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Trevino and his wife moved into a small trailer on a farm four miles from the course in 1966. "Lee used to jog to work to keep his legs in shape," recalls Don Whittington, then a co-owner of Horizon City. "Even in those days, he had very definite ambitions to become a great golfer." Trevino played the gusty desert course with Spartan regularity. When winds of up to 60 m.p.h. kicked up the sand, he donned scuba-diver goggles and kept swinging. Impressed by his determination, Whittington and his partner paid Trevino's plane fare to the 1966 U.S. Open in San Francisco. Playing with an unmatched bag of clubs ("I must have had seven different brands"), he finished 54th and was so discouraged that he refused to enter the 1967 Open. Claudia ("I'd be in jail now if it weren't for her," he says) sent in his registration anyway and shoved him off to Odessa, Texas, for the qualifying rounds. He shot a 69-67 to become the lowest local qualifier in the nation.
When Trevino arrived for the Open at the Baltusrol Country Club in Springfield, N.J., his wardrobe was sparse. "I had to walk 500 yds. down the road to a Chinese joint in order to eat because the dining room at my motel insisted on a tie and jacket. I ate so much Chinese food I was slant-eyed." It apparently agreed with him. He finished fifth, won $6,000 and was later named the Rookie of the Year. Lee Buck Trevino was on his way.
Since joining the tour, Lee has won nine P.G.A. tournaments and currently ranks No. 10 among golf's alltime money winners. (Palmer leads, with $1,364,898.) Besieged by sponsors waiting to have their wallets tapped, he also has a host of lucrative endorsement deals with, among others, Blue Bell, Inc. (sportswear), Abbott Laboratories (golf equipment), Stylist Shoe Co., Downtowner Motor Inns, Chrysler's Dodge Division, and, of course, the Dr Pepper Co. In addition, Lee Trevino Enterprises Inc. is readying a TV series called Golf Celebrity and a $1.5 million luxury apartment complex in El Paso called Casa Trevino.
Why Go to Bed?
Will success spoil Lee Trevino? Never, he says, confident that his trying times are behind him. Thanks to the nitty-gritty experience of his hustling days, he says the pressure of competition never bothers him. "A $5 bet and only $2 in your pocket—that's pressure." What did get to him, though, was all the promoting and partying. Easily lured out for a night of carousing with friendly Fleas, Trevino all too often would live up to his happy philosophy: "I love livin'. Why go to bed? I like to party because I missed a lot of nights when I couldn't afford parties. I get my five hours' sleep." Asked what the toughest feature of the Greater New Orleans Open course was, he answered: "Bourbon Street." After tying for first place in the National Airlines Open in Miami last year, he stayed up half the night drinking beer and betting on jai alai. Next day, teeing up for his play-off with Bob Menne, he said: "Shoot, I was just coming in this morning when he was getting up. Man, a guy can get loo much rest." The psych worked. On the second hole, Menne lipped out a 2-ft. putt for a bogey, and Trevino was $40,000 richer.