Danny Lee (33), a Korean New Zealander, held a long putter called a broom putter on the rough outside the green, 7.5m away from the hole. The ball was on the rough side, far from the fringe of the green, but Danny Lee made a bold putt and the ball hit the flagpole and was sucked into the hole. Champagne spilled on his face as he cheered after winning the championship after 7 years and 8 months.
Danny Lee, who moved to the LIV golf series led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund this year, won the second round of this season on the 20th and won the prize money of 4.125 million dollars (approximately 5.4 billion won). Danny Lee recorded 2 under par 69 strokes in the final 3 rounds of the tournament held at The Gallery Golf Club (par 71) in Marana, Arizona, USA that day, with a final total of 9 under par 204 strokes, Louis Oosthizen (South Africa) and Carlos Ortiz (South Africa). Mexico) and Brendan Steele (USA) in overtime.
Danny Lee, who was tied for 7th place, 4 strokes behind the leader until the 2nd round the previous day, made consecutive birdies on the 17th and 18th holes to extend the game. He missed a 1.8m birdie putt in the second round of overtime on the 18th hole, but dramatically decided the game in the third round of overtime. Danny Lee, who won seven years and eight months after the PGA Tour Greenbrier Classic in July 2015, was thrilled, saying, “I thought I would never have a chance to win again, but I’m really happy to know that I can still play a good game.” .
Danny Lee was one of New Zealand’s most notable golfers before Lydia Ko, 26, made her name as ‘golf genius’. Danny Lee, who learned golf from his mother who is a professional teaching professional, immigrated to New Zealand with his parents after serving as a junior national team member in Korea under the name Jinmyung Lee.
At the 2008 US Amateur Championship, Danny Lee broke the record held by Tiger Woods at 18 years and 7 months as the youngest player to win the tournament at 18 years and 1 month. In 2009, as an amateur, he won the European Tour as the youngest player to win the Johnnie Walker Classic, and probably had a splendid period as the world’s No. 1.
However, on the professional stage, he suffered frequent injuries to his hands and back, and fell short of expectations. He played 11 seasons on the US Professional Golf (PGA) Tour and earned a career prize of 15,363,106 dollars (about 20 billion won), but his only win was the 2015 Greenbrier Classic.
Most of the players who transferred to LIV received contracts ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars, but Danny Lee said that there was no separate contract money. Danny Lee, who was invited by Kevin Na, a fun Korean, to “play on the same team,” joined in February ahead of the opening game of the LIV 2023 season.
Danny Lee said, “I didn’t want to win the individual event, and I won because I was trying to reduce even one stroke for the team.” Danny Lee, who received a prize money of 4 million dollars (approximately 5.2 billion won) for winning the individual event, finished 3rd in the team event with Kevin Na, Korean-American Kim Si-hwan, and Scott Vincent of Zimbabwe, earning 125,000 dollars (3rd place prize money 500,000 dollars). A total of 4,125,000 dollars (approximately 5.4 billion won) were received. There are no Korean players in LIV Golf yet, but three Korean players, Kevin Na, Kim Si-hwan, and Danny Lee, are playing.