Champions Tour Insider: Lehman continues major run

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Minnesota native Tom Lehman wanted to perform well for the homestate fans at last week's PGA Championship.

Tom Lehman has been playing professional golf at the highest levels for nearly 30 years but he's never experienced anything quite like this.

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"I've had such an amazing schedule," Lehman said.

And there's no let-up in sight.

At this week's JELD-WEN Tradition on the Champions Tour, Lehman will be playing in his sixth major championship since the third week in June, a stretch of barely two months.

Lehman, a winner this year in his Champions Tour debut at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf alongside Bernhard Langer, is coming off a memorable week at the 91st PGA Championship in his native Minnesota. He was the sentimental favorite son, made the cut and had some good moments to tie for 60th at Hazeltine National Golf Club.

"It was an emotional week and that was part of what made it difficult for me," said Lehman, 50. "I'm not sure I've ever pressed so hard to want to shoot a good score. It's been a draining week that way. The harder I tried the worse I seemed to play. Then I would relax and play better again."

The roller coaster prevented Lehman from playing his best golf.

"I made mistakes," Lehman said. "Nothing but highs and lows, just a wild week. Mountains and valleys. Difficult to play that way. Not fun to struggle that way.

"I did a lot of good things. One thing I'm extremely proud of, I could have tanked it three days in a row and shot a million. I fought back. Like (Sunday), I fought back from 5-over to 1-over, then made a double (bogey at the 17th). That's the kind of thing that drives me nuts. You work so hard to make something of a mess, then to make another mess."

There was a heart-felt connection between Lehman and the galleries at Hazeltine. Every shot, good or bad, was greeted with affection, every gesture drew a favorable response of some sort.

"I don't want to embarrass myself in front of the hometown fans," he said. "I didn't want to come out here, play terrible and shoot an embarrassing score in front of people you want to play well in front of.

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Tom Lehman (left) won his first Champions Tour event with Bernhard Langer (right).

"I want to play well, give these folks something to cheer about. Next week (the JELD-WEN) will be easier in that reg ard but I am a little tired."

Making the cut at Hazeltine was little consolation.

"I fully expected that I should be making the cut," Lehman said. "The day I'm happy about making the cut is the day I should quit. I did play four days. A lot of guys didn't. That's the good news."

Lehman's rookie season on the Champions Tour has consisted of four events. He has teed it up 14 times on the PGA TOUR with his best finish a tie for eighth at the Transitions Championship. He made the cut in both the U.S. Open (T47) and the British Open (T60).

After combining with Langer to win the Liberty Mutual Legends in a playoff, Lehman tied for 22nd at the Senior PGA Championship and 58th at the Senior Open. At the U.S. Senior Open at Crooked Stick, Lehman posted his best individual finish on the Champions Tour, tying for eighth behind champion Loren Roberts.

"It's been a really, really great year," Lehman said. "My schedule has been just full of amazing tournaments."

The PGA Championship was his fourth major in a row; the JELD-WEN will be No. 5. Then he'll have one more major left, the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship.

Lehman expects to return to the PGA TOUR after this week. He knows it's getting to the point where a decision on his longterm involvement must be made. Lehman will sit down during the offseason and take a long, hard look at his options.

"I was told you need to focus your attention one place or the other," he said. "And I really think that is true. You look at the PGA TOUR and all the things that go with playing well on the TOUR. It takes a full commitment to the TOUR to achieve those goals. The PGA TOUR is a great tour. It's hard to leave it."

"You look at the Champions Tour and all the things that come with playing well there. It takes a full commitment to do well out there. I really don't see the flip-flopping back-and-forth lasting very long. I think at some point it's going to be a decision that either I stick with the PGA TOUR for another year and go full-time or I stick with the Champions Tour full-time and give it my full effort."

Champions Tour Insider notes:

• Bernhard Langer leads with 10 top-10 finishes, followed by Loren Roberts, Larry Mize and Fred Funk each with eight. Funk has played in 12 events, the other trio 14 each.

• Langer leads the scoring average category with a 69.93 average. Care to guess how many golfers are within one stroke of Langer's average? Six golfers are less than 1 shot higher, with Dan Forsman seventh at 69.88. The next 17 golfers, down to Tom Jenkins (70.76) are less than two strokes higher than Langer. Tom Wargo is at 72.88 -- that's a spread of less than 1 stroke between No. 1 and No. 70.

• Sixteen golfers have a final-round scoring average in the 60s.