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Photo by Chris Condon\PGA Tour
Lehman Makes the Turn
Minnesota's Tom Lehman hits the half-century mark and the Champions Tour.
By Jon Roe
By the end of the second round of the 1987 U.S. Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco, Tom Lehman had missed the 36-hole cut by a shot and had a week to get ready for his wedding.
Since graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1981, Lehman—an All-American golfer with the Gophers—had struggled to qualify for the PGA Tour. So frustrating were the Alexandria native's misfortunes that one home-state writer was tempted to tell Lehman to get a life and find another career.
But during the 20 and more years since, Lehman has labored and found success as a golfer. In March, he will turn 50, reaching the summit in many ways of his golf career and standing at a kind of a fork in life’s road. "Turning 50 is that transition time," Lehman says from his home in Chandler, Ariz. "It's a line of demarcation, and a time when several decisions are being made. Not career issues, not economic issues, but timing issues. Golf is something that I love. But I don't want to be known as just a golfer. There are other things I want to do. I definitely don't want to keep playing golf just to keep playing. I want to finish on my own terms."
In an ideal world, Lehman will overcome his bout with bursitis in one elbow, play at a level he deems up to his ability and enter most of the PGA Tour events in 2009, including the PGA Championship at Chaska's Hazeltine National from Aug. 13–16. He also plans to play between four and six times on the Champions Tour, presumably one of those times being the 3M Championship at the TPC Twin Cities from July 6–12.
"I'd like to finish my PGA career on a high note," Lehman says. "Maybe three or four years competing the best I can compete, and then say goodbye."
Life After Golf
Many charitable organizations await Lehman's non-golf time—some working for children's cancer research, others for women with drug addictions or neighborhood schools. He and his wife, Melissa, already are involved in some of these organizations, in addition to raising four children ages 5 to 18."I believe that much is expected from those who are given much," Lehman says. "We have been fortunate to be able to set things up for our future, but now we want to find things to do that have the biggest impact on other peoples' lives."
Only 17 golfers in the history of the game have earned more money on the PGA Tour than Lehman. He has more than $20.3 million in winnings—and that's just the money he has won on the golf course. There also are endorsements, golf course-design revenues and myriad other income streams that most likely multiply those course earnings. That's astounding when you consider where Lehman stood after the 1987 U.S. Open. Even three years later, he was unsettled enough to be interviewed for a coaching position with the Gophers' men's golf team.
"I always felt the best was ahead for me," Lehman says of those fruitless years. "I had no doubt in my mind. I knew I could play; I knew I belonged on the Tour. When I got married it seemed like so many things in my life were completed. I felt amazingly positive, and that Melissa and I could chase the dream together."
By 1992, Lehman had qualified for the PGA Tour, accomplishing one of five goals he'd set for himself: qualify for the Tour; win a tournament on the Tour; win a major championship; be ranked the No. 1 player in the world; play on a Ryder Cup team. Eventually, he accomplished all of them. Lehman has won five times on the Tour, including a major championship in the 1996 British Open. He was ranked No. 1 in the world—if only for a week before Greg Norman took over—in 1997. He not only played on three Ryder Cup squads but also was captain of the U.S. team in 2006.
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
Does Lehman have any regrets? Some of his results in the U.S. Open are bothersome. In 1995, he shared the 54-hole lead but finished in second place by just a shot. In 1996, he shared the 54-hole lead but wound up tied for third, three shots behind. And in 1997, he shared the 54-hole lead but finished in third place, two shots behind the winner.The legendary Bob Jones is the only other golfer who has played in the final group on the last day in three straight U.S. Opens. Jones won two of those, one of which was his victory at Edina's Interlachen en route to the Grand Slam in 1930.
"Maybe I didn't set my goals high enough," Lehman says. "But John Wooden once told me never to second-guess yourself. Do the best you can do, and what's meant to be will be. When I played my best, I could blow the field away. I was a good putter but very seldom a great putter, and if I could have elevated my putting I would have won more. But I can say that I am still very proud of what I’ve done.
"Turning 50 seems more significant to me because things are going to be changing in our lives. For sure, I don't feel old.
Our kids tell me I'm old, but they say I'm OK."-MG
Other Minnesota Contenders
Harris hangs in there
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| Photo by Mark Brettingen |
Harris managed to win slightly more than $268,000 while playing in 28 events. But 2008 brought his
poorest results in five years on the Tour. He had finished between 29th and 39th, and won between $460,000 and $650,000, in his previous four years.
Since he was not among the top 32 on the money list, Harris had to go through qualifying school in December to regain exempt status. But he finished tied for 20th when he needed to be among the top five to be totally exempt. "I hope to get a few sponsors exemptions, and I'll try to qualify on Mondays for some other events," says Harris, who will turn 57 in June. "Depending on how I do in qualifying, and how I'm playing overall, I hope to play in 10 or more events in 2009."
Stansberry waits and sees
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| Photo by Mark Brettingen |
Stansberry played in only one Champions Tour event in 2008, the 3M Championship, but did have some success playing in several state Senior Opens, such as the Colorado Senior Open.
"I gave myself two years to figure what it was like to try to play on the Champions Tour," says Stansberry, who will be 53 in March. "I was able to make some money in 2008 because of the way I played in some of those state events. But it's expensive to play on the Champions Tour, especially when you have to go through Monday qualifying every week." -J.R.
Jon Roe has covered Minnesota golf for more than 30 years and is a frequent contributor to Minnesota Golfer
Current Issue
In the June/July 2009 Issue
- Golfing for Good - Charity golf raises $52.4 million annually in Minn.
- Big and Muscular: Hole-by-hole changes at Hazeltine in prep for 2009 PGA
- Driving MN: Go home with Sinclair Lewis, golf in the Alex-Sauk Centre area
Club Champs 2008
These winners peaked at the right time to gather in the year-end hardware. From the patriarch of a golf dynasty to a 13-year-old phenom - here's a snapshot of six in that elite group.By Joe Bissen
The perfect way to finish off a golf season is by posing for photos with a championship trophy in your hands, and that's what numbers of great golfers from around the state did for the 2008 season. This year, 205 green-grass and affiliate clubs reported that 815 club champions in the men's, women's, senior and junior divisions were able to grip the hardware and grin for the cameras. Of those champions, we have chosen six to profile. For a comprehensive list of winners, Click Here.
Bob Cavanagh
MEN'S CHAMPIONPerham Lakeside Golf Club, Perham
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Block out the tee times. Four of them, give or take. Here come the Cavanaghs. An unofficial count of the golfing Cavanaghs of Minnesota reveals that at least 13 of them are regulars on the state's golf courses. And almost all of them are darn good. Add their handicaps together, and you wouldn't be far into triple figures, if at all. Arguably-very arguably, one presumes, if all the Cavanaghs were to do a sit-down after their family-reunion round-the best of the bunch is Bob, the reigning men's club champion at Perham Lakeside Golf Club in northwestern Minnesota. He certainly is the most decorated. Bob Cavanagh says he has won "couple" of club championships; the actual number is 17, in Perham Lakeside's 19 years of conducting club championships of 18 holes or more.
Beyond the five in Bob's family who golf, including former NCAA Division I player Bob (South Florida) and current Perham High players Dan and Kari, his brother Bill has four who play, including North Dakota State golfers Taylor and Lee; brother Charlie's offspring includes four current or former college golfers; and Bob's dad, Jack, also plays. The family was introduced to the game by the late Tuffy Nelson of Perham in the early 1970s.
"Everybody pretty much swings it" Bob says, his modest way of saying the Cavanaghs have some ability. "It's a pretty tight group. We have a lot of hobbies out there, but there aren't too many [activities] where you have handicap system where you can play on an equal basis."
Bob also is a former MGA state Public Links champion (1998), a former Birchmont International champion and a former Pine to Palm runner-up. This past season, he made up a four-shot deficit in the final nine holes of the club championship to edge his nephew, Lee.
A banker in Perham, Bob says he doesn't play as much as he used to. But experience counts for a lot. "You get a little more wisdom than you had at 18 or 19. You play a little smarter on the golf course," he says. "You've seen how things can turn around and go to heck in a hurry."
Jenni Spitzner
WOMEN'S CHAMPIONMoorhead Country Club
Handicap Index 6.0
Take it from Jenni Spitzner: there's a big difference between "time" and "timing." Spitzner has plenty of the latter, not always so much of the former. "In the summer I play, and that's about it - about twice a week," says Spitzner, who is otherwise occupied as a teacher and volleyball coach at Dilworth Junior High School and mother of children Sydnie and Rylie, ages 4 and 1.
As for timing, Spitzner has it. She had it as a top player at Moorhead High School and two-time NCAA Division III All-American at Concordia College in Moorhead, and now she puts in early-season work every year to sharpen her game. "It's not easy," Spitzner says about being a part-time player. "I usually have to get a lesson every spring, kind of my tune-up, from Larry Murphy [the Moorhead CC golf pro], just a general reminder of some of my swing thoughts and getting my tempo."
The timing was right as well for Spitzner in her club championship matches this year. She trailed at the turn in both-by three holes in the semifinal and by two in the final-before playing strong back nines each time to wrap up her third club championship at her home course. "It took me a little while to settle in," she says.
Jim Abelsen
SENIOR MEN'S CHAMPIONNorthland Country Club, Duluth
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Reducing Jim Abelsen's club championship to footnote status among his 2008 achievements wouldn't be proper-after all, he has long been one of the top players at one of the state's most venerable golf courses-but putting a banner headline across the news wouldn't provide the proper perspective, either.
Abelsen's year was memorable for more than golf. First, he officially retired July 1 from his position as general counsel (read: in-house attorney) for the St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic Health System. Though he still undertakes some projects for the system, retirement gives him time to spiff up his golf game. Second, he traveled with his wife, Julienne, to the Imo State of Nigeria to help kick off a project to build a hospital there. Abelsen is vice president of the Voom Foundation effort to build the hospital; St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic trauma surgeon Vincent Ohaju is the president.
"[Ohaju] always was bothered by the poor quality of health care in Nigeria," Abelsen explains. "We started a project to build a high-quality hospital. ... The government gave the land, and we met with government officials. The next phase is trying to get seed money and money there [from Nigeria]."
A Duluthian whose height (6 feet, 4 inches) is exceeded only by his affability, Abelsen shot rounds of 76 and 73 to win his first Northland senior men's title after posting three career runner-up finishes in the men's overall competition. Abelsen called his golf season "uneven," and like all golfers, he knows well the whimsical nature of trying to improve one's game. "You can't seem to leave well enough alone," he says. "If you hit one good shot, you want to build on it. You'd think after you get in your 60s, you'd be done with that.
"Golf is this wonderful roller coaster-when you think you've got something figured out you're driven to improve it... Every once in a while you have some rounds where you put it together."
Pam Peterson
SENIOR WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSoldiers Memorial Field GC, Rochester
Handicap Index 15.6
It didn't always show in her scores or in her performance - "overall, I played up and down," she says - but an even-keel temperance was a key commodity in Pam Peterson's 2008 golf game. Peterson, of Rochester, says she usually shoots in the 87-to-90 range. So when she opened with a 93 in the senior women's club championship at Soldiers Memorial Field Golf Course, she couldn't have been happy.
But she wasn't disconsolate, either, and maybe that had something to do with why she improved by 10 strokes on the second and final day to win not only the senior women's championship but also the overall women's championship. "I putted and chipped very well. I had very few putts, and the ball just went in," Peterson says. "I just went out with the attitude of, you've shot that before; you can shoot it again."
The title was the second senior championship and first overall women's championship at Soldiers for Peterson, 59. A member of all three of Rochester's municipal courses, she also had a strong showing at Eastwood, where she won the first flight gross championship and lost the overall championship by just two strokes. Temperance-the ability to keep her game under control-makes a considerable difference for Peterson. "I just try to keep myself relaxed so I don't overgrip the clubs and overswing," she says. "I think it's [good advice] for all golfers. Otherwise, it usually gets you into more trouble than it's worth."
Kate Lesnar
JUNIOR GIRLS' CHAMPIONWorthington Country Club
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Ma and Pa Lesnar don't dispute that promise - even if one of them shows a faint shred of unease over it. "She's improving rapidly. For 13, she's really strong, and she hits the ball a long way," says Jim Lesnar, Kate's father. As for the aforementioned unease: "Her mother," says Jim, referring to Kathy Lesnar, "has won about 12 club championships ... and [Kate] is now outdriving her, which doesn't make her mother very happy." He continues, "They both hit it well. Kate's a lot longer."
Kate concedes that the long game is not only her strength but also her focus, to the detriment of her short game. "I don't like the short game," she says, "because I'm better at the other [the long game]." But with more work from 150 yards and in, there could be more championships - club and otherwise - in the offing for this girl, who won this year's Worthington CC girls title in the first competitive 18-hole round of her life.
And there is more evidence that Kate has an ample reserve of potential. Normally a low-50s scorer for nine holes, she bettered the 50 mark for the first time in a big way. "I shot my lowest round, which is a 42," she says. "That was really fun."
Jimmy Powers
JUNIOR BOYS' CHAMPIONKeller Golf Club, Maplewood
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Success on the golf course doesn't have to be defined by rounds in the 60s or birdies by the bushelful. Success can be defined by the eye of the beholder, too. By that standard, Jimmy Powers had an eminently successful 2008 season. "I was mainly just trying to get into the Tournament of Champions," Powers says of his season's goal at Keller Golf Course.
To get in, a player has to win a title during the season at the venerable Maplewood public course. To that end, Powers was doubly successful. He qualified by teaming with his father, Dan, to win the course's father-son title, and he won the boys club championship. He makes no pretenses about the latter feat, considering it came via an 18-hole score of 92. "Just a bunch of kids messing around," he says.
Such a score is typical for Powers, who played varsity golf at St. Bernard's High School in St. Paul and is now a freshman at Minnesota State Mankato (though not on the golf team). But even if his scores don't set the world afire, and even if he had no better than a top-10 finish in the Tournament of Champions (TOC), you have to give him credit for opportunism: in the TOC, played in a team format, he capped his season on Keller's par-4 14th hole when he drove the green and a playing partner sank the 30-foot putt for an eagle 2 that was-don't tell anyone--rewarding when the skins game accounting was said and done. It was a successful season all around for the Powers family. Jimmy's older brother, Danny, who has cerebral palsy, teamed with his father to win their division in the Special Olympics Golf National Invitational Tournament at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
