Tony Lema


Anthony David Lema was an American professional golfer who rose to fame in the mid-1960s and won a major title, the 1964 Open Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland. He died two years later at age 32 in an aircraft accident near Chicago.

Early life

Born in Oakland, California, Lema's parents were Anthony H. Lema and Clotilda M. Lema, née Silva, both of Portuguese ancestry. His father died of pneumonia 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 at Lake Chabot municipal golf course and learned different aspects of the game from a variety of people. Noted African-American golf coach Lucius Bateman helped develop his swing and Oakland policeman Ralph Hall taught him course strategy. The golf pros at Lake Chabot, Dick Fry and Bill Burch, trained him on basic golf fundamentals, including the use of a square stance.
At age 17, Lema enlisted in the U.S. 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.
Eddie Lowery, a wealthy San Francisco businessman, who assisted talented amateur players in the area, helped to sponsor and encourage Lema. Lowery is best known as the 10-year-old caddy of champion Francis Ouimet at the 1913 U.S. Open. Lowery's sponsorship gave Lema $200 a week expense money, to be repaid, in addition to splitting his winnings: Lema received two-thirds, Lowery one-third. One additional detail was that all debts at the end of the year were to be carried forward.

PGA Tour

By 1957, Lema had developed his skills sufficiently to earn his way onto the PGA Tour, winning the Imperial Valley Open in memorable fashion: Assuming he was out of contention, Lema headed to the clubhouse bar, where he drank three highballs. Told that he would face Paul Harney in a sudden-death playoff, a relaxed Lema won the tournament on the second extra hole. The following year, he began developing friendships with a trio of fellow golfers: Johnny Pott, Tommy Jacobs, and Jim Ferree, and during 11 tournaments in 1958, Lema finished in the top 15, winning $10,282 for the year.
The following year, Lema's winnings dropped to $5,900, followed by an even worse year in 1960, when he collected a mere $3,060. A raucous off-the-course lifestyle was taking its toll until he began talking with television producer Danny Arnold, who helped him improve his composure and bolster his confidence.
While Lema's struggles continued in 1962, along with his debt to Lowery reaching over $11,000, his luck would finally change for good. On the eve of his victory in October 1962 at the Orange County Open Invitational 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.
That win sparked an impressive performance over the next four years that saw Lema win 12 official PGA tour events, finish second on 11 occasions, and third four times. From 1963 until his death in July 1966, he finished in the top ten over half of the time and made the cut in every major, finishing in the top ten in eight of the fifteen in which he played. Lema was a member of Ryder Cup teams in 1963 and 1965 with a record of 9–1–1, which remains the best for any player who has played in two or more.
Friend and tour colleague Jack Nicklaus wrote that Lema's play also stabilized and improved greatly after he married Betty, a former airline stewardess, in 1963. One additional reason for Lema's more relaxed play that year was the end of his agreement with Lowery.
In 1963, Lema finished second by one stroke to 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. He won the Memphis Open Invitational later that summer.
Lema won two other tournaments that fall and was named 1963 Most Improved Player by Golf Digest. That winter, he wrote, with Gwylim S. Brown, "Golfers' Gold", an autobiographical account of his eight-year apprenticeship in the competitive cauldron of the PGA Tour.

Major champion

In 1964, Lema won the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, then three tournaments in four weeks: the Thunderbird Classic at Westchester in Rye, New York, the Buick Open Invitational at Warwick Hills in Grand Blanc, Michigan, and the Cleveland Open at Highland Park Golf Course in Cleveland, Ohio,.
Two weeks later he captured his only major championship at the 1964 Open Championship, held at the Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland. He won by five shots over runner-up Jack Nicklaus. Before teeing up in the first round, Lema had only played nine practice holes. Lema had hired Arnold Palmer's regular British caddy, Tip Anderson, since Palmer was not competing that year. Anderson, a descendant of a past Open champion, Jamie Anderson, had grown up on the course.
At the September matchup of the four major champions of 1964, in the 36-hole exhibition World Series of Golf, Lema won $50,000 at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, over Palmer, Ken Venturi and Bobby Nichols.
Due to his good looks and recent success, Lema was tapped for a guest appearance in an episode of the TV series Hazel that aired January 7, 1965. In the episode, Hazel misplaces his prized golf clubs. That same year he made an appearance on The Lawrence Welk Show, where Welk passed the baton to Lema to direct the Champagne Music Makers.
In 1965, Lema won the Buick Open for the second consecutive year, and the Carling World Open, finishing second in prize money to Nicklaus. In fall 1965, he and Nicklaus formed the U.S. team to the World Cup of Golf. Lema's last victory came in 1966 in late May, in his wife's hometown at the Oklahoma City Open, held at Quail Creek Golf & Country Club. Two weeks later, he came back from an opening round 78, to almost capture a third consecutive Buick Open, finishing in fourth place, three shots behind Phil Rodgers.

Death

Following the PGA Championship at Firestone Country Club in Akron in late July 1966, Lema and his wife chartered an airplane to fly them to an exhibition tournament south of Chicago: the Little Buick Open at Lincolnshire Country Club in Crete, Illinois. The twin-engine Beechcraft Bonanza, piloted by Doris Mullen, ran out of fuel and crashed into a water hazard short of the seventh green of the nine-hole golf course at Lansing Sportsman's Club in Lansing, about a half mile northwest of their destination, Lansing Municipal Airport. During the fatal plunge, Mullen swerved left to avoid a group of people standing near the clubhouse. In addition to the Lemas and Mullen, who was a mother of four teenage children, Dr. George Bard, the copilot and a surgeon, was killed. Bard and Mullen's husband, Wylie, were colleagues as well as owners of the ill-fated plane.
Lema and his wife, Betty, 30, were buried in California at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward, after funeral services on July 28 at St. Elizabeth's Church in his hometown of Oakland.
In 1983, a San Leandro public golf course bordering San Francisco Bay was named in his memory as the Tony Lema Golf Course, now part of the Monarch Bay Golf Club complex. In Ludlow, Massachusetts, the road accessing the local country club is named Tony Lema Drive, and there is a collection of photographs and other items in the clubhouse of Ludlow Country Club featuring Lema.

Professional wins (22)

PGA Tour wins (12)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory		Runner-up
1Sep 30, 1962Sahara Invitational69-67-66-68=270−143 strokes Don January
2Oct 28, 1962Orange County Open Invitational68-66-64-69=267−17Playoff Bob Rosburg
3Nov 18, 1962Mobile Sertoma Open Invitational67-68-68-70=273−157 strokes Doug Sanders
4May 27, 1963Memphis Open Invitational67-67-68-68=270−10Playoff Tommy Aaron
5Jan 19, 1964Bing Crosby National Pro-Am70-68-70-76=284−43 strokes Gay Brewer, Bo Wininger
6Jun 7, 1964Thunderbird Classic68-67-70-71=276−121 stroke Mike Souchak
7Jun 14, 1964Buick Open Invitational69-66-72-70=277−113 strokes Dow Finsterwald
8Jun 28, 1964Cleveland Open65-70-70-65=270−14Playoff Arnold Palmer
9Jul 10, 1964The Open Championship73-68-68-70=279−95 strokes Jack Nicklaus
10Jun 6, 1965Buick Open Invitational 71-70-69-70=280−82 strokes Johnny Pott
11Aug 23, 1965Carling World Open71-71-67-70=279−52 strokes Arnold Palmer
12May 29, 1966Oklahoma City Open Invitational69-68-69-65=271−176 strokes Tom Weiskopf

PGA Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
11962Orange County Open Invitational Bob RosburgWon with birdie on third extra hole
21963Memphis Open Tommy AaronWon with par on first extra hole
31963Cleveland Open Tommy Aaron, Arnold PalmerPalmer won 18-hole playoff
41964Cleveland Open Arnold PalmerWon with birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (10)

Note: This list is probably incomplete.

Wins (1)

Results timeline

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied

Summary

Professional