Minjee Lee was
paired with
American star Lexi
Thompson in the
final round of the
2015 Kingsmill
Championship.
from South Korea to Australia about 20
years ago. Their daughter also is the product of the High Performance program of
Golf Australia, the sport’s governing body,
Down Under, that offers intense training
for players who show competitive promise.
She also was a winner of the Karrie Webb
Series scholarship, supported by the former
top-ranked Australian star and Hall of Famer
who is considered her country’s greatest
female golfer. At the 2013 U.S. Open Women’s
Open at Sebonack on Long Island,
Minjee Lee was a guest of Webb’s.
“We got to spend a week with
her at the Open, which was priceless,” Lee said. “It’s like the best
experience ever. She was
IN HER OWN WORDS
“Winning Kingsmill told me that I
could play out here with these girls.
It just gave me so much confidence.”
“She’s a really long hitter,” Ryu said. “She
is really a great ball striker. When I was
playing with her, she was struggling a bit
with her putting, but looks like she was on
fire this week, so I don’t think she really
needs to worry about anything.”
Minjee Lee’s parents (her dad is in the
auto salvage business and she described
him as a “weekend warrior” golfer) moved
30
an idol of mine when I was growing up.
She’s just a great person.”
Lee first met Webb at the age of 12 when
they actually played nine holes together,
and they’ve stayed in touch ever since. Her
trip to that 2013 Open at the age of 15 also
was something of an eye-opener.
“The experience of walking inside the
ropes during the practice rounds and see-
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
ing all the things behind the scenes was
fantastic,” she said. “I just remember that
being a very, very hard golf course. The
scores were very high, but Karrie played
well. For me, the whole week was a very
important step.”
The following year, Lee easily made the
field for the Women’s Open at Pinehurst
No. 2 after winning her Minnesota sectional by nine shots. She won the 2012 U.S. Girls’
Junior and also the Australian Amateur two
straight years. Earlier in 2014, she contended at the LPGA’s Handa Australian Open,
a closing 78 dropping her to a tie
for 11th. That same year as an
amateur she tied for 24th at
the Kraft Nabisco Ch [\[ۜ