LPGA Final Round on ABC
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When K.H. Lee looks back to the starting point of his golf journey, he can only marvel at how a twist of fate which saw him learn the game with a Ted Lasso-type swing coach has since led him to stardom on the PGA TOUR. In May, Lee became the eighth and latest Korean winner on TOUR following his triumph at the AT&T Byron Nelson which cemented his rise to prominence. And it all began with an initial foray to the local driving range as a 13-year-old trying to lose weight following an initial tinker as a shot put athlete. “My dad had a restaurant and next door was a driving range. I followed him for fun and eventually took lessons. My main motive was to go there and lose weight, but I never lost any weight,” laughed Lee, who tipped the scales at 212 pounds during his teens. After being bitten by the golf bug, Lee found encouragement through the uplifting and inspirational ways of a local golf pro, whose teaching style can be likened to Ted Lasso, the fictional soccer coach starring in the self-titled sports comedy-drama streaming TV series. “The reason I continued was the pro who was teaching juniors, and he kept giving me positive feedback about my swing. He was very encouraging and complimented me often and I felt good. That kept me going in golf and he bragged to others about me, and it made me work hard. I remember my mother was a violin teacher and she tried to teach me which did not go well. When she asked me to practice a piece 10 times, I haphazardly did it without any concentration. Golf was different. It was fun and I could go on for hours.” Within a few years, Lee’s exceptional talents saw him being part of the gold medal Korean Team at the 2010 Asian Games in China, which exempts him from mandatory military service. He turned professional soon after and amassed two victories each on the Korean Tour and Japan Golf Tour from between 2012 to 2016. He subsequently took the big leap of faith to America and qualified for the Korn Ferry Tour in 2016 and two years later, three runner-up results saw him secure his dream PGA TOUR card which Lee cherishes, largely due to the sacrifices and support of his parents through the years. “Like everyone else, my parents sacrificed a lot. They supported me with everything. They never told me to quit even when my game was not going well. My father wanted to be a baseball player, but his parents were against it. Since he could not do what he wanted, he decided to support his son, me,” said Lee, who is the only child. “He encouraged me and helped in every way possible. He was there since the beginning. We would go abroad to practice every winter and he was my chauffer to tournaments. When my father was with me on the Korn Ferry Tour, he had a difficult time with the food. It was difficult to find a decent Korean or Asian restaurant in the countryside and I remember he had his tooth pulled out during one trip! They gave me everything they could, and I cannot sufficiently show my appreciation.” Lee is now one the most jovial golfers on the PGA TOUR, and joked during an interview that he had two big goals in life – to become the No. 1 player in the world and the sexiest golfer alive. “When I won in May, my goals went viral as many golfers were amused by this story,” he said. “Being sexy means to be a muscular guy. It’s in my dream but not quite possible in reality. I want to be muscular, but I enjoy eating so much. For example, I try not to eat dinner if I have a big lunch, but when dinner time comes, I am usually hungry again. I will work out hard, but I will eat hard as well.” With this week’s THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT in Las Vegas being a “home” game for Lee and the other Koreans in the field – the tournament is being played outside its traditional home in Korea for the second straight year due to the pandemic – Lee hopes to hit the jackpot again to get his 2021-22 Season going. “Last season was the best and I couldn’t be more ecstatic. It was my best year on the golf course, and we had a baby,” said Lee, who welcomed the arrival of his first child, a baby girl named Celine Yuna Lee, in July with wife, Joo Yeon Yu. “I’m looking forward to the new season, and the goal will be to have another victory and getting myself into the top-50 in the world. Playing for Korea, representing the International Team in the Presidents Cup next year would also be a huge ambition. I’m trying to focus on winning and if I can get into the top-50, it would probably assure me of a spot in the Presidents Cup. I would be honored beyond measure to represent my country,” added the Korean, who finished 31st on the FedExCup standings last season.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Davis Love III remembers Jordan Spieth “bopping into the team room” at the 2013 Presidents Cup, sporting a T-shirt and shorts, and quickly turning his attention to ping pong. Love’s wife Robin was unfamiliar with the precocious Spieth, just 20 years old at the time. “Robin said, ‘Who is that kid?’” Love recalled this week. “I go, ‘That’s the future of our team right there.’” He was right. Spieth has yet to turn 30 but is the most-experienced member of this year’s U.S. Presidents Cup team and his partnership with childhood friend Justin Thomas, already successful before this year, has now become historic. Spieth and Thomas won all four of their matches this week, becoming the first American pair since Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in 2009 to go 4-0-0 (and just the third overall). On Saturday, Spieth and Thomas beat Sungjae Im and Corey Conners in morning Foursomes, 4 and 3, before a Spieth chip-in ended their match with Hideki Matsuyama and Taylor Pendrith by the same 4-and-3 margin. “I rode my horse today for sure, and I feel like it’s just one of those things where if one’s off, the other one’s on and vice versa,” Thomas said. “Man, it’s a great quality, and I really hope we keep it up because it doesn’t get any more fun than this out here.” As the International Team rallied for victories in Saturday’s final three matches to claw within 11-7 entering Sunday Singles, it was the U.S. Team’s cornerstone duo that provided the crucial point to avoid being shut out in afternoon Four-ball and keep a significant cushion. The International Team would need its best Singles performance in this tournament’s history just to tie the Americans. No team has ever scored 8.5 points in Singles, the amount needed for the U.S. to win outright. RELATED: Saturday match recaps | Tom Kim gives International Team a spark Thomas hit it within 5 feet on the 15th hole in their afternoon match – the same hole that is used as the Wells Fargo Championship’s closing hole – before Spieth chipped in for a birdie that the International’s had an opportunity to match. Taylor Pendrith missed an 8-footer that would have extended the match, however. “I was thinking Justin’s got birdie, but I may as well try and not wait for him. It’s straight up the hill,” Spieth said. “That hole location where I was is about the easiest spot if you’re going to miss the green. I just came out right on line and went in with a little speed, but with the pin out, it went right in the middle. … I thought we were going to need a birdie just to go to the next hole.” Thomas and Spieth have been friends long enough, and so successful as a team, that no one is concerned with stealing the spotlight. After Pendrith’s putt lipped out, a beaming Thomas motioned his hands in Spieth’s direction, encouraging the crowd to shower Spieth with applause. On the youngest U.S. Team in Presidents Cup history, the 29-year-olds Spieth and Thomas are unquestioned veterans. Spieth now holds a career 12-5-1 record in Presidents Cup competition, with Thomas now 10-2-2. They carry respect, and they back it up. “I think there are certain guys on the team who have played a lot in these team events,” said world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler early in the week. “I look at Jordan and JT as those guys. They’re the longest tenured … there are certain guys where their voice holds a lot of weight.” Spieth and Thomas relish the leadership role and the pairing. Following Friday’s Four-ball victory against Adam Scott and Cam Davis, Thomas was asked how he handles Spieth’s trademark brand of scrambling golf. A troublesome spot akin to an 18-handicapper leads to recovery theatrics and a head scratch. Time and again. On Thursday, Spieth hooked a drive on 15 that landed in the creek running alongside the fairway and inexplicably bounced out; the duo won the hole with a par. The next day, Spieth’s approach on 15 bounced off rocks in the creek and caromed into light rough over the green. He saved par and tied the hole. “That was nothing,” Thomas quipped Friday evening. “It’s not even, like, remotely close to some Jordan Spieth golf I’ve seen before. Anything and everything he does on the golf course does not surprise me. I’ve seen crazier, that’s for sure.” The end of Saturday’s match is yet another example.
