World No 1 and Masters favourite may lack the aura of Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson but will be the man to beat at Augusta
Before the 2006 Masters the British golf media reacted with incredulity as, buried in the report of a car being shot at in Augusta, sat the identity of the driver. Tom Lehman, the US Ryder Cup captain and former Open champion, was unharmed despite Troy Smith unleashing a bullet at his Cadillac. Smith was later jailed for five years. Lehman missed the cut – no wonder – in his final Masters appearance. He was presumably in no rush to return to that particular corner of Georgia.
It is hardly underplaying the seriousness of this incident to point out that, finally, there was something stimulating about Tom Lehman. He had reached the summit of golf – including the world rankings – without creating ripples. This was the era of peak Tiger Woods; most others in golf, major winners included, were simply extras. A bullet hole in a car door somehow gave Lehman fresh eminence.
