{"id":2674,"date":"2023-09-30T09:56:43","date_gmt":"2023-09-30T16:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=2674"},"modified":"2023-09-30T09:58:58","modified_gmt":"2023-09-30T16:58:58","slug":"traveling-tour-star-tom-lehman-won-at-famed-courses-including-michigans-bay-harbor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/golf\/2674\/traveling-tour-star-tom-lehman-won-at-famed-courses-including-michigans-bay-harbor","title":{"rendered":"Traveling Tour Star Tom Lehman Won at Famed Courses, Including Michigan\u2019s Bay Harbor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"PGA<\/a>

PGA Tour star Tom Lehman hit the opening shot for his new course design at Cragun\u2019s Resort in his home state of Minnesota<\/p><\/div>\n

Minnesotan Tom Lehman, during his career, won five of the PGA Tour\u2019s most prized tournaments at its most prestigious venues. But I asked him first about his 1998 television exhibition win in Petoskey, Michigan over Phil Mickelson at Boyne\u2019s Bay Harbor Golf Resort.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou remember that, eh?\u201d Lehman asked, smiling, at the 2023 opening of the golf holes he designed at Cragun\u2019s Resort on Gull Lake, in Brainerd, Minnesota. \u201cPhil thought he had me because I got off to a slow start. I was four down after the first five holes, but I was playing with a separated shoulder. It was really painful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bay Harbor\u2019s links and quarry holes, designed by Arthur Hills with Boyne\u2019s CEO Stephen Kircher above and along Little Traverse Bay, is no golf course to wobble into wounded. Lehman said he started to play better and chipped away at Mickelson\u2019s lead until he passed him with a birdie on the scenic 17th<\/sup>\u00a0hole and got the victory. \u201cIt was fun because there were a bunch of guys up there involved with a golf course design I was doing in Tampa. Having them there, as partners, as part of the celebration after was a good experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lehman\u2019s lucrative Tour wins came in England at the British Open; the Tour Championship; and at two invitationals: The Colonial and The Memorial, hosted, respectively, by golf greats Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus. Lehman\u2019s Phoenix Open victory came at the Tour\u2019s liveliest event with the most fevered fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI seem to play better on the tougher golf courses in tougher conditions,\u201d Lehman shrugged. Moments later a nervous Lehman, standing over the ceremonial tee shot to open the new course bearing his name he designed at Cragun\u2019s Resort, he cracked a deadpan joke to break the ice with the crowd: \u201cNo pressure at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lehman hit the shot in front of the assembled fans; media members; the University of Minnesota\u2019s Golden Gopher alumni band; the resort\u2019s general manager Eric Peterson; and Dutch Cragun, the 91-year-old owner. \u201cI forgot my kazoo!\u201d exclaimed Cragun as he danced on the tee.<\/p>\n

Lehman, who grew up a couple-hour drive away, originally met Cragun when he came to watch his son Thomas Lehman compete at the more than 80-year-old family resort. Lehman struck up a conversation with Dutch and ended up with the design job. Ironically, after the opening tee shot, Lehman would spend the rest of the week again watching his son Thomas playing, this time over in Minneapolis, where he would compete in his first PGA Tour event.<\/p>\n

\u201cControlling my nerves while watching Thomas is tougher. I am not a good \u2018watcher,\u2019\u201d Lehman, 64, confessed. \u201cThere is a lot of name recognition here for my name, so people will see him and say, \u2018Wait a minute, that guy is way younger than Tom Lehman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dutch Cragun, at 91, is admired by Lehman for his vision and energy. The excitable patriarch talked with me at sunset one night aboard the resort\u2019s dinner cruise boat as the live band wound down before he did.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are the \u2018Walt Disney of Cragun\u2019s Resort,\u201d I suggested.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s a bit much,\u201d he countered.<\/p>\n

But with the vast variety of family-friendly outdoor and indoor lakefront activities and lodging options beyond the eventual 45 holes of golf plus a par-three course, Dutch has himself a kingdom. \u201cDutch is the king of Brainerd,\u201d said Lehman.<\/p>\n

And while the PGA Tour Canada comes to Cragun\u2019s to compete for cash, an ornamental ax and a path to the big time each August, Cragun still wants to travel, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to go over and see Mackinac Island. I have never been there,\u201d said the Minnesota tourism titan.<\/p>\n

Contact Michael Patrick Shiels at\u00a0<\/em>MShiels@aol.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0His radio program may be found at\u00a0MiBigShow.com or weekday mornings\u00a0from 9-noon\u00a0on WJIM\u00a0AM 1240<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A look at PGA star Tom Lehman and some of the famed golf courses he’s played including Michigan’s Bay Harbor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17],"tags":[4998],"class_list":["post-2674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-courses-and-travel","tag-michael-patrick-shiels"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2023\/09\/PGA-Tour-star-Tom-Lehman-hit-the-opening-shot-for-his-new-course-design-at-Craguns-Resort-in-his-home-state-of-Minnesota.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2674"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2679,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2674\/revisions\/2679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}