FORT WORTH, Texas — There was an ease about Tom Lehman during Thursday’s opening round of the Charles Schwab Challenge that made it feel like we were all in a bygone era. Forget hand sanitizer and pool noodles, this was golf, exactly the way you remembered it.
Lehman came up just short on a 36-foot birdie putt to finish off his round at Colonial Country Club — his line was true, but the putt needed a few more inches — then after tapping in, quickly pulled his cap off and offered fist bumps to playing partners Henrik Norlander and Tyler McCumber, who are a combined 62 years old to Lehman’s 61. His smile was wide and familiar when he hugged his son, Thomas, who’s on his bag this week at the event.
And why wouldn’t Lehman be feeling the love? After months of practice in the Arizona heat, the 5-time PGA Tour winner and 1996 British Open Champion hit the ball right where he wanted on Thursday, rolling in six birdies en route to a 65 that temporarily put him on the first page of the leaderboard.
It marked the first time since the Tour started recording such stats in 1980 that anyone older than 60 has fired a round a 65 or better.
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“I’ve been aiming for this week for a while. I live in Arizona, and we’ve been able to play golf all the way through this COVID-19 thing, so I’ve been playing a lot, practicing a lot,” Lehman said. “My game feels pretty good. I love the golf course. It benefits people who put the ball in the fairway, no doubt. Today I hit it straight and made a few putts.”
Lehman’s only real misstep came on No. 3 when he dropped his approach in the sand and failed to get up and down.
Aside from that, the 1996 PGA Tour Player of the Year did what he needed to do to compete with one of the strongest fields the Schwab has ever seen. He hit fairways and avoided trouble, taking advantage of the day’s calm conditions.
“I really like the way I played. Do I feel like I’m capable of shooting a 65 out here at Colonial? Well, for certain I do,” Lehman said. “Did I expect to do it today? Well, I would be probably lying if I said I fully expected to play and shoot such a low score. But I did expect to play well. To me, I kind of felt like if I could just finish out 2-under, 3-under, I would have been really happy with that. To get a couple more is definitely frosting on the cake.”
Lehman, 60, has long been known for his many charitable efforts, which have been recognized with numerous awards, and most recently has directed his attention to projects that benefit at-risk kids and adults who could be at risk for colon cancer. He’s long been known as a man of faith.
When asked about the death of George Floyd, and what it meant to him as a native of Minnesota, Lehman let his feelings be known.
“There’s so much to say about that. What I would say is this: I think everybody needs to feel deeply what happened and to hurt deeply because of what happened to George Floyd,” Lehman said. “I think everybody needs to understand that when you have an absolute disregard for the suffering or pain of somebody else or the death that you cause on somebody else, if you have no regard for that, you are a part of the problem and you need to get your (expletive) together.
“I would say that’s probably the thing I took away from it is let’s just understand that we’re all human beings and need to care about each other. If you can’t do that, then I feel sorry for you.”
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The Tour left the 8:46 a.m. tee time blank in honor of Floyd at both the Charles Schwab Challenge and the Korn Ferry Tour Challenge with a one-minute moment of silence beginning with three horn blasts.
Lehman said he appreciated the gesture.
“I think everybody chooses to do things in their own way. I think pausing for — to me is like a time of prayer. I prayed. I just prayed for our country. I prayed for that man’s family, for George’s family. I prayed for his soul,” Lehman said. “I just prayed that the chaos that we live in can be wisely moved forward so that decisions are made that actually are meaningful and helpful.”
As for the rest of the week, Lehman is hoping to stay near the top of the leaderboard, and he knows that means keeping the ball in the thin stuff.
“(There’s) a lot of rough out there, and for me, I’ve got to drive it well. If I don’t drive it well, I’m quite a ways back in some pretty thick rough,” Lehman said. “In order to play well for the next three days, I need to keep putting the ball in the fairway.”
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