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It's 1981. Tom Lehman is manning the counter where students rent skis at the University of Minnesota, and wondering if he should give up that silly dream of playing professional golf to become the Gophers' coach.
You walk up to Lehman and offer him a deal: If he's willing to slog through the minor tours all across the globe, he'll make dozens of millions of dollars. He'll become the top-ranked golfer in the world. He'll win a major. He'll build golf courses and raise four children and become one of the best-liked players in the game.
But there's a catch: He'll have to live with the torture of missed opportunities. His career will pay homage to the Minnesota sporting tradition of wrenching almosts. He will lose when he seemed destined to win. His near-misses will fight for space on his mantelpiece with his trophies.
Would he take that deal, back in 1981? Of course. Anybody would.
But in sports, more so than in any other walk of life, No. 2 is treated with disdain.
If you become the second-most-powerful person in your company, you are a success story. If you finish second in a field of 80 professional golfers, as Lehman did this weekend at the 3M Championship, you are left to lament every stroke that could have cost you the tournament.
So I asked Lehman, late Sunday afternoon, if he thought of himself as a grand overachiever, or whether he lamented the championships that got away.
"That's a great question," he said. "I see both.
"I see the good things. I see being ranked No. 1 briefly. I see being the player of the year on the PGA Tour, winning a major, being a Ryder Cup captain, all those things that anyone would give a lot to achieve.
"But I also feel like there could have been more. When I think about my game, I basically see a game that, from tee to green, doesn't have a whole lot of gaps. Around the greens, I could have been better.
"As you all have known, watching golf, your short game is where you win and lose. My short game has always been good, but not often enough great. When my short game is great, I usually win."
Lehman shot a 68 on Sunday, leaving him in a second-place tie with Kenny Perry and Peter Senior, one stroke behind Jay Haas. Lehman signed too many autographs to count and heard fans screaming out the names of his high school and college mascots, the Alexandria Cardinals and Minnesota Gophers. "I liked hearing 'Cardinals,' " he said. "Of course, I liked hearing both."
His swing looked the same as it ever was, that compact, pneumatic action that produces gorgeous draws.
His putting looked familiar too, as, too often, his golf ball declined to engage in a meaningful relationship with the hole.
"The big chance I had today was on 14," he said. "I had it read correctly and then I changed my mind."
The Twins' staff used to marvel at first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz. He was a brilliant fielder who never worked on his fielding. Instead, he obsessed about his hitting mechanics, and eventually turned himself from a .300 hitter into a former player.
Lehman said he'll spend entire practice sessions, hours upon hours, working on his putting. And his swing?
"I've tried to do the same thing, just keep that right-to-left game working," he said. "When I play my very best, the draw is almost always there. When I try to fade it, it goes straight with a little push, and then I can miss both ways.
"When I'm playing my best, I stick to the one-dimensional right to left."
When it comes to putting, though, Lehman sounds more like the hacker who mines infomercials for that miracle cure.
"It's a long story, but the question is, 'How do you release the putter head without flipping, without breaking down?' " Lehman said. "So for a long, long, time I've been trying to figure out how to release the putter head and keep the putter head square.
"Finally, I came upon a training aid to help me do that ... and it's really helped my putting."
Lehman missed the past two 3M Championships. This week, at the pleasant tournament in Blaine, Lehman was treated like the returning champion that he is.
"As always, the fans here are the best," he said. "They love sports. They love to support the events that go on in the Twin Cities, they love to support people who lived here and grew up here. They make you feel loved. They make you want to go out and win for them.
"I came up a bit short, but I felt the good vibes all the way. It was a great week."
Jim Souhan can be heard Sundays from 10 a.m. to noon and weekdays at 2:40 p.m. on 1500ESPN. His Twitter name is SouhanStrib. • jsouhan@startribune.com
