Professional Career
It took him many years to become a leading tour professional. He played on the PGA Tour with little success from 1983 to 1985, and was then obliged to play elsewhere for the following six seasons. This included time in Asia and South Africa and on the second tier Ben Hogan Tour in the United States. He regained his PGA Tour card by topping the Ben Hogan Tour's 1991 money list, and has enjoyed unbroken membership of the PGA Tour since 1992. He was named PGA Tour Player of the Year in 1996.
From 1995 to 1997 Lehman held the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open, but each time failed to win. During this period he won his only major championship to date, the 1996 Open Championship. In April 1997 he spent a week at Number 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He has won five times on the PGA Tour, but in addition to his Open win these wins have included the season-ending Tour Championship and Memorial Tournament, and he has won at least nineteen professional events in total.
Lehman was captain of the defeated United States 2006 Ryder Cup team.
In April 2009, Lehman became the 13th Champions Tour player to win his debut tournament. He teamed with Bernhard Langer to win the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in a playoff over Jeff Sluman and Craig Stadler. On May 30, 2010, Lehman won the Senior PGA Championship in a playoff over Fred Couples and David Frost for his first Champions Tour major championship. In 2011, Lehman topped the Champions Tour money list and was voted the Champions Tour Player of the Year. He is the first golfer to win "Player of the Year" honors on all three tours operated by the PGA Tour.
In June 2012, Lehman defended his title at the Regions Tradition, to win his third senior major championship. He won by two strokes from Germany's Bernhard Langer and Taiwan's Chien Soon Lu. In his next major appearance at the Senior Players Championship, he finished runner-up, two strokes behind Joe Daley.
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Famous quotes containing the words professional and/or career:
“I sometimes wonder whether, in the still, sleepless hours of the night, the consciences of ... professional gossips do not stalk them. I myself believe in a final reckoning, when we shall be held accountable for our misdeeds. Do they? If so, they have cause to worry over many scoops that brought them a day’s dubious laurels and perhaps destroyed someone’s peace forever.”
—Mary Pickford (1893–1979)
“A black boxer’s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. Every day is like being in the gym, sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a black male must confront in the United States, where he is the object of both fear and fascination.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)