Anyone who has spent even five minutes in Lee Trevino’s presence knows he’s as good of a storyteller as he is a golfer. And that’s saying a lot considering he won six majors during his illustrious playing career. But the tale he told earlier this week might top them all.
After turning 50 at the end of 1989, Trevino was set to be a huge draw—and dominant figure—on the PGA Tour Champions. There was just one problem: Jack Nicklaus’ 50th birthday came less than two months after. But the Merry Mex came up with a devious plan to keep the 18-time major champ from teeing it up too much on the senior tour. We’ll let him take it from here.
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“I actually talked to Nicklaus’ manager and his wife, and you can ask Barbara,” Trevino said ahead of this week’s inaugural Simmons Bank Championship. “As I told Barbara, I said, ‘Listen, for every tournament that I enter, if you keep Jack at home, I’ll send you a dozen roses.'”
Lee, you evil genius! So how did this strategy turn out?
“And that year I played 38 tournaments and I sent Barbara Nicklaus 30 dozen roses, because she kept him home 30 of the tournaments,” Trevino continued. “And I was leading money winner that year.”
Amazing. Check out the clip:
In 1990, Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus joined PGA TOUR Champions together.
In efforts to keep Jack away, Trevino told Barbara, “For every event I enter, if you keep him at home, I’ll send you a dozen roses.”
Lee played 38 times that year. He sent Barbara 30 dozen roses 😅 pic.twitter.com/wRXnPs8pgA
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 24, 2024
Now, some quick fact-checking shows Lee is a little off with the numbers, but, hey, this was 34 years ago so we’ll give the guy a pass. Trevino played 28 tournaments, finishing in the top 2 a staggering 15 times, including seven wins. Nicklaus won half the time he teed it up, but he only played in four tournaments. Meanwhile, Barbara was showered in roses all year, so it was really a win-win-win situation.
Because Trevino’s overall point, however, still stands. Lee easily led the tour in earnings with nearly $1.2 million, by far the most profitable season of his entire career. So buying those roses—for someone else’s wife—really, really paid off. What a legend.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
