Tony Lema

Anthony David "Champagne Tony" Lema (February 25, 1934 – July 24, 1966) was an American professional golfer, who rose to fame in the beginning of golf's modern era as a member of the big five of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Billy Casper and Lema.

Lema was born in Oakland, California to parents of Portuguese ancestry.cite web| title = Distinguished Americans & Canadians of Portuguese Descent| url= http://www.portuguesefoundation.org/famous.htm|accessdate = 2008-01-09] His father died when Tony was three years old, and his widowed mother struggled to raise the family of four children on welfare. He began playing golf as a boy (coached by noted African-American golf coach Lucius Bateman) but at age 17 enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served in Korea. After his discharge from the military in 1955, he obtained work as an assistant to the club professional at a San Francisco golf club.

By 1957, Lema had developed his skills sufficiently enough to earn his way onto the PGA Tour. He struggled until 1962, when he began an impressive performance over the next four years that saw him win twelve official PGA tour events, finish second on 11 occasions, and third four times.

On the eve of his first official PGA victory in October 1962 at the Orange County Open in Costa Mesa, California, Lema joked he would serve champagne to the press if he won the next day. From then on he was known as "Champagne Tony", and his handsome looks, and vivacious personality added to the legend, such that Johnny Miller has stated that at the time of his death in 1966, Lema was second only to Arnold Palmer in fan popularity.

In 1963, Lema finished second by one stroke to Jack Nicklaus at the Masters Tournament, and missed the playoff for the U.S. Open by two shots, bogeying the last two holes believing he needed birdies.

In 1964, Lema won the Bing Crosby Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, California, the Thunderbird Classic, Buick Open, and Cleveland Open (in a playoff with Arnold Palmer) and then captured one of the major championships by taking that year's British Open at St. Andrews, Scotland. In the matchup of the four major champions of 1964, Lema won $50,000 (then the largest payoff in golf) at Firestone Country Club over Arnold Palmer (Masters), Ken Venturi (U.S.Open), and Bobby Nichols (PGA).

From 1963 through July 1966, Lema finished in the top ten over 50% of the time. From 1963 through 1966, he never missed a cut in a professional major, finishing in the top ten in 8 of the 15 majors in which he played.

In 1965, Lema won the Buick Open for the second consecutive year, and the Carling World Open, finishing second in money to Jack Nicklaus. His last victory came in May 1966, in his wife's hometown at the Oklahoma City Open.

Lema was a member of the 1963 and 1965 United States Ryder Cup teams, and his Ryder Cup record is the best of any player who has played in two or more.

In 1966, he was flying with his wife, Betty, to an exhibition match in Chicago, Illinois, when their chartered twin-engine Beechcraft Bonanza ran out of fuel and crashed on the seventh hole of a golf course in Lansing, Illinois. All four people on board were killed.

Lema and his wife were buried in the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward, California.

In 1983, a public golf course was named in his honor, the Tony Lema Golf Course, in his hometown of San Leandro, California, which is now part of the Monarch Bay Golf complex.

Quotes

*"A buoyant, positive approach to the game is as basic as a sound swing."
*"Golf is like solitaire. When you cheat, you only cheat yourself."
*"In choosing a partner, always pick the optimist."
*"You build a golf game like you build a wall, one brick at a time."
*"If I had to cram all my tournament experience into one sentence, I would say, "Don't give up and don't let up!""
*"“Many kids might have made jails instead of pars and birdies if it hadn’t been for Loosh. He knows kids- how they think, how to talk them and what do for them. As long as I’ve known him he’s been willing help kids for nothing in return.” - a quote by Tony about his golf coach Luscious Bateman (after which there is a driving range named in Alameda, California).

PGA Tour wins (12)

*1962 (3) Sahara Invitational, Orange County Open, Mobile Sertoma Open Invitational
*1963 (1) Memphis Open Invitational
*1964 (5) Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, Thunderbird Classic, Buick Open Invitational, Cleveland Open, The Open Championship
*1965 (2) Buick Open Invitational, Carling World Open
*1966 (1) Oklahoma City Open Invitational

Major championship is shown in bold.

Other wins (4)

"this list is probably incomplete"
*1957 Imperial Valley Open
*1961 Hesperia Invitational Open, Mexican Open
*1962 Mexican Open
*1964 World Series of Golf

Major Championships

Wins (1)

Results timeline

DNP = did not play WD = withdrew CUT = missed the half way cut "T" indicates a tie for a place. Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

ee also

*Golfers with most PGA Tour wins

References

External links

*findagrave|11780 Retrieved on 2008-02-05
* [http://www.golflink.com/golf-courses/course.asp?course=102345 Tony Lema Golf Course Monarch Bay]