HUALALAI, Hawaii >> Nearly two decades ago Tom Lehman was practicing his putting stroke prior to the 2000 Sony Open in Hawaii.
A couple of weeks before, the winner of Saturday’s Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, won an event hosted by Tiger Woods that’s now known as the Hero World Challenge. It was the first time this elite event, that isn’t an official stop on the PGA Tour, was held and Lehman was part of a small field of golfers who were in his hometown of Scottsdale, Ariz., at the Greyhawk Golf Club to take part in this big-money tournament.
Lehman was 40 at the time, an established golfer, who had won the British Open and been the No. 1 player in the world in the unofficial golf rankings for all of one week. From 1995 through 1997 he was the 54-hole leader at the U.S. Open only to come away with no wins in arguably the most important of the four majors. He did manage to capture the British Open in 1996, his lone major at the highest level. He’s won three on the senior circuit.
But what made his victory in Woods’ event so memorable was the $1 million prize he pocketed as he got in his car with wife, Melissa, and drove back home before heading to Hawaii to tee it up at the Waialae Country Club. After he finished practicing his putting stroke, he came over to a couple of reporters waiting to talk with him about his victory in Arizona.
He was asked what it was like to win a million dollars in just one event and was it a life-changing moment for him and his family. He said, “Funny you should ask. My wife and I talked about that on the way home. We both said it wouldn’t change us.”
Fast-forward to 2019, this time Lehman was standing on the 18th green of the Jack Nicklaus-designed course with a trophy cradled in two hands and his wife, Melissa, still standing by his side, full family in tow. When asked about that day at the Sony, he thought about it for a second or two, looked over at this wife, who just shook her head a little and shrugged as if to say, no, I don’t remember.
But when prodded that it was his first million-dollar payday he said, “Heck, guys are winning a million dollars these days finishing second.” He glanced over at his wife again and then said, “No, it didn’t change us. We wouldn’t let it. In those days, a million was worth a lot more to us than it is today.”
Lehman pocketed a modest $305,000 with his PGA Tour Champions victory over hard-luck David Toms. After four runner-up finishes in the island chain dating back to the United Airlines Hawaiian Open in 1995, Lehman felt fortunate to hold a trophy he always wanted to put in his case back home. This was his 12th victory on the senior circuit. He won five times on the PGA Tour and managed a second at the Masters in 1994 and a tie for second at the U.S. Open in 1996.
He is the only golfer to be named player of the year on the Ben Hogan Tour (now Web.com) in 1991, PGA Tour player of the year in 1996 and PGA Tour Champions player of the year in 2011 and 2012. He’s also a humble and well-liked golfer who received congratulations from three-time Hualalai champion Bernhard Langer and Loren Roberts, who set the scoring record here at 25 under due to the course mark of 61 he shot in the final round in 2006.
The Boss of the Moss even posed with Lehman after the win. That’s how respected this now 59-year-old golfer is out here. He’s well-spoken and thoughtful before answering any questions. First of all, he felt bad for Toms, didn’t want to win it that way and paid his respects at the trophy presentation to his fallen opponent, who stayed around and answered some difficult questions of his own for how he let a four-shot lead slip away in the final round.
This is a difficult game to play. It requires a certain level of hand-eye coordination and a steely nerve that can desert you at a swing’s notice. For Toms, bogeys at Nos. 1 and 18 did him in as Lehman played the final 43 holes of the tournament bogey free. It wasn’t so much that Toms lost rather it was Lehman who won for the first time in the 50th state.
No, it wasn’t for a million bucks. Lehman will likely never win that much at one time again. But what he did have was his entire family with him cheering him on, posing with him at the trophy presentation and enjoying the moment in the dying light of Hualalai. And that’s worth so much more than a seven-figure payday.
