In the subject line of that April 15, 2017 email were the chilling words, “A cancer diagnosis that has me reeling.”

The email was from Bruce Lietzke, who two weeks earlier had been in Beaumont to play in a fundraiser for the Lamar golf team. Feeling good then, he’d been blindsided upon learning he was suffering from a killer brain cancer called glioblastoma.

Lietzke was as upbeat as one in that situation could be, vowing to put up the most courageous possible fight. He wanted me to get the word of his cancer out to his many friends in Southeast Texas, and to stress that he was a man of faith.

“I do know that Jesus has lived in my heart since 1976 and I will draw from his spirit and strength to lead the way in this fight,” he wrote. “Please ask your readers to pray for me, possibly for an extended period of time.”

As you surely know, Bruce’s battle came to an end Saturday. Services will be Monday at 11 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of Athens. I prefer to think he’s now in a place where there are no water hazards or sand traps, you never three-putt and the fish are always biting.

For those who didn’t experience the joy of knowing Bruce, he was as good a person as you would ever want to meet. He was a gem of a human being who was thoughtful, kind and caring and possessed a wry sense of humor. There was nothing phony about him. He was the real deal.

Among Lietzke’s many fans in the Southeast Texas golf community was former U.S. Amateur Public Links champion Dennis Walsh. Though Walsh was quite a bit older, they went head to head a few times in area tournaments. Dennis even won on occasion.

“I just always thought Bruce was one of the really truly good guys,” Walsh said Monday. “He was good at everything — being a father, husband, friend, golfer. I admire him for the total package that he was. If you can find anybody with anything negative to say about Bruce, I want to meet him.”

Perhaps the best way to remember Lietzke is to portray how unique he was as a highly successful pro golfer, and to recall a couple of the humorous moments. Without question, the latter begins with the celebrated banana story.

At the final tournament of the 1984 PGA Tour season, Bruce told his caddie, Al Hansen, to empty his golf bag of everything but the clubs, then put it in
the travel case. He told Hansen he would not be touching the clubs again until
the first tournament of 1985.

Hansen was well aware Lietzke often went weeks at a time without practicing but could not believe he would go through the entire winter and start a new season without working on his game.

So he slipped a banana under the headcover of Lietzke’s driver, figuring the joke would be on Bruce the first time he hit balls. Unfortunately for Hansen, the joke proved to be on him.

Some four months later Lietzke showed up for the Bob Hope Desert Classic, went to the range and took the cover off his driver. Out tumbled a rotten banana.

“You should have smelled it,” he said, with a laugh. “The banana was all nasty and black and covered in fungus. It did something to the driver. It was a real wooden club and I could never use it after that week. I also had to throw the bag away.

“I just glared at Al.”

Another hilarious moment took place on the biggest of stages.

Bruce was battling Tom Watson in the U.S. Senior Open, and his brother Brian, who would also die from cancer, was toting his clubs. Formerly the head pro at both Idylwild GC and Beaumont Country Club, the chain-smoking Brian was a natural comedian.

“Get them together and get them going and it was like watching Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis,” said Walsh. “The classic was when Bruce was on the way to winning that Senior Open. He had a tough lie under trees in the rough, the TV cameras had zeroed in and he asked Brian for his thoughts on the shot.

“Brian kind of stomped around for a few seconds like Barney Fife, then told him, ‘You’re the golf pro, you figure it out.’ TV picked it up, the announcers didn’t know who Brian was and they were going nuts.”

Vintage Lietzke, meanwhile, was the response to an interviewer after one of his 13 PGA Tour wins. He was asked if he ever thought how much better his swing could be if he practiced more.

“I don’t want it to get better,” he said. “I want it to be exactly like I was yesterday.”

Rest in peace, Bruce. You were truly one of a kind.

CHIP SHOTS

John Mays of Beaumont scored his third hole in one last Wednesday at Babe Zaharias. Mays sank a 7-iron from 118 yards on the seventh hole. Witnesses were Milton Mays, O.T. Wallace and Christian Wilson . . .

While Chris Stroud is defending his championship in the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Classic this week in Reno, fellow Port Neches-Groves ex Andrew Landry will be teeing it up in the World Golf Championship Firestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.

Both Landry and Stroud will be in the field for next week’s 100th PGA Championship at Bellerive Coutnry Club in St. Louis. …

Caleb Folmar of Buna and Jacob Ballard of Beaumont shot 81s to tie for first in Boys 15-18 Monday in the final STPGA Junior Tour event of the year at Sunset Grove Country Club in Orange.

Other flight winners included Mackenzie Sears of Silsbee (94 in Girls 15-18), Xander Parks of Orange (79 in Boys 13-14), Montana DiLeo of Orange (89 in Girls 13-14) and Lincoln Parks of Orange (78 in Boys 11-12). …

In the Monday Senior 50-plus 2-ball game at Zaharias, the team of Bob West, Joe Gongora, Bob Luttrull and Pete Reobroi won the front with minus-4. Minus-4 was also the winning score on the back for the team of Bennie Sharpe, Ronnie LaSalle, Larry Foster and Charlie Perez. …

The Saturday Super Senior 2-ball at Zaharias saw a tie on the front at minus-2 between the team of Thad Borne, Bim Morrow, Gerald Huebel and Craig Castille and the team of Ron Carlin, Earl Richard, Wes McGuire and Dan Flood.

On the back, the team of Adam Davis, Gary Fontenot, Gene Jones and Cole Lee won with minus-4. …

In the Friday Senior 2-ball at Zaharias, the foursome of James Shipley, Bryan Mirabelle, Reobroi and Perez won the front with minus 5. Fontenot, Dwayne Morvant, Larry Reece and Jeff Greenway took the back in minus-3.

The Thursday Senior Game at Zaharias was played in a four-man scramble format. There was a tie at minus 12 between the team of Sharpe, Richard, McGuire and Paul Brown and the foursome of Robbins, Huebel, Rusty Hicks and Sid Ducote.

Closest to the pin winners were Huebel (No. 7), Larry Thompson (No. 12) and Sharpe (No. 15).

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Golf news should be emailed to rdwest@usa.net.