17 Facts About Tony Lema

Anthony David Lema was an American professional golfer who rose to fame in the mid-1960s and won a major title, the 1964 Open Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland.

Tony Lema died two years later at age 32 in an aircraft accident near Chicago.

Tony Lema's father died of pneumonia when Tony was three years old, and his widowed mother struggled to raise the family of four children on welfare.

Tony Lema began playing golf as a boy at Lake Chabot municipal golf course and learned different aspects of the game from a variety of people.

At age 17, Tony Lema enlisted in the US Marine Corps and served in Korea.

Related searches

Four weeks later, on the eve of his playoff victory at the Orange County Open Invitational in Costa Mesa, California, Tony Lema joked he would serve champagne to the press if he won the next day.

Friend and tour colleague Jack Nicklaus wrote that Tony Lema's play stabilized and improved greatly after he married Betty Cline, a former airline stewardess, in 1963.

One additional reason for Tony Lema's more relaxed play that year was the end of his agreement with Lowery.

In 1963, Tony Lema finished second by one stroke to Nicklaus at the Masters, and missed the playoff for the US Open by two shots, bogeying the last two holes, believing he needed birdies.

Tony Lema won the Memphis Open Invitational later that summer.

Tony Lema won two other tournaments that fall and was named 1963 Most Improved Player by Golf Digest.

In 1964, Tony Lema won the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, then three tournaments in four weeks: the Thunderbird Classic at Westchester in Rye, New York, the Buick Open Invitational at Warwick Hills in Grand Blanc, Michigan, and the Cleveland Open at Highland Park.

Two weeks later at St Andrews, Scotland, Tony Lema captured his only major title at the Open Championship, five shots ahead of runner-up Nicklaus.

Tony Lema had hired Arnold Palmer's regular British caddy, Tip Anderson, since Palmer was not competing that year.

At the September matchup of the four major champions of 1964, in the 36-hole exhibition World Series of Golf, Tony Lema won $50,000 at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, over Palmer, Ken Venturi and Bobby Nichols.

In 1965, Tony Lema won the Buick Open for the second consecutive year, and the Carling World Open, finishing second in prize money to Nicklaus.

In Ludlow, Massachusetts, the road accessing the local country club is named Tony Lema Drive, and there is a collection of photographs and other items in the clubhouse of Ludlow Country Club featuring Lema.