On This Date in Sports August 19, 1984: Lee Trevino's Last Ride
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
Lee Trevino wins the PGA Championship, posting 15 under par 273 to beat Lanny Wadkins and Gary Player by four strokes at Shoal Creek Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama. It is the sixth overall major title for Trevino and second PGA Championship. The victory would end up as the last hurrah for the 44-year-old from Dallas, as he would not win another tournament on the PGA Tour.
Lee Trevino was born on December 1, 1939, in Dallas, Texas. Lee Trevino’s father had been a gravedigger before abandoning his family. Without his father, the young Lee Trevino spent a lot of time with his uncle and learned the sport of golf. Dropping out of school, Trevino worked to help support the family, as he earned $30 a week, working as a caddie at a local country club. There he worked on his game. At the age of 17, Trevino was inducted into the Marines. While in the Marines, Trevino competed in Armed Forces golf events.
After leaving the Marines, Lee Trevino turned professional, earning his tour card in 1967 a year he was named PGA Rookie of the Year. A year later, he won his first major, capturing the US Open Championship at the Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York. Ian 1971, he won his second U.S. Open and added an Open Championship, on the way to being named PGA Player of the Year. Trevino repeated at the Open in 1972. In 1974, Lee Trevino won the PGA Championship for the first time, beating Jack Nicklaus by one stroke. The Masters would always elude, the Merry Mexican, as his best finish in Augusta were a pair of Top Ten finishes a decade apart.
By the time Lee Trevino arrived in Shoal Creek, his career was in the twilight as he had not won a tournament in three years. Right from the start of the tournament, it was the old guys who seemed to be rising to the top of the leaderboard as 42-year-ole Raymond Floyd shot a four-under-par 68 and held a share of the lead with Mike Reid and Lanny Wadkins. Lee Trevino meanwhile was in a crowded group of golfers one stroke off the lead. Gary Player at the age of 48, stole the show in the second round, shooting a 63, to grab a share of the lead at -7, with Trevino who had a 68 and Wadkins who had 69. Lee Trevino remained steady atop the leaderboard on moving day, with a 67 on Saturday to drop to 12 under par, earning a one-stroke lead over Lanny Wadkins and a two-stroke lead over Player.
Playing with Lanny Wadkins, Lee Trevino started the final round strong, with birdies on the first and third holes. Wadkins would birdie the second hole, as Gary Player dropped a stroke. Trevino dropped a stroke on the fifth as Wadkins moved into a tie, with a birdie on the sixth hole. As the front nine came to an end, Lanny Wadkins took the lead, while Player got back in the conversation with back-to-back birdies. Lee Trevino remained unshaken and steady, with eight straight pars, meanwhile Player and Wadkins each had a pair of bogies. On the 14th hole, Lee Trevino moved closer to winning the Wanamaker Trophy, as he sank a birdie to gain a two-stroke edge over Lanny Wadkins. Wadkins would answer with a birdie on the 15th, but following a bogey on the 17th, it was clear that the tournament belonged to Lee Trevino. Wadkins finished with a bogey on the 18th, finishing in a second-place tie with Gary Player at -11. Trevino meanwhile sank a birdie on the final hole to finish at -15, the lowest score ever in a PGA Championship at that time.
The victory at Shoal Creek was the 29th overall tour victor for Lee Trevino, ranking among the best of all-time. It would also be his last victory, as his second-place finish at the PGA in 1985 the closest he would come to winning again, though he went on to have a long successful career on the Senior (Champions) Tour.