legends of the game
Champagne Tony the entertainer
he met and married Betty.
David Newbery
His first win was the Imperial Valley Open
in 1957, but the real breakthrough arrived in
1962 when he captured Sahara Invitational
and a month later the Orange County
California Open.
[email protected]
W
HO knows what top American
golfer Tony Lema would have
achieved had his life not ended
prematurely.
That’s when he was given the moniker
Champagne Tony.
He was in his prime and considered a
serious challenger to the Big Three – Jack
Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player –
when his life ended in tragedy.
He was the tournament leader after three
rounds and faced the media drinking a beer.
“It’ll be champagne for all if I win,” he told
journalists.
Lema, affectionately known as Champagne
Tony, died on July 24, 1966 when the private
plane he was travelling with wife Betty crashed.
He kept his word, supplied a crate of
champagne and even secured a sponsorship
from Moët and Chandon.
The 1964 Open Championship winner’s
death, at 32, rocked the golf world.
Born on the wrong side of the track in
1934 in Oakland, California Lema, the son
of poverty-stricken Portuguese immigrants,
went off the rails in his teens.
Reluctant to go, Lema said he would make the
trip on the proviso Palmer give him his putter.
Palmer not only gave him his putter, but his
caddie Tip Anderson, who guided Lema, who
was a good putter and outstanding wedge
and short-iron player, around St Andrews.
He played on the 1963 and 1965 victorious
Ryder Cup teams.
In foursomes he had three wins and a half; in
fourballs a win and a loss and in singles he won
three and halved one match with Peter Alliss.
Oftentimes, Lema would disappear and go to
church and then come back and stay out late.
He finished in a tie for fifth in the US Open
in the same year.
In 1964, he tied ninth in the Masters, won
the Open and was tied ninth in the PGA
Championship and a year later tied eighth in
the US Open and tied fifth in the Open.
His father died when he was three and his
mother had to raise four hungry kids.
He took a job as an assistant pro at San
Francisco Golf Club wher