While Ausfailure reels in turmoil at their latest Olympic humiliation
where they failed to make the top five despite bold and brash
predictions that even Anthony Mundine would have cringed at, little
old New Zealand, a small sparsely populated groups of islands in the
Pacific, today celebrated yet another major sporting triumph on the
international stage.
(New Zealand are current rugby league world champions after Ausfailure
was stripped of it's status for playing ineligible player Andrew Johns
for a decade whilst he was using banned drugs.)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4668041a1823.html
A world of opportunity has just opened up for New Zealand golfer Danny
Lee, whose burgeoning career hit unprecedented heights today.
Kiwi golfer wins US Amateur Championships
Lee beat American Drew Kittleson 5 and 4 in the final of the US
Amateur at Pinehurst in North Carolina to erase a certain Eldrick
Tiger Woods from at least one record book.
At 18 years and 32 days, Lee became the youngest player to win the
title since it was first contested in 1895, eclipsing Woods, who was
six months and 29 days older when he won the first of three successive
amateur crowns in 1994.
Woods has gone on to redefine the game and change the international
landscape as the most dominant professional of his generation.
As for Lee, becoming the first New Zealander and just the ninth
foreign-born player to hold aloft the Havemeyer Trophy, American
amateur golf's most coveted prize, brings with it tangible, major
rewards.
The two finalists are guaranteed a start in next year's US Open with
the winner, according to a US golf official, likely to be paired with
Woods at next year's event over the first two rounds. Organisers of
the Masters traditionally offer a similar invite, although the pairing
with Woods is not included.
By overcoming Kittleson in the 36-hole final at a Pinehurst course
thick with sentimental value for New Zealanders after Michael
Campbell's 2005 US Open triumph there, Lee added a third major to the
list in the form of the British Open next July.
Those invites are valid only if Lee remains an amateur, which he has
said he intends, so delaying an inevitable switch to the pro ranks for
close to another year.
As well, Lee's success has bought him the precious commodity of time
as he considers a variety of offers from equipment suppliers and
international management groups all scrambling to add the teenager to
their stables.
Lee's profile has gone through the roof in the US this month, with the
US Amateur title following his tie for 20th in the PGA Tour's Wyndham
Championship and his win in the prestigious Western Amateur.
In isolation any one of those performances would attract immediate
corporate interest; put together they have led to a long queue forming
at Lee's door.
It will almost certainly mean he will have financially attractive
choices to make when he does put pen to paper and sign on in the pro
ranks.
New Zealand Golf high performance manager David Graham walked the
fairways with Lee at the Wyndham Championship and again during the
early rounds of the US Amateur.
They were far from alone, with Graham saying Lee has been courted by a
large number of business representatives.
"There were a lot of people with vested interests lining up to talk to
him. At one stage there must have been five management groups
following Danny out on the course," Graham said.
"He is a prize possession at the moment and there are a number of
management groups interested in him, all of whom have a massive
commercial reach.
Graham said Lee's on-course success and desire to contest next year's
majors as an amateur meant he did not have to rush any decisions.
"What he needs when he turns pro is a situation where he does not have
to worry about financial constraints.
"That will allow him to grow his golf game uninhibited by concern and
worry. He's now given himself the opportunity to do that.
"He's worked awfully hard to create opportunities for himself.
"He's now got a huge opportunity to go on to a very strong golf
career. I'm sure this is just the start of good things to come."
It is not too strong a statement to say that South Korea-born Lee, who
emigrated to New Zealand and settled in Rotorua with his parents nine
years ago, decimated the Amateur field at Pinehurst.
Until the final he had not even been forced to the 17th tee and had
not been behind at any stage since early in his second-round contest
against American Jacob Burger.
Kittleson, 19, did place him under pressure by gaining a two-hole
advantage by the sixth but Lee responded by winning four of the next
five holes to assert himself.
The New Zealander kept pushing, extending his lead to six holes
leaving the 20th, before Kittleson, of Scottsdale, Arizona, reduced
the difference to two after 26.
Again Lee hit back, with the 11th of his 13 birdies coming at the 27th
before he closed out the contest with four holes to spare.
"I feel like I'm in a dreamland, I really can't believe it," Lee said.
"Drew played very well today and he put the pressure back on me this
afternoon but I just tried to hang in there and hit good shots."
Lee's championship details:
Final: bt Drew Kittleson 5 and 4.
Semifinal: bt Patrick Reed 3 and 2.
Quarterfinal: bt Morgan Hoffmann 4 and 3.
Third round: bt Connor McHenry 7 and 6.
Second round: bt Jacob Burger 5 and 4.
First round: bt David Bartman 4 and 3.
Lee shot strokeplay rounds of 70 and 71 to tie for 20th and join the
top 64 from a field of 315 who qualified for the matchplay.
He booked his place in the championship by shooting 67 and 66 for a
total of 11-under-par 133 to win his two-round sectional qualifying
tournament by five shots at Springfield, Illinois, on August 6.
- - -
Oswald P Wrong
World Champion Tipster.
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