Lee Buck Trevino (born December 1, 1939) is an American professional golfer. He is an icon for Mexican Americans, and is often referred to as "The Merry Mex" and "Supermex".
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 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. Trevino himself claims that his time spent being a desirable golf partner helped earn him a sergeant's promotion.
Professional career
After his discharge, Trevino continued his pursuit of the game. In 1967, he began playing on the PGA Tour, that year he played in his first U.S. Open golf championship, he shot a 283, eight shots behind champion Jack Nicklaus, and earned $6,000 for finishing fifth. He won $26,472 as a rookie, 45th on the PGA Tour money list. 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. Among the highlights during those 2 memorable seasons, were winning the 1971 U.S. Open in an 18-hole playoff over Jack Nicklaus, then 2 weeks later, he won the Canadian Open and the following week The Open Championship, making him the only player to win three national titles in the same year, and he was rewarded the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of 1971, as well as winning Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award, he was also being named as ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year that year. After winning the 1974 PGA Championship he was struck by lightning at the 1975 Western Open 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 second on the PGA Tour career money list, behind only Jack Nicklaus.
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 Senior PGA 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 (1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1979, 1981), and had an impressive 17-7-6 win-loss-half record. He also served as team captain in 1985.
Trevino won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average five times: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, and 1980.
Trevino has established numerous scholarships and continues to offer assistance to many Mexican Americans who are less fortunate.
Throughout his career, Trevino was seen as one of the more approachable and humorous of PGA golfers, and was frequently quoted by the press. At the beginning of their 1971 playoff for the U.S. Open, he playfully threw a rubber snake at Jack Nicklaus. During his early career, much attention was focused by the press on a BandAid that Trevino wore on his forearm covering a tattoo of the name of his ex-wife. This became a frequent topic of self-deprecating humor for the good-natured Trevino. (He has since had this tattoo removed by a plastic surgeon using a laser technique.) His self–taught style, distinguished by an out-to-in swing designed to fade the ball (which he devised to combat a chronic hook), led to many exciting shots and skins game victories.
Trevino was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981.
PGA Tour wins (29)
- 1968 (2) U.S. Open, Hawaiian Open
- 1969 (1) Tucson Open Invitational
- 1970 (2) Tucson Open Invitational, National Airlines Open Invitational
- 1971 (6) Tallahassee Open Invitational, Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, U.S. Open, Canadian Open, The Open Championship, Sahara Invitational
- 1972 (4) Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, The Open Championship, Greater Hartford Open Invitational, Greater St. Louis Golf Classic
- 1973 (2) Jackie Gleason Inverrary-National Airlines Classic, Doral - Eastern Open Invitational
- 1974 (2) Greater New Orleans Open, PGA Championship
- 1975 (1) Florida Citrus Open
- 1976 (1) Colonial National Invitation
- 1977 (1) Canadian Open
- 1978 (1) Colonial National Invitation
- 1979 (1) Canadian Open
- 1980 (3) Tournament Players Championship, Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, San Antonio Texas Open
- 1981 (1) MONY Tournament of Champions
- 1984 (1) PGA Championship
Major championships are shown in bold.
Other wins (17)
- 1969 World Cup (with Orville Moody)
- 1971 World Cup (with Jack Nicklaus)
- 1973 Chrysler Classic (Australia), Mexican Open
- 1974 World Series of Golf (not yet a PGA Tour event)
- 1975 Mexican Open
- 1977 Morocco Grand Prix
- 1978 Benson & Hedges International Open, Lancome Trophy (both European Tour)
- 1979 Canadian PGA Championship
- 1980 Lancome Trophy
- 1981 Casio World Open (Japan Golf Tour), Sun City Classic (South Africa), PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States - unofficial event)
- 1983 Canadian PGA Championship
- 1985 Dunhill British Masters
- 1987 Skins Game
Champions Tour wins (29)
- 1990 (7) Royal Caribbean Classic, Aetna Challenge, Vintage Chrysler Invitational, Doug Sanders Kingwood Celebrity Classic, NYNEX Commemorative, U.S. Senior Open, Transamerica Senior Golf Championship
- 1991 (3) Aetna Challenge, Vantage at The Dominion, Sunwest Bank Charley Pride Senior Golf Classic
- 1992 (5) Vantage at The Dominion, The Tradition, PGA Seniors' Championship, Las Vegas Senior Classic, Bell Atlantic Classic
- 1993 (3) Cadillac NFL Golf Classic, Nationwide Championship, Vantage Championship
- 1994 (6) Royal Caribbean Classic, PGA Seniors' Championship, PaineWebber Invitational, Bell Atlantic Classic, BellSouth Senior Classic at Opryland, Northville Long Island Classic
- 1995 (2) Northville Long Island Classic, The Transamerica
- 1996 (1) Emerald Coast Classic
- 1998 (1) Southwestern Bell Dominion
- 2000 (1) Cadillac NFL Golf Classic
Senior majors are shown in bold.
Other senior wins (10)
- 1991 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Mike Hill)
- 1992 Mitsukoshi Classic, Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Mike Hill)
- 1993 American Express Grandslam
- 1994 American Express Grandslam
- 1995 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Mike Hill)
- 1996 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Mike Hill), Australian PGA Seniors'
Championship
- 2000 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Legendary Division (with Mike Hill)
- 2003 ConAgra Foods Champions Skins Game
Major Championships
Wins (6)
- 1968 US Open
- 1971 US Open
- 1971 British Open Championship
- 1972 British Open Championship
- 1974 PGA Championship
- 1984 PGA Championship
Winner of the U.S. Open in 1971 
