Okay, trivia fans, answer this one:
Who is the only golfer to win the British Open, Scottish Open and Tapemark Charity Pro-Am?
I bet my typewriter more than one of you answered correctly with, “Tom Lehman.”
Minnesota’s pro-am hasn’t been around as long as the British Open and Scottish Open, but in more than four decades the event has commanded a lot of attention including memories of Lehman winning the 1990 Tapemark.
That was before Lehman, the Alexandria, Minnesota native, made it big on the PGA Tour. Bob Klas Sr., who along with Tapemark company partner Tom Cody started the charity tournament, remembers Lehman was “flat broke” in 1990.
“He asked how long it would take to get a check, if he could win one,” Bob Sr. said. “He was very concerned about his lack of funds. It was interesting. That was really the launching of his pro career. That was the pint of blood that kept him going.”
Klas said he thought Lehman earned a check for about $3,000 by winning the 1990 tournament. Years later Lehman made a commercial promoting the event with this message: “Who won the British Open, the Scottish Open and the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am?”
This year’s Tapemark will be the 42nd and involve men and women — pros and amateurs — in early June at Southview Country Club in West St. Paul. Golfers, volunteers and spectators are all welcome at the event that raises funds for agencies serving Minnesotans with developmental disabilities. Through the years nearly $7 million has been donated to nonprofits. More about the tournament online at tapemarkgolf.org.
Klas and Bob Jr. shared stories with Sports Headliners about the famous and not so famous figures associated with the Tapemark. Tournament followers from the 1990s remember Denny Hecker was the major sponsor for two years. He contributed about $70,000 in cash, plus promotional considerations. “I will say for all the things he was in the news for, everything he promised that he would do for us, he actually delivered on,” Bob Jr. said.
Hecker’s promotional assistance included bringing baseball great Pete Rose to town. Rose played golf on a Friday afternoon and that night Hecker hosted his famous guest and a large group of Tapemark supporters at Manny’s Steakhouse.
Rose was the attraction after drinks and dinner, and his remarks were not exactly boring. As a former player and manager for the Reds, Rose was well acquainted with franchise owner Marge Schott — a controversial figure even now after her death.
“She thought…Adolph Hitler did some pretty good things,” Bob Jr. recalled Rose saying about Schott. “He improved the roads in Germany. He started off okay but maybe toward the end (of his regime) he wasn’t so good.
“Pete tried to defend her (saying) ‘you need to understand that Marge has no friends. The only thing that might be close to a friend is her dog. Marge likes to drink. Night games are particularly hard because she spends most of the day drinking before the game.’
“Basically the defense of Marge Schott from Pete Rose was she’s not really a bigot. She’s a drunkard.”
Through the years there has been some great golf played at the Tapemark. For championship consistency nobody was better than Don Berry who won the tournament six times. George Shortridge won five times. Last year’s men’s and women’s pro champs were Craig Brischke and Martha Nause.
Long time Tapemark followers have fond memories of four-time champion Dave Tentis who first won the tournament in 1998 with his “miracle shot” at Southview. The final day Tentis trailed Aaron Barber by one shot on the last hole, No. 9. The hole is surrounded by challenges including a pond, parking lot and road. Despite the tight fairway, Tentis pulled out his driver, hit the ball about 330 yards and made it stick on the green. “The best shot I’ve ever seen in Minnesota tournament golf,” said Gregg Wong, the former golf writer for the Pioneer Press.
Tentis two-putted for birdie and went on to win the tournament in a playoff. No doubt he never looked back on his decision to use a driver, and not the five iron he contemplated.
Skill sometimes encounters luck at the Tapemark. When those two forces meet, the result could be a hole-in-one and winning a new car. Among the winners over the years has been Phil Johnson, son-in-law to Bob Sr. Johnson’s hole-in-one on No. 15 was reported the next day in the Star Tribune along with these somewhat painful words: “On his way to shooting 104.”
Sometimes there’s no avoiding a tough day on the course, particularly when the strokes pile up for amateurs. Years ago the tournament was on local television and the late Pete Boerboon, a great friend of the event, was really struggling on the course.
“His ball was in a bunker near the green and on his first shot he could not get out,” Bob Jr. said. “On his second shot he knocks the ball across the green and into another bunker.
“By his ninth shot he was on the green. Pete thought his saving grace was that the TV cameras had only been covering him from the start of playing No. 17, not all the way through his shots near and on the green.
“A few days after the tournament, he was taking the garbage outside when a neighbor said, ‘Hey, Pete, I saw you on TV and you had a rough time.’
“Pete replied, ‘Yeah, I had nine blows.’ The neighbor disagreed and countered, ‘No, you had 11.’ ”
Television coverage, other publicity and simply word of mouth has helped tell the Tapemark story over the years including the important purpose of the event. The inspiration for the tournament was Frances Klas, born in 1951 and mentally retarded. Her dad and mom, Bob and Sandy Klas, learned about organizations available to assist children like Frances, and they wanted to help.
Today society is much more aware and accepting of those with developmental and learning disabilities than decades ago. “The aware factor can’t be overemphasized because when we started out 42 years ago mental retardation was still in the background,” Bob Sr. said. “We’ve done a lot of good. Much of it has to do with the publicity we generated.”
Done a lot of good including fundraising…and had a lot of fun.