Danny Lee: The Professional Amateur

BY Anthony Powter | 22 Dec 2008

Danny Lee might not have been holding the Stonehaven Cup a fortnight ago at Royal Sydney, but the world number one amateur proved he’s got the game to mix it with the world’s best. The 18-year-old finished his year playing at the Australian Open where he was the only amateur to survive the cut, as he was at the Australian Masters at Huntingdale last month.

Since August, when Lee supplanted Tiger Woods to become the youngest player to ever win the US Amateur title, the hype surrounding his game has grown following his stellar performances at professional tour events, both locally and in the US.

In recognition of this Lee was placed by tournament organisers in the marquee pairing for the first two days of the Australian Open with Australian PGA chairman Peter Senior and eventual winner of the Australian Open, South African Tim Clark.

“I learnt a lot this week about what goes on inside my head,” said Lee on the final day at Royal Sydney.

“Being able to control what’s going on with your mind during these events is a real challenge. It’s more a mental game than anything else and you only tend to get that from playing these events.”

In the five professional tournaments Lee played this year he has made four cuts with an 11th at the Australian Masters his best finish.

The results within professional tournaments for Lee started back in August when he received a sponsor’s invitation to the PGA Tour Wyndham Championship following a string of stellar amateur performances in the US, with Lee winning the Western Amateur and securing the top world amateur ranking from Rickie Fowler. Lee had just won the William C. Campbell Award, a prize given to the player who records the low aggregate score in the Northeast Amateur, Players Amateur and Porter Cup – all three major US amateur events.

Lee at Wyndham fired opening rounds of 68 and 66 to make the 36 hole cut by three strokes and joined a select number of teenagers to make a cut at a PGA Tour event. The youngest player ever to make a cut was 15-year-old Bob Panasik during the 1957 Canadian Open, whilst Ty Tryon at 16 made it through at the 2001 Honda Classic.

The only person with him at the time was his uncle and American travel companion, Rambert Sim. Both had looked after each other during the solid three months on the road between British Open qualifying and competing in all major US amateur tournaments.

“Sure it was a real grind,” said Lee.

“I played so many tournaments close together, but it kept me focused and then to win the US Amateur made it all worth the effort.”

Lee returned to New Zealand for a well earned rest. Invites then started to flow Lee’s way, particularly with the Australasian Tour, who were keen to obtain his services to bolster their tour which was experiencing trouble.

“It’s nice to get invites whilst you are still an amateur,” said Lee at Royal Sydney.

“I like playing these events as they improve you game. This week my driver has not been working, but I’ve benefited from being here and enjoyed both the tournaments.”

Carrying Lee’s bag this summer was one of the most experienced caddies on tour, Michael Waite.

Waite usually caddies for Michael Campbell, but with Campbell out injured, he jumped at the opportunity to help Lee in the two tournaments. Lee certainly has plenty of support in New Zealand, who have adopted the Korean born Lee like their own.

The whiz kid from Rotorua in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand packs a tight punch of powerful driving, with the deathly touch of wonderful creativity around the greens. It makes an impressive package and it’s getting noticed all around the world ever since Lee’s breakthrough international amateur title earlier in the year at the Lake Macquarie Amateur.

Then ranked 9th in the world, Lee obliterated one of the strongest international fields assembled in Australasia with superb driving to win with a tournament equalling record 20-under-par, ten shots ahead of nearest rival and Australia’s then top-ranked amateur, Matthew Griffin.

As a junior, Lee had finished runner-up at the 2007 Callaway World Junior Championships in the 15-17 years age group in the same year where he secured four amateur championships in New Zealand, including the New Zealand Amateur Championship and the New Zealand Under 23 Championship. However, the Lake Macquarie Amateur was his first win outside New Zealand and since Lee has gone from strength to strength.

Many brilliant young players, seemingly destined for greatness, turn professional and promptly vanish into obscurity to re-emerge years later from the battering of their early years in the professional ranks. The list is endless and names that come to mind are England’s Justin Rose, Llyod Sultman and even our own James Nitties.

The benefit of remaining an amateur for Lee is that his US Amateur triumph has earned him invitations to three of the four majors next year, the US Masters, US Open and British Open. It presents a tough decision.

“We’ll see what happens early next year,” says Lee.

There’s little doubt that Lee can compete with the world’s best professionals, as he’s shown from only a handful of starts in tournaments.

“I feel more comfortable with the whole situation now and I need to keep developing my game first.”

Lee is always looking for improvement, that’s his nature and you just know that his time will come and he’ll be holding a professional tournament trophy high above his head.