As a Senior, Trevino Will Have a Chance to Do It His Way

It’s coming up on roses time for Lee Trevino.

For almost a quarter of a century, Trevino has swaggered around the globe building a reputation as one of the most popular figures pro golf has produced.

He’s been too busy to heed Walter Hagan’s advice: “Be sure to stop and smell the roses along the way.”

“All my life I’ve been doing what other people wanted me to do. Now I’m going to do what I want to do,” Trevino said.

That, of course, is play golf. But this time he’s going to play golf on his terms.

“I’ve been all over the world, around the world I don’t know how many times. But all I’ve ever seen is the airport and the hotel and the golf course, and then you go back to the airport and fly to another airport and go to another hotel and another golf course,” he said.

“This is my last time around. This time I want to enjoy it.”

That last time around begins in December for the man who called himself “the Merry Mex” when he burst upon golf’s world stage as the upstart U.S. Open champion of 1968, a fast-talking refugee from a desert driving range.

Trevino turns 50 Dec. 1. He will join the Seniors PGA Tour the next week in the Kaanapali Classic on the Hawaiian resort island of Maui.

“I’ve been looking forward to this for seven years,” Trevino said.

So have the Seniors. And the PGA Tour Commissioner. And television’s major networks.

It seems something other that coincidental that long-term contracts have been signed for television coverage of such important Seniors’ events as the PGA and the Players Championships.

These contracts become effective next year, Trevino’s first full season as a Senior.

“He could have the greatest impact on the Seniors Tour of anyone since Arnold Palmer,” said Commissioner Deane Beman.

“Lee will certainly be a great added attraction to the Seniors Tour. He will be a definite factor,” said Arnold Palmer, whose personal magnetism helped provide the Seniors Tour with its enormous success.

“Lee will be a tremendous asset to the Seniors,” said Jack Nicklaus, who has indicated he will play an extremely limited schedule when he becomes eligible for the Seniors in January.

“He’s one of the most popular players who ever lived. The Seniors tour has been very successful and Lee will open up a whole new dimension for them,” Nicklaus said.

“Lee will be a great asset to this tour,” Gary Player said. “We will benefit tremendously. He’s a dear friend and I’m anxious for his arrival. There’s a good chance he’ll be the dominant player.”

Beman agreed.

“You’d expect him to win and win consistently,” the Commissioner said.

That’s what Trevino expects.

“I expect to win five tournaments or more the first year. I expect to shoot some very low scores,” said Trevino, whose rags to riches saga grew around the peaks of six major victories, two U.S. Open titles, two British Open crowns, two PGA national championships.

Those expectations are based not on hope but on the solid foundation of preparation.

“I’ve dedicated this year to getting ready for the Seniors,” said Trevino, who has dieted away some excess poundage and declares himself “in the best shape of my life.”

He’s playing a heavy schedule of regular Tour events, perhaps as many as 20 or more before his December debut in Hawaii.

And he’s beating hundreds of golf balls a day.

“It’s just like when I joined the Tour all those years ago,” Trevino said. “I looked at Billy Casper. He was the best player out there in the late ‘60s.

“I figured he had three times the talent I had. But he didn’t practice much. Didn’t then, doesn’t now. So I said, ‘OK, I’ll work three times as hard as he does.’

“I still have the talent. It hasn’t gone away. And I still have the nerve. You never know if the nerves are still there until you put them to the test, put them under pressure.

“I felt the nerve in Augusta (at the Masters, where he led for two rounds). The nerve is fine. I wanted to be there (in contention). I was glad to be there. That’s important.

“I never was a long hitter, but I’m still about as long as I ever was. The Seniors play a lot of short courses, so I should be in good shape there. But on the Seniors, the big thing is chipping and putting. And that’s my strength.”

His fascination with the Seniors began seven years ago, Trevino said, after a medical procedure -- “they burned a nerve in my back,” he said -- solved a chronic back problem that threatened to end his playing career.

“Of course, at that time, I had no idea the Seniors (tour) would grow like it has. It’s just gotten bigger and bigger and bigger,” he said.

So he signed a very lucrative five-year contract with NBC as an expert commentator on golf telecasts. That contract expired two years ago.

“NBC wanted to sign me for five more years,” Trevino said. “I said, ‘I’ll give you two.’ Because I knew I wanted to play the Seniors.

“I mean, when I came on the (regular) tour we were playing for a total for $8 million. Now, next year, the Seniors are going to be playing for $17-$20 million. That’s a helluva difference.”

That’s one of the reasons -- but not the sole, or even principal reason -- Trevino is making such a concerted effort to hit the Seniors Tour with as much impact as possible.

“I want to win Kaanapali as much as I’ve ever wanted anything in my life,” he said. “I’m going to go there a week early, play the golf course twice a day.

“Oh, I’ll be nervous. Everybody in the world will be shooting at me. I’m gonna be the new kid on the block and they’re gonna want to stop me.

“But what I want to do is win that and get in the Tournament of Champions (the kickoff event on the 1990 Tour schedule, with sections for winners from both the regular and Seniors tours).

“I’ll try extremely hard to win Kaanapali,” he repeated, then let that impish grin split the swarthy face.

“But nothing would give me greater satisfaction than to win one out here (on the regular tour) and go to the Tournament of Champions and say, ‘hey, guys, does this mean I can collect from both sides of the purse?’ ”

The pursuit of the dollar has been his prime consideration most of his life, Trevino said. But no longer.

“I’ve always had all those outings and contracts to do and I was running around the world and not ever seeing anything and I was making a helluva lot of money because that’s what the game is all about.

“That’s one reason I constructed all my contracts to end in ’89.

“For the first time in my life I’m going to be able to do what I want to do.

“And that’s play golf. That’s all I ever wanted to do, play golf. I’d rather play golf than eat,” he said.

His voice then went into a lower register and the quick-quipping jokester known to golf galleries and television audiences around the world was replaced by a thoughtful, vulnerable, yearning figure.

“I love this game so much,” he said.

“I’m 50 years old.

“This is my last time around. I want to enjoy it. I want to have fun. I will enjoy it because I’ll be with all the old guys I’ve been with all my life.

“I don’t want to have to do any Monday deals, any Tuesday outings. I don’t want to have to jump on a plane Sunday and go cut a commercial in Idaho.

“Now I’m in a financial position where I can call the shots. Before, somebody else called the shots.

“This is the frosting on the cake. I knew I’d get the cake. That’s the Seniors tour.

“But this is the frosting. With my new wife, with this baby, this is like starting a new life, starting all over again.

“But starting all over in completely different position. Being financially secure makes it an entirely different thing.

“This can be so wonderful if it’s right. It can be the happiest time of my life.

“And that’s where I am. That’s what I have. I have a beautiful wife. I have a beautiful child. I’m financially secure.

“And I’m gonna go on Seniors Tour and do what I love to do, play golf.

“You could give me the state of Texas and it wouldn’t be any better than this.”