K ingsmill
Breakthrough
Minjee Lee’s victory at the Virginia resort in 2015
fueled her stellar rookie season on the LPGA Tour
by LEONARD SHAPIRO
Kingsmill River Course in Williamsburg
last May, she was mostly greeted by the
sounds of silence all around. It was hardly
the sort of welcome she deserved on the
72nd hole of an LPGA tournament she was
leading by two strokes after 71 holes, but
Lee hardly even noticed.
Because of a late television-dictated
start, a two-hour rain delay and dusk
turning to darkness on Sunday, Lee had
been unable to complete her final round in
front of thousands of spectators. Instead,
the then 18-year-old rookie from Perth,
Australia was up before the sun rose on
Monday morning, made a quick three-putt
bogey at the 16th hole just after 7 a.m. and
then settled down to par the last two for
her first tour victory.
She posted a final round 6-under 65
for a two-shot triumph over So Yeon Ryu
and three better than fellow rookie and
her good friend, Alison Lee. What she
described as “only a handful of people”
were on hand to witness her breakthrough
victory, but the most important spectator
of all was there, and to Minjee Lee, that’s
all that really mattered.
That would be Clara Lee, Minjee’s mother, former caddie and a fine golfer herself
growing up in South Korea. Clara also taught
the game at an Australian driving range and
got Minjee started in golf. Last season, she
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traveled the tour with her daughter, cooking
her meals, helping her with her schedule
and just being a calming influence on a
precocious player who had been the world’s
top-ranked amateur in 2014.
“My mom is still traveling with me and
I love having her there,” Minjee said in a
recent interview. “It’s like having another
set of helping hands. You know, I can’t
even rent a car here in the U.S. because I’m
not old enough, so that helps. She’s a great
cook and just having company on the tour
is great. Being out here can be rough sometimes, especially if you’re not playing well.”
Clara Lee will be back in Williamsburg
from May 16-22 for the 2016 Kingsmill
Championship, and obviously, so will her
defending champion daughter. Their return
will bring back wonderful memories for
both, despite Minjee’s surreal Monday
finish last year.
“Honestly it was not disappointing,” she
said. “I was just happy to win the golf tournament. It didn’t matter to me that there
were only a few people watching. Of course
my mum was there. She wouldn’t have
missed that for the world. It was my first
time, and just holding up that trophy, even if
it was the morning, was a very big highlight
for me. The fact that mum was there made
it even that much more special.”
Also on hand that morning was her agent,
Kevin Hopkins, who actually left his home
in New York at midnight Sunday and drove
V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | M A R C H /A P R I L 2 0 1 6
PHOTO CREDIT HERE
AS MINJEE LEE WALKED
UP THE 18TH FAIRWAY at the
vsga.org