Lee Trevino is one of the best professional golfers in the United States. He had a hard childhood because he was born into extreme poverty. He couldn’t go to school every day, so he worked as a caddy. Since he was a caddy, he could watch many pros play and also work on his own golf game. Soon, he went from being a caddy to a U.S. Marine who played golf and a con man who bet on his golf shots to a successful rookie pro golfer. His first win was at the U.S. Open. S Open at Oakhill. In the early 1970s, he had his best year. In just twenty days, he won the Canadian Open, the British Open, and the U.S. Open for the second time. Six major championships are among his 29 wins. He is one of only four golfers who have won the U.S. Open more than once. Open, the British Open, The Open Championship, and the PGA Championship. The only major title he didn’t win was the Augusta Masters, which he passed up many times because he thought he couldn’t win there with his style. He was quiet when he wasn’t on the golf course, but when he was, he was a big talker and very funny. He was known as “the Merry Mex” and “Supermex,” and for many Mexican Americans, he became a symbol of hope and success.
Early years and childhood
On December 1, 1939, Lee Trevino was born in Dallas to a poor Mexican-American family. After his father left the family, his mother Juanita Trevino raised him with help from his gravedigger grandfather Joe Trevino.
He had a hard childhood and couldn’t go to school often because he had to work to help support his family. He started working in the cotton fields when he was five.
When his uncle gave him an old golf club and some balls, that was the first time he played golf. At age 14, he got a job as a caddy at the Dallas Athletic Club and did it full-time.
At 17, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. For the next four years, he could play golf with the Corp’s officers and take part in Asian golf tournaments.
Lee Trevino’s Career
When he got out of the Marines in 1960, he became a club-level professional. He played in the U.S. Open six years later. He did well to make it to the final round and tie for 54th place.
In 1967, when he won the U.S. Open, his career changed in a big way. He came in fifth, only eight shots behind the winner, Jack Nicklaus. He also got an automatic spot in the open the next year.
He had a great year in 1971. He became the first player to win the U.S. Open, the Canadian Open, and the British Open all in the same year. He did this in just 20 days.
In 1972, he won the British Open at Muirfield, Scotland, by beating the favorite, Jack Nicklaus. This made him the first player to do so since Arnold Palmer ten years earlier.
He won his first PGA Championship in 1974, but the next year he was hit by lightning at the Western Open in Chicago. This hurt his spine, and he had to have surgery to take out a damaged disk.
In 1984, he won the PGA Championship at Shoal Creek in Birmingham, Alabama. This was the last time he did well on the PGA Tour. With a score of 273, he beat Hal Sutton’s 10-under-par record from the year before.
He started playing on the Senior Tour near the end of 1989, and the next year he won seven titles. The most impressive of these wins was the one at the U.S. Senior Open, where he beat Nicklaus.
He didn’t play well at the Augusta Masters because the course didn’t fit his style, and he skipped it many times. Later, he said that he should not have skipped the tournament.
His Big Wins
Trevino won his first major title at the 1968 U.S. Open at the East Course of Oak Hill Country Club in New York. He beat the defending champion, Jack Nicklaus, by four strokes.
In 1971, he won three titles. First, he beat Nicklaus in the U.S. Open. Then, in the next three weeks, he won the first of three Canadian Opens and the British Open.
Awards & Achievements
Trevino won 29 times on the PGA Tour, and six of those wins were majors.
In 1970, he won $157,037 on the PGA Tour and was named the top money winner. The next year, he had six wins and won the PGA Player of the Year award. However, Jack Nicklaus won the most money.
Between 1970 and 1980, he won the Vardon Trophy five times. This trophy is named after a famous golfer and is given by the PGA of America to the golfer on the PGA Tour who has the best average score.
In 1971, he won two important awards: the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year and the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year. Sports Illustrated gave him this award because he embodied “the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement.”
In the 1990s, he won the Arnold Palmer Award twice as the player who made the most money on the Champions Tour in a season and the Byron Nelson Award three times as the player with the lowest average.
Personal History and Legacies
After his first two marriages to Claudia Fenley and Linda ended in divorce, Trevino married Claudia Bove in 1983. He had six children with his three wives: Richard, Daniel, Tony, Lesley Ann, Troy, and Olivia.
Estimated net worth
Lee Trevino is a professional golfer who is both Mexican and American. He is worth $50 million. People say that Lee Trevino is one of the best players in the history of his sport. During his career, he won 92 professional events, including six major championships and 29 PGA Tour events.
Trivia
This great golfer played himself in the Adam Sandler movie “Happy Gilmore.” The movie was about a made-up hockey player who failed but had a talent for golf that he never used.
This golfer, who was known for his wit, said, “You make a lot of money in this game. Ask my former wives. Both of them are so wealthy that their husbands don’t have to work.