Superstar Lee headlines Moonah Classic

Australasian PGA Tour | 2009 Moonah Classic | Preview | 23 Feb 2009

Golf’s man of the moment Danny Lee will be the star attraction at this week’s Moonah Classic in Victoria, arriving at the event on the back of his historical victory at the tri-sanctioned Johnnie Walker Classic.

The teenage amateur re-wrote the record books at The Vines in Perth yesterday when at 18 years and 213 days, he held off a star studded field to claim the prestigious event becoming the youngest ever winner on the Australasian Tour. 1999 Australian Open winner Aaron Baddeley previously held that mantle.

“I still feel like I’m in a dream I hope nobody wakes me up,” said Lee after his victory. “I was dreaming about that and my goal was to make the cut after two rounds and try to get into the top 10 or 20. I played extremely well the last few days.”

Swarmed by the media, the shy champion revealed how he would handle all the attention.

“Just don’t take the phone calls. It’s easy,” he joked. “I’m just kidding, I get really nervous when I’m having this media stuff, but I don’t actually hate it. I really like it.”

Like it or not, golf’s latest star will be the centre of attention at this week’s Moonah Classic, the first of the three Nationwide Tour co-sanctioned events that he will play over the coming weeks.

His final round of 67 yesterday gave him a 17 under total 271 and success over a world class field that included world number 9 Colombian Camilo Villegas, no 11 Anthony Kim and no 12 Lee Westwood, yet

Despite claiming the title in fine style, a modest Lee revealed he still had some work to do on his game.

“Although I won the event here (in Perth), I will try a new swing at the event this week and hopefully hit the ball better.”

“I played at Moonah Links last year when we had a New Zealand squad camp so I have played a couple of times and it’s a tough course,” said Lee.

“I remember lots of hills so it will be a big test for me and I am looking forward to it.”

Yesterday’s record was not the first in Lee’s short but outstanding amateur career. He became the youngest US amateur champion in August last year, knocking off the record held by Tiger Woods, a man whose footsteps he hopes to follow in.

“(I could be) the next Tiger Woods maybe, I can’t compare to Tiger because he’s one of the greatest players in the world, the No. 1 ranked player and obviously I can’t win three events in a row in the US Amateur, but I’ll try to break his record on the PGA Tour,” said Lee.

Lee will line up at this week’s Moonah Classic alongside the highest finishing Australian at the Johnnie Walker Classic West Australian Michael Sim as well as Cellarbrations Victorian PGA Champion Andre Stolz, tour stalwarts Craig Parry and Peter Senior and defending champion Ewan Porter.

The Moonah Classic, the first of the three swing Nationwide Tour co-sanctioned events will be held at Moonah Links from February 26 -March 1. The Moonah Classic will be followed by the HSBC NZ PGA Championship at the Clearwater Resort in Christchurch from March 5-8 and the Michael Hill New Zealand Open at the Hills in Queenstown from March 12-15.

Source – PGA Tour