Lehman influential ahead of home town bid for success

TOM LEHMAN led the tour in prize money the last time a major championship was played in his home state of Minnesota.

But it was the Hogan Tour, the forerunner to today's Buy Golf.Com circuit, and the counterpart to the Challenge Tour in Europe. As the late Payne Stewart went on to defeat Scott Simpson in a play-off for the US Open at Hazeltine in 1992, Lehman was on a fishing expedition in Michigan.

"I was like every other mini-tour player," said the 1996 British Open champion last night. "I was looking for one break that would get me over the hump. I had the talent but there were a lot of mini-tour guys with as much talent as I had who never made it."

His words would have a certain resonance for a number of young Irishmen in similar situations back in Europe. Take Dubliner Peter Lawrie. He captured the Irish Amateur Close Championship by hammering Garth McGimpsey in the final at Royal Co Down in 1996. A year later, he reached the final again only to lose this time to Ken Kearney at Westport. That was enough to convince Lawrie, a commerce graduate from UCD, that he should try for his card on the European Tour. He has been trying ever since.

But a few useful performances on the Challenge Tour have moved him up to 11th in the points race and within touching distance of his card as the top fifteen at the end of the season move up to the top grade. A decent four days at Ballyliffen in this week's North West of Ireland might finally see Peter's luck change. The pressure is on and now would be the time to remember how Tom Lehman came from similar obscurity to make his mark on the US Tour, win the Open, play in the Ryder Cup and become a multi-millionaire.

After all, Lehman wasn't a golfing prodigy like Tiger Woods or an operater like PGA champion David Toms. But he loved to play golf and when he tees off tomorrow he will make his first Tour appearance in his home state of Minnesota. They don't remember him here as an above ordinary golfer in his early days at St Johns College but he subsequently got a big break when enlisted by the University of Minnesota. He quickly became one of their five best players and went on scholarship.

"The formation of the Hogan Tour was my break," he says. "It came at the perfect time for me as I was beginning to play well again." He was player of the year on the Hogan Tour in 1991 and regained his card on the main circuit. And the rest, as they say, is history. In 1996, he won the Open, topped the US money list and was named player of the year a far cry from renting out skis. So it could be argued that if Tom Lehman could do it, so, too, can young ambitious Irishmen like Peter Lawrie, Gary Murphy, Damien McGrane and the rest.

At least, they've never had to on a second job make ends meet and might well derive encouragement from the way Lehman has turned his career round that he is now talking up his chances of winning here this week.

"I switched to a new long putter earlier in the year and it has given me a lot of fresh confidence," he said.

"I have had three top ten finishes including 9th in my last outing in the International. My putting is the strength of my game right now."