Golf Supermex cards 80
Dermot Gilleece on the legend that is Lee Trevino
Lee Trevino was 80 on December 1st. The milestone was notable, not least for the winner of six major championships, but for the first American golfer in modern times to have achieved such prominence without coming through the college system. Trevino was born into humble circumstances in Dallas, Texas. And he never forgot it, even after his prodigious skills had delivered 70 tournament victories and more than $20 million in tournament earnings. Nor was there ever a hint of envy at his more fortunate peers. Indeed his progress through the game was marked by an irrepressible sense of fun, which has invariably delighted his many admirers. I first became aware of it during the 1984 Open Championship at St Andrews where he came into the media centre for interview, early in the week. It being a beautiful summer’s day, he was asked at the end of press grilling what he planned to do for the remainder of the afternoon. ‘I’m going down on the beach to brush up my tan,’ came the mischievous reply from this dark-skinned product of Mexican forebears.
Trevino was born into humble circumstances in Dallas, Texas. And he never forgot it, even after his prodigious skills had delivered 70 tournament victories and more than $20 million in tournament earnings.
He never lost the gift of keeping his fans amused. Like on the first tee where he was liable to throw his golf ball into a bucket of water while loudly urging it to ‘get plenty to drink now, so you won't be thirsty on the course.’ Then, as if he had betrayed a confidence, he would whisper: ‘You know, I used to soak them in the commode’.
June 1967 marked his emergence as one of the all-time great talents of the game. Among other things, a fifth-place finish behind Jack Nicklaus in the US Open at Baltusrol, meant there would be no return to cleaning clubs, polishing shoes and picking up range balls as a general dogs body back in El Paso, Texas.
48 Senior Times l January - February 2019 l www.seniortimes.ie
