the PGA Tour and his (thus far) short career on the Champions Tour, Tom Lehman has always been one of golf's good guys. He's one of the lunch bucket guys -he shows up, plays his heart out and is gracious in both defeat and victory.

Lehman's resume includes a major championship, the 1996 (British) Open Championship, as well as four other victories during his PGA Tour career. Not bad for a guy who had very humble beginning as a club pro in Minnesota.

In addition to winning the (British) Open Championship in 1996, he also won a PGA Tour money title and was named PGA Tour Player of the Year that same year. He has played on three U.S. Ryder Cup teams, captained another and at one time he stood No. 1 in the world rankings.

And, much to his own surprise when it happened, he's now a major championship winner on the Champions Tour. Lehman won the 71st Senior PGA Championship, the oldest title in senior golf, when it was played this year at the Colorado Golf Club in Parker, and he did it by taking the first hole of a three-way playoff that included Fred Couples and David Frost.

It wasn't until the threesome finally got to the green on the first playoff hole -the par-4 18th of the Crenshaw-Coore designed course - that Lehman realized the win was well within his grasp.

The threesome had finished 72 holes of regulation golf at 281, 7-under-par. Frost had gotten there with a final-round 67. Couples was there after a final-round 69. Lehman, who had started the day one shot behind leader Jay Don Blake, fired 71 on Sunday.

The playoff got underway with Lehman hitting first and finding the fairway. Frost then hit his tee shot into a fairway bunker. Couples put his tee shot into a bush. And as Frost and Couples finished slashing their way up the final hole, Lehman, who found the putting surface with his second shot, lost count.

"That was just a bizarre playoff," he said. "I'm not sure I've ever experienced anything like that. I turned to my caddie and asked, 'How many shots have they taken?'"

The answer was easy. Way too many.

While Frost, who never saw the fairway all the way up the playoff hole, and Couples, who had to take an unplayable lie, each carded double-bogey, Lehman calmly - at least on the outside - two-putted for a winning par.

"I really didn't do anything exceptional," Lehman said just moments after lifting the Alfred S. Bourne Trophy, on which his name will now be engraved with former winners including Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Hale Irwin.

"I just didn't make any mistakes."

According to Lehman, he had an advantage going into the playoff. Unlike Frost and Couples who had finished their final rounds and had to wait to see if there would indeed be a playoff, Lehman signed his card and went right back to the tee, drawing the first spot in the batting order.

"I think I had an advantage right from the start," he said. "The longer you have to wait, I think the tougher it gets to play in a playoff."

After hitting just four times in sudden death, Lehman owned one of the biggest prizes in professional golf, perhaps making up for a couple that got away back in the days before he became a senior.

He was third at the 1993 Masters and second in a quest for a green jacket in 1994. And in four straight years (95-98), Lehman played in the final group on U.S. Open Sunday. Those four years he finished third, second, third and fifth.

"I've had some near misses," he said. "But I've had some of those misses on days when I played really well. But at the end of the day, I feel like I can hold my head up high, knowing that I competed well enough to win many times."

This time around there was no near miss.

The win was the first on the Champions Tour for Lehman, who celebrated his 50th birthday a little more than a year before the tournament. He had partnered with Bernhard Langer, another good guy, to win the 2009 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, but on a sunny Sunday in Colorado he stood alone at the top at a major championship.

"To get back in the winner's circle after being close a lot feels really good," Lehman said. "I just kind of hung in there."

It was another day in the life of one of the good guys.

Steve Trivett is a staff writer with Colorado Golf Magazine

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