Lee Trevino

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1 Early life
2 Professional career
3 PGA Tour wins (29)
4 Other wins (16)
5 Champions Tour wins (29)
6 Other senior wins (9)
7 Major Championships
- 7.1 Wins (6)
- 7.2 Results timeline
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Lee Buck Trevino (born December 1, 1939) is an American professional golfer. He is an icon for Mexican Americans, and is often referred to as "The Merry Mex".

[edit] Early life

Lee Buck Trevino was born in Dallas, Texas in poverty to parents of Mexican descent. His mother and grandfather, a gravedigger, raised Trevino. He never knew his father. Trevino's childhood amounted to him spending time attending school occasionally and working to help earn money for the family. At the age of five, Lee even started working in the cotton fields.

Trevino was introduced to the game of golf when his uncle gave him a few old golf balls and a rusty golf club. From this point on, Lee could not get enough. He spent most of his free time sneaking into nearby country clubs to practice his newly found activity. At eight years old he began caddying at a local golf course. However, a few years later, caddying became a full time job because he needed to earn enough money to survive. Thus, after eighth grade, Trevino had to leave school in order to go to work. As a caddy and a shoe shiner, Trevino worked for 30 U.S. dollars a week. On top of this, he was also able to make priceless gains in his golfing ability. This was because the caddies had three short practice holes behind their shack, and it was there, with old, discarded clubs, that Trevino learned to improve his golf game. For years, every day after work, he would work on improving his skills by hitting a least 300 balls a session. At seventeen, Trevino joined the United States Marine Corps and served four years. Over the last eighteen months in the service, a great deal of his time was spent playing golf with Marine Corps officers.

[edit] Professional career

After his discharge, Trevino continued his pursuit of the game. In 1967, he began playing on the PGA Tour, that year he played in his first U.S. Open golf championship, he shot a 283, eight shots behind champion Jack Nicklaus, and earned $6,000 for finishing fifth. He won $26,472 as a rookie, 45th on the PGA money list. In 1968 at the Oak Hill Country Club (Rochester, New York), a large goal was reached when he won the U.S. Open. From here on there was no looking back. Over the course of his career, Trevino won 29 times on the PGA Tour, including six majors. He was at his best in the early 1970s, when for a time he was Jack Nicklaus's biggest rival, winning the money list title in 1970, and picking up ten wins in two seasons in 1971 and 1972. Among the highlights during those 2 memorable seasons, were winning the 1971 U.S. Open in an 18-hole playoff over Jack Nicklaus, then 2 weeks later, he won the Canadian Open and the following week The British Open, making him the only player to win three national titles in the same year, and he was rewarded the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of 1971, as well as winning Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award, he was also being named as ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year that year. After winning the 1974 PGA Championship he was struck by lightning at the 1975 Western Open and suffered injuries to his spine and back. He later underwent surgery to remove a damaged spinal disk and back problems later restricted his play. However, while he did not quite return to his early 1970s prime, he remained one of the world's leading players for more than another decade, winning his last major, the 1984 PGA Championship at the unusually advanced age of 44. In the early 1980s he was second on the PGA Tour career money list, behind only Jack Nicklaus. [1]

Trevino also won more than 20 international and unofficial professional tournaments. In his fifties he was one of the key charismatic stars who helped to make the Senior PGA Tour, now the Champions Tour, a commercial success. He picked up the same tally of 29 wins on this tour as he had on the regular tour, including four senior majors. He topped the senior money list in 1990 and 1992.

Trevino played for the United States in the Ryder Cup six times (1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1979, 1981), and had an impressive 17-7-6 win-loss-half record. He also served as team captain in 1985.

Trevino won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average five times: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, and 1980.

Trevino has established numerous scholarships and continues to offer assistance to many Mexican Americans who are less fortunate.

Throughout his career, Trevino was seen as one of the more approachable and humorous of PGA golfers, and was frequently quoted by the press. At the beginning of their 1971 playoff for the U.S. Open, he playfully threw a rubber snake at Jack Nicklaus. [2] During his early career, much attention was focused by the press on a BandAid that Trevino wore on his forearm covering a tattoo of the name of his ex-wife. This became a frequent topic of self-deprecating humor for the good-natured Trevino. (He has since had this tattoo removed by a plastic surgeon using a laser technique.) His self–taught style, distinguished by an out-to-in swing designed to fade the ball (which he devised to combat a chronic hook), led to many exciting shots and skins game victories.

Trevino was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981.

[edit] PGA Tour wins (29)

1968 (2) U.S. Open, Hawaiian Open
1969 (1) Tucson Open Invitational
1970 (2) Tucson Open Invitational, National Airlines Open Invitational
1971 (6) Tallahassee Open Invitational, Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, U.S. Open, Canadian Open, British Open, Sahara Invitational
1972 (4) Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, British Open, Greater Hartford Open Invitational, Greater St. Louis Golf Classic
1973 (2) Jackie Gleason Inverrary-National Airlines Classic, Doral - Eastern Open Invitational
1974 (2) Greater New Orleans Open, PGA Championship
1975 (1) Florida Citrus Open
1976 (1) Colonial National Invitation
1977 (1) Canadian Open
1978 (1) Colonial National Invitation
1979 (1) Canadian Open
1980 (3) Tournament Players Championship, Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, San Antonio Texas Open
1981 (1) MONY Tournament of Champions
1984 (1) PGA Championship

Major championships are shown in bold.

[edit] Other wins (16)

1969 World Cup (with Orville Moody)
1971 World Cup (with Jack Nicklaus)
1973 Chrysler Classic (Australia), Mexican Open
1974 World Series of Golf (not yet a PGA Tour event)
1975 Mexican Open
1977 Morocco Grand Prix
1978 Benson & Hedges International Open, Lancome Trophy (both European Tour)
1979 Canadian PGA Championship
1980 Lancome Trophy
1981 Sun City Classic (South Africa), PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States - unofficial event)
1983 Canadian PGA Championship
1985 Dunhill British Masters
1987 Skins Game

[edit] Champions Tour wins (29)

1990 (7) Royal Caribbean Classic, Aetna Challenge, Vintage Chrysler Invitational, Doug Sanders Kingwood Celebrity Classic, NYNEX Commemorative, U.S. Senior Open, Transamerica Senior Golf Championship
1991 (3) Aetna Challenge, Vantage At The Dominion, Charley Pride Classic
1992 (5) Vantage At The Dominion, The Tradition, PGA Seniors' Championship, Las Vegas Senior Classic, Bell Atlantic Classic
1993 (3) Cadillac NFL Golf Classic, Nationwide Championship, Vantage Championship
1994 (6) Royal Caribbean Classic, PGA Seniors' Championship, PaineWebber Invitational, Bell Atlantic Classic, BellSouth Senior Classic at Opryland, Northville Long Island Classic
1995 (2) Northville Long Island Classic, The Transamerica
1996 (1) Emerald Coast Classic
1998 (1) Southwestern Bell Dominion
2000 (1) Cadillac NFL Golf Classic

Senior majors are shown in bold.

[edit] Other senior wins (9)

1991 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Mike Hill)
1992 Mitsukoshi Classic, Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Mike Hill)
1993 American Express Grandslam
1994 American Express Grandslam
1995 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Mike Hill)
1996 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Mike Hill), Australian PGA Seniors' Championship
2003 ConAgra Foods Champions Skins Game

[edit] Major Championships

[edit] Wins (6)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runners Up
1968	U.S. Open	1 shot deficit	-5 (69-68-69-69=275)	4 strokes	Jack Nicklaus
1971	U.S. Open (2)	4 shot deficit	E (70-72-69-69=280)	Playoff ¹	Jack Nicklaus
1971	The Open Championship	1 shot lead	-14 (69-70-69-70=278)	1 stroke	Lu Liang-Huan
1972	The Open Championship (2)	1 shot lead	-6 (71-70-66-71=278)	1 stroke	Jack Nicklaus
1974	PGA Championship	1 shot lead	-4 (73-66-68-69=276)	1 stroke	Jack Nicklaus
1984	PGA Championship (2)	1 shot lead	-15 (69-68-67-69=273)	4 strokes	Gary Player, Lanny Wadkins

¹ Defeated Jack Nicklaus in 18-hole playoff - Trevino (68), Nicklaus (71)

[edit] Results timeline

Tournament	1966	1967	1968	1969
The Masters	DNP	DNP	T40	T19
U.S. Open	T54	5	1	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	T34
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	T23	T48

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
The Masters	DNP	DNP	T33	T43	DNP	T10	T28	DNP	T14	T12
U.S. Open	T8	1	T4	T4	CUT	T29	DNP	T27	T12	T19
The Open Championship	T3	1	1	T10	T31	T40	DNP	4	T29	T17
PGA Championship	T26	T13	T11	T18	1	T60	CUT	T13	T7	T35

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
The Masters	T26	CUT	T38	T20	43	T10	47	CUT	CUT	T18
U.S. Open	T12	CUT	CUT	DNP	T9	CUT	T4	CUT	T40	CUT
The Open Championship	2	T11	T27	5	T14	T20	T59	T17	CUT	T42
PGA Championship	7	DNP	DNP	T14	1	2	T11	DNP	CUT	CUT

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Masters	T24	T49	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	T25	T17	T39	DNP	CUT	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	2000
The Masters	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP
The Open Championship	CUT
PGA Championship	DNP

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

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas, The Mexican American Family Album. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

[edit] External links

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