Information AboutLee Trevino |
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Lee Buck Trevino (born December 1 , 1939 ) is an American professional Golfer . He is an icon for Mexican American s. EARLY LIFE Lee Buck Trevino was born in Dallas, Texas in poverty to parents of Mexican descent. His mother and grandfather, a gravedigger, raised Trevino. He never knew his father. Trevino's childhood amounted to him spending time attending school occasionally and working to help earn money for the family. At the age of five, Lee even started working in the cotton fields. Trevino was introduced to the game of Golf when his uncle gave him a few old golf balls and a rusty golf club. From this point on, Lee could not get enough. He spent most of his free time sneaking into nearby country clubs to practice his newly found activity. At eight years old he began caddying at a local golf course. However, a few years later, caddying became a full time job because he needed to earn enough money to survive. Thus, after eighth grade, Trevino had to leave school in order to go to work. As a caddy and a shoe shiner, Trevino worked for 30 U.S. Dollars a week. On top of this, he was also able to make priceless gains in his golfing ability. This was because the caddies had three short practice holes behind their shack, and it was there, with old, discarded clubs, that Trevino learned to improve his golf game. For years, every day after work, he would work on improving his skills by hitting a least 300 balls a session. At seventeen, Trevino joined the United States Marine Corps and served four years. Over the last eighteen months in the service, a great deal of his time was spent playing golf with Marine Corps officers. PROFESSIONAL CAREER After his discharge, Trevino continued his pursuit of the game. In 1967, he began playing on the PGA Tour . In 1968 at the Oak Hill Country Club (Rochester, New York), a large goal was reached when he won the U.S. Open . From here on there was no looking back. Over the course of his career, Trevino won 29 times on the PGA Tour, including six Majors . He was at his best in the early 1970s, when for a time he was Jack Nicklaus 's biggest rival, winning the money list title in 1970, and picking up ten wins in two seasons in 1971 and 1972. After winning the 1974 PGA Championship he was struck by lightening and suffered injuries to his spine and back. He later underwent surgery to remove a damaged spinal disk and back problems later restricted his play. However while he did not quite return to his early 1970s prime, he remained one of the world's leading players for more than another decade, winning his last major, the 1984 PGA Championship at the unusually advanced age of 44. In the early 1980s he was was second on the PGA Tour career money list, behind only Jack Nicklaus. {Link without Title} Trevino also won more than 20 international and unofficial professional tournaments. In his fifties he was one of the key charismatic stars who helped to make the PGA Senior Tour, now the Champions Tour , a commercial success. He picked up the same tally of 29 wins on this tour as he had on the regular tour, including four Senior Majors . He topped the senior money list in 1990 and 1992. Trevino played for the United States in the Ryder Cup six times, and had an impressive 17-7-6 win-loss-half record. In 1971 he was awarded the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year and won '' Sports Illustrated '' magazine's " Sportsman Of The Year " award. Trevino has established numerous scholarships and continues to offer assistance to many Mexican Americans who are less fortunate. Through out his career, Trevino was seen as one of the more approachable and humorous of PGA golfers, and was frequently quoted by the press. His self–taught style led to many exciting shots and Skins Game victories. PGA TOUR WINS
Major championships are shown in bold. CHAMPIONS TOUR WINS
Senior majors are shown in bold. OTHER WINS
RESULTS IN MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIPS DNP = did not play CUT = missed the half way cut "T" indicates a tied for a place. Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10. SEE ALSO
REFERENCES Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas, ''The Mexican American Family Album''. New York: Oxford University Press , 1994. EXTERNAL LINKS
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