Tony Lema

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Anthony David "Champagne Tony" Lema (February 25, 1934 – July 24, 1966) was an American professional golfer.

Lema was born in Oakland, California to parents of Portuguese ancestry.[1] 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. In 1963 he finished second by one stroke to Jack Nicklaus at The Masters, and missed the playoff for the U.S. Open by two shots, bogeying the last two holes believing he needed birdies.

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 tragic death in 1966, Lema was second only to Arnold Palmer in fan popularity.

In 1964, he 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, he 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, he 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, at the age of 32, 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.

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

1 Quotes
2 PGA Tour wins (12)
3 Other wins (4)
4 Results in major championships
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

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

Results in major championships

Tournament 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 The MastersDNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP 2 T9 T21 T22 U.S. Open50 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT T5 20 T8 T4 The Open ChampionshipDNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP 1 T5 T30 PGA ChampionshipDNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP WD T13 T9 T61 T34

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.