Lee Trevino is one of golf’s great storytellers.
Trevino is at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he’s playing in the pro-am ahead of the Simmons Bank Championship on the PGA Tour Champions. He also spent some time with the media and rolled through a few of stories, including one about joining the then-Senior PGA Tour in 1990.
“I’ll tell you a real quick story. I was waiting to get out there and they were kind of waiting for me to get out there because [Jack] Nicklaus and I were both turning 50 about the same time, even though Jack, Jack never played a lot of tournaments. I don’t think he ever played more than six or eight tournaments in one year,” Trevino said. “As a matter of fact, when I realized that I was turning 50 that December and that I was going to go on the Champions Tour, and Nicklaus was turning 50 on January 20th or 21st and he was coming out to play with me, I actually talked to Nicklaus’ manager and the wife, Nicklaus’ wife. You can ask Barbara. I told Barbara, I said, ‘Listen, for every tournament that I enter, if you keep Jack at home, I will send you a dozen roses.’ That year I played 38 tournaments and I sent Barbara Nicklaus 30 dozen roses because she kept him home 30 of the tournaments. I was leading money winner that year.”
Trevino won $1,190,518 million in 1990. He noted that was more than the $1,165,477 that Greg Norman earned as the leading money winner on the PGA Tour that same year.
“You can look it up,” he said. “I won more money than Norman. Norman was the leading money winner on the regular tour and I was the leading money winner on the Champions Tour, but I played 38 tournaments that year, yeah.”
Photos: Lee Trevino through the years
Trevino’s first sponsorship was with Dr. Pepper, not a golf club company
Trevino played in the era before huge purses that PGA Tour pros today enjoy.
“Back in my day, I played, I chased the dollar naturally simply because we didn’t have that much as far as prize money was concerned,” he said. “If you look at the record, in 1971, I won seven tournaments and then I finished high in a lot of tournaments and I won a total of $153,000. That was when you won a tournament back then, a regular tournament, you won 20 percent of the purse, which generally was $100,000.”
He then went on to talk about not having any deals with the golf club manufacturers.
“I think I would have a lot of trouble playing an equipment company. I think I would try ’em all and just play whatever’s best. So I might have a 3-wood that I can hit that somebody else makes, or a driver, irons. I remember when I started the Tour, I had seven different makes in my bag. I didn’t have a complete set of clubs, but I didn’t have a contract with anybody.”
Trevino still goes to the golf course every day
Trevino, 85, says he still visits his local club seven days a week.
“I go to the golf course seven days a week. I get there about 10. I’ll chip a little bit, putt a little bit. I’ll hit five balls with each club in my bag, then I’ll go home. I usually get home about 11:30. So I’ve got the whole day to do nothing, that’s the whole thing.”