Yes, a Nice Guy Can Finish First

Tom Lehman is as sturdy as a trash compactor, as dependable as a toaster and as consistent as a washing machine, which means he appears to be either the new British Open champion or a household appliance.

All right, there may be nothing spectacular about Lehman.

Some golfers hit the ball farther. Some of them hit it straighter. A lot of them putt the ball better than he does.

He’s something of a plodder. It seems as if somebody ought put him in front of a plow and point him toward the field.

Lehman probably got shortchanged. He doesn’t have Greg Norman’s hair, Nick Faldo’s swagger or Fred Couples’ attitude.

But what he does have is his name on the British Open trophy as the 1996 champion, and that’s something none of those other guys can say.

There have been eight Open Championships played at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, the place squeezed between a railway line and tidy rows of two-story brick homes.

But Lehman is the only American professional ever to have won here, although Bobby Jones won as an amateur in 1926.

The fact that Lehman’s name is inscribed on the old claret jug that is the British Open trophy isn’t just a quirk of history. How Lehman got there wasn’t necessarily pretty or flashy, but that’s not surprising because Thomas Edward Lehman has been pretty much the opposite his entire life.

Lehman turned pro in 1983. He played three years and made less than $40,000. So for the next six years, Lehman toiled in golf’s minor leagues. He played the mini-tours all over the world. For a while, he was a club pro at Wood Ranch.

He remembers playing in a $4,000 tournament, trying to make expenses, wondering if he was ever going to make it. Tom Lehman was 30 at the time.

Then he thought about quitting pro golf. Maybe he would try something different, like coaching the University of Minnesota golf team for $29,000. That might have sounded pretty good, even if part of his job was to rent skis from the pro shop during the winter, but Lehman had a dream.

He dreamed of making it in big-time golf. Lehman and his wife, Rachel, decided he should give it one more chance.

In 1991, Lehman was the leading money winner on the Hogan Tour, now the Nike Tour, which was worth not only $141,934, but also his PGA Tour card.

As it turned out, it was the start of something big for Lehman. He nearly won the 1994 Masters. He nearly won the 1995 U.S. Open. He nearly won the 1996 U.S. Open.

And on Sunday, with his father, Jim, watching him, he won the oldest major championship in golf. His two-over par 73 didn’t exactly knock the place off its foundation, but it didn’t matter, basically because he had done it the day before with a course-record 64.

They’ve been playing golf at Royal Lytham since 1886.

In his white shirt and white cap, Lehman sure dressed like the part of the good guy. He has acted it for a long time already.

He has been practicing for that day when he could walk up the 18th fairway to loud and long applause, wipe away tears of relief and joy and never have to wonder again if it was all worthwhile.

It has been a long journey. Lehman always has been on the fairway, on the green and in the hole. Now he’s on the trophy.