Tony Lema

Tony Lema joined the PGA TOUR in 1957, and after a slow start he became one of the game’s most popular players and a consistent winner. A native of Oakland, Calif., Lema won 22 professional titles, including 12 times on the PGA TOUR in a four-year span beginning in 1962. He was a fun-loving figure who earned the nickname “Champagne Tony” in 1962 after promising to buy champagne for the press if he won the Orange County Open Invitational. He went on to win by beating Bob Rosburg in a playoff. From 1963 to 1966, Lema didn’t miss a cut in 16 major championships, and he finished in the top-10 eight times, including a runner-up finish to Jack Nicklaus by one stroke at the 1963 Masters. At the 1964 Open Championship, Lema brilliantly navigated the Old Course at St. Andrews to beat Nicklaus by five strokes and win his only major title. Also a fierce competitor in match play, Lema helped the United States win two Ryder Cups and finished with an impressive record of eight wins, one loss and two ties. In 1966, at the age of 32, Lema died in an airplane crash in Illinois after leaving the 1966 PGA Championship at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. His wife Betty also died in the accident.