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20-758: Thomas Edward Lehman (born March 7, 1959) is an American professional golfer . A former #1 ranked golfer, his tournament wins include one major title, the 1996 Open Championship ; and he is the only golfer in history to have been awarded the Player of the Year honor on all three PGA Tours : the regular PGA Tour , the developmental Korn Ferry Tour , and the PGA Tour Champions . Born in Austin, Minnesota , and raised in Alexandria , Lehman played college golf at

40-403: A living solely from playing tournament golf until some way into the 20th century ( Walter Hagen is sometimes considered to have been the first man to have done so). In the developed world, the class distinction is now almost entirely irrelevant. Golf is affordable at public courses to a large portion of the population, and most golf professionals are from middle-class backgrounds, which are often

60-575: A professional may not play in amateur tournaments unless the Committee is notified, acknowledges and confirms the participation. It is very difficult for a professional to regain their amateur status; simply agreeing not to take payment for a particular tournament is not enough. A player must apply to the governing body of the sport to have amateur status reinstated. Historically, the distinction between amateur and professional golfers had much to do with social class . In 18th and 19th century Britain, golf

80-654: A star American golfer, Lehman won almost as many regular tour events internationally as he did in the United States. His most well-known victory was at the 1996 Open Championship in England. He also won the 1993 Casio World Open on the Japan Golf Tour and the 1997 Gulfstream Loch Lomond World Invitational on the European Tour . He also recorded runner-up finishes at the 1989 South African Open and

100-669: Is the case in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. Professional golfers from these countries are quite often from poor backgrounds and start their careers as caddies, for example, Ángel Cabrera of Argentina , and Zhang Lian-wei , who is the first significant tournament professional from the People's Republic of China . In various countries, Professional Golfers' Associations (PGAs) serve either or both of these categories of professionals. There are separate LPGAs (Ladies Professional Golf Associations) for women. Under

120-741: The Asia Golf Circuit , where he won seven national opens between 1983 and 1989 and was the overall circuit champion twice, in 1983 and 1988. He also played on the Ben Hogan Tour (now Nationwide Tour) in 1992, where his best finish was T-5 at the Ben Hogan Louisiana Open . He played on the Japan Golf Tour in 2001, where his best finish as a member was T-11 at the NST Niigata Open Golf Championship , he had previously finished T-9 at

140-905: The Senior PGA Championship in a playoff over Fred Couples and David Frost for his first Champions Tour major championship. In 2011, Lehman topped the Champions Tour money list and was voted the Champions Tour Player of the Year . He is the first golfer to win "Player of the Year" honors on all three tours operated by the PGA Tour. In June 2012, Lehman defended his title at the Regions Tradition, to win his third senior major championship. He won by two strokes from Germany's Bernhard Langer and Taiwan's Lu Chien-soon . In his next major appearance at

160-581: The Senior Players Championship , he finished runner-up, two strokes behind Joe Daley . Lehman and his wife Melissa have lived for many years in Scottsdale, Arizona , and they have four children: two daughters and two sons. Lehman is a devout Christian. PGA Tour playoff record (0–3) *Note: The 1991 Ben Hogan Gulf Coast Classic was shortened to 36 holes due to rain. Ben Hogan Tour playoff record (2–2) Co-sanctioned by

180-629: The TPG Tour Other playoff record (0–1) *Note: The 2018 Principal Charity Classic was shortened to 36 holes due to weather. PGA Tour Champions playoff record (3–2) European Senior Tour playoff record (1–0) WD = Withdrew CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" indicates a tie for a place CUT = missed the halfway cut "T" indicates a tie for a place Cancelled due to 9/11 QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play "T" = tied NT = No tournament Results not in chronological order before 2022. CUT = missed

200-628: The University of Minnesota in Minneapolis–Saint Paul , graduated with a degree in business/accounting, and turned professional in 1982. It took Lehman many years to become a leading tour professional. He played on the PGA Tour with little success from 1983 to 1985 , and was then obliged to play elsewhere for the following six seasons. This included time in Asia and South Africa and on

220-464: The 1985 Golf Digest Tournament as a non-member. After being sidelined for eight years (2001–08) with back problems, he returned to competition in 2009. He qualified for the Champions Tour via qualifying school . His best finishes are T-2 at the 2010 JELD-WEN Tradition , 2nd at the 2011 Montreal Championship and T-2 at the 2012 Regions Tradition . He won the 2011 Fubon Senior Open on

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240-693: The 2000 Scottish Open , the European Tour event he won three years previous. Lehman was captain of the Ryder Cup team in 2006 , which lost 18½ to 9½ to Europe at the K Club in Ireland . In April 2009, Lehman became the 13th Champions Tour player to win his debut tournament. He teamed with Bernhard Langer to win the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in a playoff over Jeff Sluman and Craig Stadler . On May 30, 2010, Lehman won

260-451: The United States, the PGA of America has 31 distinct member classifications for professionals. Many of the classifications also have corresponding apprenticeship positions. Lu Chien-soon Lu Chien-soon ( Chinese : 盧建順 , born 28 December 1959) is a Taiwanese professional golfer . Lu won 20 tournaments in his native Taiwan. He also had success elsewhere in Asia, especially on

280-503: The halfway cut "T" indicates a tie for a place NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic Lehman has won the following awards: Player in italics denotes current number one Professional golfer In golf, the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose said status. A golfer who has lost their amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated;

300-431: The player's score on a hole is not the primary goal, such as long drive and putting competitions, outside the amateurism rules. If an amateur accepts a prize of greater than this in a competition covered by the amateurism rules, they forfeit their amateur status, and are therefore by definition a professional golfer. Professional golfers are divided into two main groups, with a limited amount of overlap between them: In

320-433: The rules of golf and amateur status, the maximum value of a prize an amateur can accept is £700 or US$ 1000. Before the most recent increase in 2022, the maximum had been £500 or $ 750. The 2022 changes also significantly reduced the scope of competitions in which the prize limit applies. Before that time, the only competitions exempt from prize limits were hole in one contests. The 2022 changes took all competitions in which

340-404: The same sort of backgrounds as the members of the clubs where they work or the people they teach the game, and are educated to university level. Leading tournament golfers are very wealthy; upper class in the modern U.S. usage of the term. However, in some developing countries, there is still a class distinction. Typically, golf is restricted to a much smaller and more elite section of society than

360-576: The second tier Ben Hogan Tour in the United States. He regained his PGA Tour card by topping the Ben Hogan Tour's 1991 money list, and enjoyed unbroken membership of the PGA Tour from 1992 until shortly after he joined the Champions Tour . He was named PGA Tour Player of the Year in 1996 . From 1995 to 1997, Lehman held the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open, but each time failed to win. During this period he won his only major championship to date, The Open Championship in 1996 . In April 1997, he

380-569: Was Number 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking for what would be only one week. He has won five times on the PGA Tour, but in addition to his Open win these wins have included the season-ending Tour Championship and Memorial Tournament , and he has won at least nineteen professional events in total. Although Lehman did not win a lot of tournaments on the PGA Tour he was one of the most consistent players on tour with 19 runner-up finishes between 1992 and 2006. Unusually for

400-454: Was played by the rich, for pleasure. The early professionals were working-class men who made a living from the game in a variety of ways: caddying , greenkeeping, clubmaking, and playing challenge matches. When golf arrived in America at the end of the 19th century, it was an elite sport there, too. Early American golf clubs imported their professionals from Britain. It was not possible to make

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