Mexican-American Lee Trevino, the 5 foot, 7 inch tall comedian they call Super Mex, was one of the greatest pro golfers of all time. He won 6 majors and a total of 29 PGA Tour tournaments. Apparently, it was yesterday that he publicly revealed more information about why, at the early prime of his career, he announced he would never play in the Masters Tournament again. I know because I was there.
In 1969, Lee Trevino and I played together in the last round of the Masters. He had been having a bad day at the track, taking the Lord’s name in vain–that is Jesus Christ. Lee and I were friends then and have always remained so to this day. But that day, I decided as a Christian to take it upon myself to make this an opportunity to talk to Lee about the Lord. So, after we hit our drives off the par-five 15th hole and began walking up the fairway, I said, “Lee, you’ve been talking about a good friend of mine today, and I’d like to talk to you about him.” I’ve written a post about this and more entitled “‘It’s double-tough playin’ with John the Baptist’–Lee Trevino.” It was the only time in my life when I used that approach on someone in what Christians call “witnessing” about their faith.
Lee immediately responded in all seriousness, “You talkin’ about Charlie? I haven’t said a word about Charlie all day.” We had a mutual friend in our gallery named Charlie. I chuckled and said, “No, I’m talking about Jesus Christ.” Well, ever since then, Lee and I had a running conversation about God and Jesus, much of it in jest. It even included the time Lee got hit by lightning as I tell in that post.
I also tell in that post that it was true that Trevino’s game didn’t exactly fit the Augusta National Golf Club. Being from windy El Paso, Texas, Lee hit a low ball, sometimes with his bread-and-butter fade, whereas Augusta National is designed for hitting high iron shots to many of the greens, especially when you consider certain pin locations. And several of the tee shots require a hook, with none of them demanding a fade. As everyone always said, it was because the legendary Bobby Jones designed the course, and he hooked the ball.
So, Lee told the media that day that he was never coming back to play the Masters because the golf course didn’t fit his game. As I tell in that post, That was true, “but it was only part of the story.” The other part was that Georgia was a Southern state that still had noticeable racial discrimination. Lee was upset about that. For years, the Masters discriminated somewhat against Blacks or Hispanics. They never allowed women to join the club until years of public pressure caused them to change that.
But yesterday, Trevino gave out more information about why he quit the Masters and didn’t play in the years 1970, 1971, and 1974. He divulged, “My problem wasn’t with Augusta. My problem wasn’t with the golf course. I made it that simply because I didn’t want to tell the truth. My problem was I couldn’t get along with Cliff Roberts. Cliff Roberts and I locked horns the first time I was there. I took a disliking to the man and he took a disliking to me. I stayed away from there because I didn’t want to have anything to do with him.” Cliff Roberts was Bobby Jones’ go-to man who ran the Augusta club and the Masters.
Lee also reveals that Jack Nicklaus talked him into returning to the Masters. Lee says, “I never told Jack about it. I went back and I didn’t say anything. It wasn’t Augusta at all. I loved Augusta.”
Then Lee added something I thought was very interesting and that I can’t recall thinking about before. It was about Jimmy Demaret. He and his friend Jackie Burke were from Houston. I lived in metro-Houston for forty years, so I knew them. Demaret and Burke built Champions Golf Club with a community on the north side of Houston that was very successful. Demaret was such a colorful, friendly, and somewhat humorous guy. He won 37 PGA Tour tournaments from 1935 to 1957. And Demaret’s game back then was unusual in that he often hit a fade off the tee. Almost all pro golfers in those old days hooked the ball, partly to get more distance.
Well, Super Mex said in defense of his fade game at the Masters, “Jimmy Demaret won it three times with a fade.” Indeed, and those were Demaret’s only major wins.
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