There’s A Good Reason If You Haven’t Heard About Bruce Lietzke Lately

Bruce Lietzke was always one of our favorite Tour players. In 506 career events, Bruce won 13 times including the Byron Nelson Championship twice. I believe he’s also the last player to win a regular Tour stop with an over-par score (+1) in 1981.

Lietzke was famous for playing no more than 25 events a year–and never played more than 20 after 1988. This was the best story about the man who certainly wasn’t a range rat.

The most famous story of Lietzke’s ability to forgo practice and let the game go in the winters was when his caddie put a banana inside the head cover of his driver after a late round one season. Sure enough, when Lietzke took out the clubs to warm-up early the next year, the now rotten banana was still there.

GolfDigest.com’s Tim Rosaforte reports that Lietzke has battled an aggressive form of brain cancer since diagnosed in April.

“It is what it is,” he says. “There are worse things than losing your hair.”

Six of his best cars had recently been sold as a collection, including his favorite, a 1967 Corvette convertible with the biggest engine imaginable, a 466-cubic-inch beast. Tour golf—any golf—is faraway in the rearview mirror. The last time Lietzke can remember hitting a golf ball was the last tournament he played in 2011. In six years, he hasn’t even done an exhibition.

“But I promise you,” he said, “that I could make a golf swing now and make the ball move to the right, no question.”

This week, they were grateful for word of a positive report; doctors had just told him to take a month off from chemotherapy and radiation treatments. His hair was gone, but his spirits were high. The tears were now out of gratitude.

“My blood work is good, but it’s still wait and see,” Lietzke said. “They [his doctors] still believe there still may be cancer cells up there. That’s the nature of this kind of cancer.”

Sending good thoughts your way Bruce.