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Tony Lema (February 25, 1934 - July 24, 1966) was
an American professional golfer.

Lema was born in Oakland, California. His father
died when Tony was three years old and his widowed
mother struggled to raise the family of four
children on welfare. He began playing golf as a
boy, but at age seventeen enlisted in the United
States Marine Corps and served in the Korean War.
After his discharge from the military in 1953 he
obtained work as an assistant to the club
professional at a San Francisco golf club.

By 1957, Lema had developed his skills
sufficiently enough to earn his way onto the PGA
Tour. He struggled until 1962, when he began an
impressive performance between then and 1966 that
saw him win ten PGA tour events, finish second on
eleven occasions, and third four times. In 1963 he
finished second by one stroke to Jack Nicklaus at
The Masters. In 1964, he won the AT&T Pro-Am at
Pebble Beach, California and then captured one of
the Grand Slam of Golf events by taking that
year's The Open Championship|British Open at Royal
and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews|St. Andrews,
Scotland. Lema was a member of the 1963 and 1965
United States Ryder Cup teams.

Lema was nicknamed "Champagne Tony" for his habit
of celebrating a tournament victory with a bottle
of Champagne (beverage)|champagne. In 1966, he was
flying with his wife Betty to an exhibition match
in Chicago, Illinois when their chartered
Beechcraft Twin Bonanza|twin-engine Beechcraft
Bonanza ran out of fuel and crashed,
coincidentally, on the seventh hole of a golf
course in Lansing, Illinois. All four people on
board were killed. 

Tony Lema and his wife were buried in the Holy
Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward, California.

== Quotes ==
"A buoyant, positive approach to the game is as
basic as a sound swing."

"Golf is like solitaire. When you cheat, you only
cheat yourself."

"In choosing a partner, always pick the optimist."

"You build a golf game like you build a wall, one
brick at a time."

"If I had to cram all my tournament experience
into one sentence, I would say, "Don't give up and
don't let up!""

sportbio-stub

lived|b=1934|d=1966|key=Lema, Tony