Sports Watch
FROM Koloa, Kauai, to Capetown, South Africa. Now, that's not a road often traveled. Lehman, Jones
make a darn good teamBut, then, Tom Lehman has taken a lot of back roads before finally entering golf's super highway.
Lehman is on the Garden Island, competing in the MasterCard PGA Grand Slam, one of his perks as the British Open champion.
From the Poipu Bay Resort, where the Grand Slam ended today, Lehman will stop briefly at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home before flying to Capetown, where he and his good buddy, Steve Jones, will represent the United States in the World Cup next week.
Koloa today, Capetown tomorrow for the PGA Tour's leading money winner, who also captured the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average.
Not bad for the 37-year-old Lehman, who scuffled around five different mini-tours in addition to playing on the Asian, South African and Ben Hogan tours before finally regaining his PGA playing card in 1992.
Lehman, who earned $1.78 million this year and has the chance to win another $400,000 today, never dreamed of such riches back then.
Talk about a rags-to-Dockers story.
HE remembers one time right after a Hogan tournament in Amarillo, Texas, when he had to drive all the way to San Diego for the wedding of his wife's brother.
Lehman was in a hurry and didn't want to spend a night at a motel because it was already 2 in the morning.
''I didn't have time to stop, but I stank. So I pulled over to the side of the road in Gallup, New Mexico. It was raining. That's how I showered.''
Now he showers in plush hotels such the Hyatt Regency Kauai, or in the case of last year, the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, when he played in the Lincoln-Mercury Kapalua International.
Not that he wanted to, but Lehman skipped this year's Kapalua International, which Jones played in before going to the Grand Slam event as the U.S. Open champion.
The Road to Morocco had beckoned, at least for his wife, Melissa.
''I never wanted to go to Morocco. My wife did,'' Lehman said. But by winning the British Open, he qualified for the PGA Grand Slam, which features the winners of golf's four major championships.
Lehman couldn't get to Kauai from Morocco in time, so he asked to be released from his obligation. But the release stipulated that Lehman could not play in any other conflicting tournament, so Kapalua was out of the question.
Melissa apparently has gotten Morocco out of her system. The Lehmans plan to play at Kapalua once again next year.
Kapalua, after all, has proven to be a good tune-up for the World Cup.
Davis Love III and Fred Couples won the World Cup an unprecedented four straight years right after leaving the West Maui tournament.
''We felt we proved what we wanted,'' Love said in not defending the title again.
SO Lehman and Jones will take over, and they hope that some of that aloha magic rubs off on them.
''We have big shoes to fill,'' Lehman said. ''They've won four in a row. That's a pretty good record.''
Both Lehman and Jones feel they have the same chemistry enjoyed by Love and Couples, two friends who like playing together. ''It's always fun to play with friends,'' Jones said.
They had fun yesterday, maybe too much so.
''I was calling him partner today a couple of times, you know, kind of getting the feel for it for next week,'' Jones said.
''He did,'' said Lehman, ''but I'm not sure the other guys (Nick Faldo and Mark Brooks) appreciated it. They thought we were teaming up on them. Steve likes to joke around and keep me loose. We're looking forward to a fun week.''