Tom Lehman has proved to be one of the best golfers of his time. Yet his caddy, Andy Martinez, says, "He's one of the most humble people I've ever met."  How did he get that way?

Humble usually springs from humble beginnings. Lehman grew up in Minnesota. Lehman couldn't skate very well. So, instead of hockey, he took up golf and basketball.

He wasn't recruited by major colleges. But just two days before classes began, the University of Minnesota golf coach called. Lehman agreed to play for the Golden Gophers and became a three-time All-American.

He earned his professional tour card in 1982. But his first few years on the PGA Tour were up and down. Mostly down. He lost his card three straight years from 1983-85 and hit the mini tours. By the end of 1986, a disgruntled Lehman quit playing competitively and took a job as a club pro.

His reason was due to one of the few high points of those down years. He had met Melissa in 1984. And the club pro job meant he could get married and raise a family, they eventually had three children. In 1987, he played in the U.S. Open and only missed the cut by one stroke. He and his wife hit the mini tours, but could only play the next two years overseas in South Africa and Asia. He played on the Hogan Tour in 1990, but missed getting his card again, by only one shot. But he was gaining confidence and playing very well as he began the Ben Hogan Tour (now the Buy.com Tour) the next year. He won three events and the Hogan Tour Player of the Year Award.1992 began Lehman's true comeback. He finished third at the Masters in 1993 and won the Casio World Open in Japan.

In 1994, he finished second at the Masters to Greg Norman. Then, he won his first PGA Tour event, the Memorial. He was 35. That same year, he was named to a national team. He played the President's Cup. Lehman finished 1994 fourth on the money list. 1995 included winning and setting a tournament record (72 holes with a 271) at the Colonial National Invitational. He finished third at the U.S. Open.

Lehman's best year was 1996. He finished in the top ten of the first eight events of that year. He tied for second in the U.S. Open and won the 125th British Open. He was playing superb golf, and the tournament wins kept coming. He shot 66-67-64-71 to win the Tour Championship. He got onto the President's Cup team once again. He won the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. He tied for second at the World Cup of Golf. So it was rightly so that he won 1996's PGA Player of the Year. 
 
Since then, Lehman has continued to play impressively, including winning his fifth PGA Tour title at the Phoenix Open in 2000. Yet, he remains humble.

A humble man doesn't hesitate to give credit to his wife. Lehman credits his wife for helping to resurrect his career in 1987. He credits their marriage to giving him focus to do well on tour. And at the 1998 Nissan Open when regular caddie Martinez suffered two broken ribs in a basketball game the night before the start of the event, Melissa helped keep Lehman's game running smoothly by enlisting as his caddie. The only concession? They went with a lighter bag instead of the heavier tour version.

A humble man says gracious things about his competitors. For example, his comment about Tiger Woods: "It's that 'Star Trek' thing. He's taken the game where no man has gone before."

Lehman is also humble about his humanitarianism. He is very active in his church. And he hosts the Dayton's Challenge, a seven-year-old annual charity golf event in Minnesota, which has raised millions of dollars for the Children's Cancer Research Fund. The CCRF is a non-profit volunteer organization which supports research and training in the cure, prevention and treatment of childhood cancer at the University of Minnesota, Lehman's alma mater and the nation's preeminent facility for treatment of cancer in children.

How does a humble man respond when presented with the 2001 Golf Writer's Association of America's Charles Bartlett Award, given to professional golfers for unselfish contributions to the betterment of society? He delivers a speech in which he said he didn't consider himself worthy of being honored for philanthropy, because it's something all of us should be doing in our daily walk.

Perhaps we all should be. But Tom Lehman does it so well. And so humbly.