“This week, I’m the man,” he exclaimed late Sunday afternoon, a wide smile crossing his face as he held aloft the trophy after winning LIV Golf Tucson on the third hole of a four-man playoff.

It was just his second start after joining the LIV Golf League and comes after fielding a 30-minutes call earlier this year from Kevin Na, the Iron Heads captain who was finalising his team’s roster for the 2023 season. Na made his pitch to Lee, hoping to convince his good friend to join LIV Golf. The move was potentially life-changing.

Even so, risks had to be weighed.

Lee’s recent form didn’t exactly inspire confidence. Of his 23 starts in 2022, Lee missed the cut 12 times and was forced to withdraw on three other occasions. Previous seasons shared a similar script. Nagging injuries — a wrist here, a hip there — just seemed to linger. Lee’s last victory was in 2015 and doubts started to creep into his head on whether he’d ever post another win. “I just felt like winning was not my thing,” Lee admitted.

Yet Na was convinced the raw talent was still there, the kind of talent that can win a US Amateur as an 18-year-old, which Lee did in 2008. It just needed to be unlocked again.

Swing coach Drew Steckel, who works with both players, encouraged Na to pursue Lee. So did Na’s long-time caddie, Kenny Harms. Even Na’s wife made her feelings known. “She wanted him for the team too,” Na said.

Na figured the warm, embracing environment of LIV Golf League’s team-based competitive structure was exactly what Lee required. Already, he had seen how it raised the level of other gifted players whose careers appeared in need of a jump start, including another US Amateur winner, Peter Uihlein. Na hoped a good support team could help Lee get out of his own way and resurrect his game.

“Not to be mean, but Danny can be a little bit of a head case,” Na said. “He’s extremely talented. We knew that my coach and myself being there for him mentally and to mentor him would help him reach his peak performance. He’s an unbelievable player.”

The Iron Heads were the obvious team to provide that support. Like Lee, Na and Sihwan Kim — a holdover member from last year — were born in South Korea before relocating to another country. Lee moved to New Zealand, Na and Kim to America.

From Lee’s perspective, the 32-year-old realised his career drifting had to stop. The injuries were one thing, but he also took a critical look in the mirror. It was time to rededicate himself to the game. So his goal for 2023 was to increase his practice time. He also switched to a long putter in hopes of better performances on the greens.

When Na called, Lee told him about his new attitude and his plans to work hard.  “I’m going to be a new man,” Lee insisted. “And you called me.”

Silently, Na thought: This must be a sign.

During those 30 minutes, Na made the offer and Lee accepted. But it wasn’t without hesitation. There were no big financial guarantees for Lee. Na’s most significant enticement was the promise of brighter days, nothing more.

Lee could see other benefits. He looked at the 2023 LIV schedule that includes Mayakoba, a place he enjoys playing, Greenbrier, a course he’s won on, and Sentosa in Singapore, another course that’s familiar to him. That appealed to him. It also didn’t hurt that The Gallery Golf Course, the host venue for Tucson, was inspired by famed architect Donald Ross’ Pinehurst No. 2 – the site of Lee’s US Amateur win.

Lee also liked the 14-tournament season that would allow him more time to work on his game and stay healthy, instead of focusing on the grind of simply making a cut. Too many times, Lee has ended a string of consecutive starts on a sour note. “I tend to play too many weeks in a row,” Lee said.

Even so, in the ensuing days after accepting, Lee called Na several times, seeking assurances that the big move was the right one.

“He said: ‘Bro, I know you’ve been a huge supporter of me and you’ve always been there for me, but am I making the right decision?’” Na recalled. “I said: ‘Danny, I can keep telling you how good this is and how good this product is, how exciting it is out there, but you have to see it for yourself. But I promise you, you’re making the right decision.’”

Said Lee: “He could see that my game is so close to being great, but he told me that this environment of LIV Golf is probably better for me than staying out on the PGA Tour.”

Ultimately, Lee trusted that his friend was steering him in the right direction — just as he has in recent years when times were tough and Lee needed a sounding board or a dose of reality.

“When I struggle with my game or my life, sometimes I call Kevin or I’ll go to his place and ask for his advice,” Lee said. “When Kevin thinks he’s your friend, he’s one of the nicest guys. He wouldn’t lie about anything or make me feel good to see something. He’ll tell me what’s up straight away.”

At the season-opening LIV Golf Mayakoba, Lee opened with consecutive rounds of even par before fading on the final day when he hit just three fairways. But perhaps the most important takeaway from that week in Mexico was getting an understanding of the team dynamic that’s such a vital part of the LIV Golf player experience.

Danny Lee. LIV Golf

He realised that every bogey has consequences beyond just his own individual score. That his teammates need him to perform, and that no matter how he stood on the individual leaderboard, every shot still matters for the team score. Lee even joked this week that when he makes a bogey now, Na’s face pops up in his head.

That’s exactly what Lee needed. To get outside his own bubble and become a part of a golfing family. He’s eager to spend time on the range or practice rounds with his new teammates. He said he’s “never practiced that much in my life” since joining LIV. He finds himself looking at leaderboards and checking out his team’s standing instead of his own position — a common refrain among the 48 players in the field.

“I made probably the best decision to play on LIV Golf,” Lee said. “You get to play with the best in the world, and there’s a team aspect. It just teaches me how important each shot is out there because there’s a team involved. It doesn’t matter if you’re having a bad day or a good day.

“It’s a little different than what I grew up playing in, but I love it out here. It’s awesome.”

Still, the final three holes that Lee played Sunday at The Gallery had no impact on the team’s outcome. It came during the four-man playoff to decide the individual trophy. The Iron Heads had already clinched third place on the team leaderboard, their first podium finish.

Even as his teammates waited at the 18th green to cheer him on, Lee was theoretically just playing for his own glory.

On the second playoff hole, after a brilliant approach inside 10 feet, Lee had a chance to win with a birdie but missed the putt. He called himself an idiot — but he didn’t dwell on the lost opportunity like he might have in recent years.

On his next trip down 18, his approach landed pin-high but to the right, off the green near the stands. Despite knowing par would keep him alive in the playoff, Lee still played an aggressive stroke. His putt had steam on it but clanged against the pin and dropped in for the win.

Iron Heads’ Scott Vincent and Kevin Na congratulate Danny Lee. LIV Golf

He thrust both arms in the air and let out a yell. His teammates quickly embraced him. For a golfer who wondered if he’d ever win again, it was a great way to wash off the last few years of frustration.

The key, though, is that even in the playoff, even with the outcome only impacting his own fate and nobody else’s, Lee felt the comfort of playing for a team. While he doesn’t want to let down his team, he also knows that a support system now exists to help him handle any negative moments. Soft landings for any failures.

“Even if I happen to miss that putt and lose in a playoff, my team is going to just say it’s OK, you can do it next time,” Lee said. “There’s a place I can go somewhere for disappointment.

“I’m just really happy to do something special in front of my team and make our team proud. … I’m just trying to prove Kevin was right, that Kevin made a right decision to pick me.”

The post Proving Kevin Na right — Danny Lee’s win justifies his captain’s faith appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Danny Lee thought he was done with winning. The New Zealander had played 11 seasons on the PGA Tour, keeping his card in nine while battling injuries. He never fulfilled the potential he promised when, in a 12-month span, he overcame Tiger Woods’ record as the youngest winner of the US Amateur (in 2008) and won a DP World Tour event before turning pro.

Lee grinded on the PGA Tour until the end, famously practising off range mats at a muny in Los Angeles last month following a poor opening round at the Genesis Invitational in what turned out to be his last PGA Tour start as a member. He joined LIV Golf last month at the invitation of Kevin Na, who captains the Iron Heads team.

It’s why the 32-year-old let out shrieks of emotion when he rammed a birdie putt through the fringe and into the hole on the second sudden-death playoff hole at LIV Golf’s Tucson event Sunday, the second stop in the league’s sophomore season.

What a day for @dannygolf72 ?#LIVGolf @ironheadsgc_ pic.twitter.com/XuoKnLXmZm

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) March 20, 2023

Lee, who shot a final-round 69, got himself into a four-man playoff at The Gallery at nine under par with Louis Oosthuizen (70), Brendan Steele (70) and Carlos Ortiz (65). Ortiz was eliminated after the first extra hole, where Lee missed a six-foot birdie putt to win everything.

But on the second trip down No. 18, Lee took the playoff by the scruff of the neck from 2010 Open champion Oosthuzien and Steele, who couldn’t get anything going.

Using a broomstick putter, Lee sank what turned out to be a $4.125 million putt — $4 million for the individual victory, in his second start as a LIV player, and $125,000 for Lee’s share of the $500,000 the Iron Heads pocketed for coming third in the team event.

“I’m speechless right now,” an emotional Lee said in his greenside interview. “Honestly, I wasn’t even looking at the individual score all day. I was only asking how is our team doing? That’s the reason why Kevin called. That’s why I wanted to come over here to win as a team, we’re a little bit shorter on the teams [leaderboard].”

Lee’s only PGA Tour win came at the Greenbrier Classic in 2015. In 303 total starts on tour, he racked up five runner-up finishes, three third-places and 28 total top-10s. With chronic back and wrist injuries, he also compiled 18 WDs.

“This individual victory, it means a lot,” Lee said. “I haven’t won since 2015. I just felt like winning wasn’t my thing, but today that just changed. It just good to see I’m capable of playing some good golf.”

While Lee and his Irons Heads were third at 19 under par, Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC ran away with the title at 25 under to win by four shots over Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC. The Fireballs earned $3 million, while the Aces will take home $1.5 million.

Lee told Golf Digest last month at Mayakoba that the team aspect was what got him over the line when Na called and asked Lee, who earned over $15 million on the PGA Tour, to join the Iron Heads team which also includes Sihwan Kim and Scott Vincent.

On Sunday, Lee called going to LIV a “life-changing” decision, even if he didn’t sign up for LIV with a big-money contract like some other players received.

“I wasn’t in that situation,” Lee said. “Kevin just called me: ‘Hey, do you want to come over and play for my team?’ I thought about it, and I looked at the schedule. There’s three events I really like. Tucson wasn’t in my head, but Mayakoba, I always played well there, Greenbrier, I won there, and then Singapore, Sentosa, which we’re going to come back to, I have played well there before.

“Then Kevin just told me that I know you’re working hard. He could see that my game is so close to being great, but he told me that this environment of LIV Golf is probably better for me than staying out on the PGA Tour. The reason he told me that was probably I tend to play too many weeks in a row.”

Now, over $4 million richer and a winner again, the Texas-based Lee no longer has reservations.

“I just love [the team aspect] for me,” Lee said. “I think it’s even better mentally because I can never give up one shot out here. The team is watching. You don’t know what’s going to happen out here. So I just love it.”

The post Danny Lee thought he’d never win again, but was last man standing in LIV Golf Tucson playoff appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Lee went on to miss the cut at Riviera, and it was likely his last start on the PGA Tour because the former US Amateur champion joined LIV Golf ahead of this week’s season opener in Mexico.

Kevin Na, a five-time PGA Tour winner who, like Lee, has Korean heritage, phoned Lee and made him an offer to play on his Iron Heads team on the lucrative LIV circuit.

“He told me: ‘If I miss this opportunity I would kick myself,’” Lee told Golf Digest at El Camaleón Golf Club in Playa del Carmen. But Lee was still hesitant.

“I was a little scared without knowing what it’s all about,” he said. “I asked Kevin, is this what I should do? Is this the right decision? Unless you’re over here playing golf it’s hard to understand what LIV is like. But I do know that I haven’t heard of a single complaint by a LIV player so far. They just want to make this sport better and it’s already worked out [for golfers with the additional influx of money].”

Danny Lee hits a shot during last week’s Genesis Invitational, which may prove to be the last regular-season event he plays on the PGA Tour. Michael Owens

Lee, a one-time winner in 303 starts on the PGA Tour, pointed to the improvements to the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and even the Asian Tour, which has a partnership with LIV Golf, as evidence that LIV’s existence has enhanced the opportunities for tour players around the world. On the PGA Tour, a new elite series of “designated” events are underway in which 12 tournaments, outside of the majors and the Players Championship, have $20 million purses and a commitment to showing up from the biggest stars.

Lee, 32, who is based in Irving, Texas, said he felt LIV has had the biggest impact on professional golf since the golden years of 15-time major winner Tiger Woods. Woods’ star power saw TV ratings, corporate sponsorship and tournament purses soar on the PGA Tour.

“Tiger Woods made the golf game better. He brought more sponsors and TV interest, and we all thank him for that,” Lee said. “LIV is the next-best thing to have happened to golf. Look at how much [money] we are playing for every week all around the world now. Every tour is getting better players, more money. As a player you just can’t complain right now.”

Asked if it was perhaps too early in the timeline of LIV to suggest its impact is anywhere near second to Woods, Lee said: “Look, nobody will ever have [an impact] like Tiger Woods can. He is still is my hero,” Lee said. “I will always look up to him. Look at the superstars we’ve had come across [to LIV]. Major winners like [reigning Open champion] Cameron Smith.”

Lee dealt with a variety of injuries over the years and is currently nursing a wrist ailment. He had 18 withdrawals in his PGA Tour play, but managed to stay inside the top 125 in nine of 11 full seasons.

“Unless you’re a superstar, you’re going to have some ups and downs,” he said. “I would love to have had the greatest 12 years of my career [on the PGA Tour]. With injuries, that’s not the reality.”

But Lee said his move to LIV, where its 14 events are played over 54 holes and have no cut, did not mean he wouldn’t remain the same grinder spotted on the range at Rancho Park last week. He said he would even tee up at the 36-hole qualifying for the US Open and Open Championship.

“I’m not giving up,” said Lee, who is 267th in the World Ranking. “I’ll also try to play Asian Tour events and DP World Tour events.”

Lee has a number of significant accomplishments in his golf career. He once held the record as the youngest US Amateur winner. He notched his lone PGA Tour victory at the 2015 Greenbrier Classic and has one win each on the European Tour and Nationwide Tour, and he’s earned $15 million on the PGA Tour. He also played on a Presidents Cup International team in 2015 and made two starts in the World Cup of Golf. He represented New Zealand at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil when golf was reintroduced. He’s satisfied with his resume.

“I could have done better — you always can. But it was pretty good,” he said.

The post Danny Lee’s promising career has been wracked with injuries, but he’s hoping for a second life with LIV Golf appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dave Shedloski
Lucas Herbert, four strokes behind Taylor Pendrith after 54 holes of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, figured that foul weather on Sunday at Port Royal Golf Course might give him a fair chance at his first PGA Tour title.

Even though he missed the cut in his only two previous starts to the season.

Even though he had been struggling with his swing and needed a fix-me-up from his longtime coach, Dom Azzopardi, to correct a takeaway problem that resulted in “leaks” and “double-crosses, which he said, “is not a really good way to play golf.”

Um, leaks and double-crosses do not sound like good ways to do anything.

You either have to be supremely confident or slightly masochistic to want to take a recently retooled swing into the kind of weather that greeted players in Bermuda. The conditions prompted the tour to schedule an early start off two tees, but sideways rain still forced one brief suspension of play and winds gusting to 30 mph made the tour’s second shortest course (just 6,828 yards, par 71) added a layer of sensory stimulation to a final round in which 12 of the top 16 players on the leader board had yet to win on the PGA Tour.

For Herbert, 25, we’ll go with Door No. 1. He’s a confident dude, exhibiting the kind of swagger that rises up commensurate to the pressure. His final-round two-under 69 was good enough for a one-stroke victory over Danny Lee and Patrick Reed, and while this was his breakthrough win on the PGA Tour, it was his third in the last two years after European Tour victories in the Dubai Desert Classic and Irish Open.

“I felt like I grinded really well early and I had the right attitude going into the day that it wasn’t going to be easy,” said the native of Bendigo, Australia, who is the fourth straight tour winner of international heritage. “Obviously on the range it was … I don’t think we even hit drivers on the range because just couldn’t hit it, it was just pointless, so you just knew it was going to be one of those days where you had to battle really, really hard.”

And so Herbert did in posting 15-under 269 to earn $1.17 million, a berth in the Masters, the Players and PGA Championship, and a spot in the top 50 in the world, moving to a career-best 43rd.

A three-hole stretch starting at the par-4 12th proved pivotal in the outcome.

Leading by a stroke over Pendrith, Lee played quickly and sloppily on the way to a double-bogey while Herbert drilled home a 20-footer for birdie to leapfrog into the lead at 15 under. Herbert bogeyed the par-3 13th—“and I don’t think I hit a bad shot,” he said—but he bounced back by catching an edge on a 35-footer at the 14th to restore his lead. Lee, meanwhile followed with bogeys at 13 and 14, a costly stretch for the veteran playing on a minor medical extension. He managed to respond by rattling off three straight birdies, but had to settle for a share of second place with Reed at 14-under 270, when a solo second would have sewn up his card.

“A lot of good and a lot of bad. I fought really hard for it, just 12 through 14 was a very, very tough stretch for me,” Lee said. “After that I just bite my tongue, and I just try to grind it out. There’s so many times when that time comes or whenever that disappointment happened, I just kind of half-assed it all the way in, so this time I didn’t want to do that. I gave 120 percent all the way in.”

Cliff Hawkins
Patrick Reed charged on Sunday with a 65.

Reed, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 24, birdied his final two holes for a 65. Only Scott Stallings, who somehow found 10 birdies in the wind and rain for an insane 62, scored lower on the blustery day. Stallings tied for fifth with Pendrith, who somehow found no birdies in a 76 after tying the 54-hole tournament record of 196.

While on the subject of medical extensions, we pause to update the status of Jim Knous, who was playing in his final event on his extension and had to finish at least solo 67th for conditional status. Ranked 695 in the world, Knous, 31, made a gut-check eagle on his penultimate hole on Friday to make the cut, and on Sunday gave his gut another check. After playing his opening nine holes in four over, Knous rallied for an inward 33 amid the breezy conditions to shoot a one-over 72 and ended up T-57 with a 283 total.

“The emotions were going crazy today,” Knous said. “Yeah, greatest top-60 of all time. [But] job’s not done. Obviously conditional status, the ones I get in I have to be ready, and I plan to be ready and go low and have chances.”

After missing the cut at the Fortinet Championship and the Sanderson Farms Championship, Herbert wasn’t quite sure what kind of game he was bringing to the British island territory, close to where, legend has it, ships and planes mysteriously disappear. So do 54-hole leads, by the way; no Saturday leader has become a Sunday champion in the tournament’s three years.

With two early bogeys to his opening round on Thursday, Herbert already was thinking about just how soon he might disappear from the British island territory. “I think,” Herbert recalled, “I was sitting under a little palm tree on the side of the 12th green at two-over through three thinking, I’ll tell you what, if this wind doesn’t die down or this weather improves, then we might be packing the bags early because this is tough.

“Yeah, it turned around pretty quick, but golf’s one of those sports,” he continued. “There’s endless of stories of guys that have started off with three straight bogeys, that have been four-over through nine and then come back to win. So I tried not to get too caught up in that early and just make sure that I just keep fighting. Maybe 30th place is a good result, maybe just making the cut’s a good result. I tried to really focus on that, and it just got better and better as the week went on.”

Herbert earned his card by finishing fourth in the Albertson’s Boise Open, the opening event of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, which ensured his participation on the tour—if he could just get into the field. Fortunately, Bermuda had some openings. Even surplus spots. The Aussie native once again showed his knack for timing. And game management.

He didn’t realize that his victory, in just his 19th tour start, got him into the Masters. Needless to say, the man with wins on three different continents in the last two years has a lot to look forward to on the U.S. mainland.

“Definitely gets me into the Masters? OK. I mean, the next 12 months are going to be really cool,” he said. “I’ve never played Augusta, so being able to play the Masters is going to be pretty cool. Getting to play … in a few of these events that I’ve watched growing up on TV, it’s just going to be a cool experience. No matter how I play, it’s just going to be phenomenal to play in those tournaments. It’s going to be lots of fun.”

He probably won’t even mind if the wind blows at a few of them.

“Wind brings out the best players,” Herbert claimed, and he could point to himself as the latest example.

The post Stormtrooper Lucas Herbert embraces rain and wind in his first PGA Tour victory appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
With some wacky weather forecasted, plus the fact that a pair of short hitters had won in each of the last two years, the advantage for the bomb-and-gouger was supposed to be reduced at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. Naturally, one of if not the longest players in the field, Canada’s Taylor Pendrith, is the solo leader after 54 holes.

Pendrith has reached 17-under doing exactly what wasn’t supposed to work this week—hitting it as far as possible, wedging it on and making some putts. Turns out, that strategy might work anywhere, as the 30-year-old backed up his second-round 61 with a Saturday 65, a score that appeared out of the question when he began the day one over through six holes. A birdie at the par-5 seventh proved to be the jolt of energy his round needed, with Pendrith going on to make six more to grab a three-shot lead over Danny Lee heading into Sunday.

“It was a tough mental day to kind of stick with it and just kind of know that I should make some birdies at some point,” Pendrith said.

The birdies most certainly came, none bigger than the one at the beastly 235-yard par-3 16th, which featured a treacherous back left pin on Saturday. No matter for Pendrith, who safely played to the front right portion of the green and made a mile-long putt (no Shot Tracker this week, so we’re estimating) that could prove to be massive come Sunday evening.

“Yeah, that was a bonus. I was just trying to put good speed on it, and it was perfect speed. Just kind of fell right at the end, and it was great to see that go in.”

Pendrith will now enter some unfamiliar territory, having never finished higher than T-11 in just 12 career PGA Tour starts. He’s no stranger to winning as a pro, though, with a pair of victories on the PGA Tour Canada in 2019. Fortunately, outside of Lee, a number of the guys chasing Pendrith are entering unfamiliar territory, too.

“There will be some nerves for everybody in the top-10, I think, going into tomorrow,” he said. “Just going to try to focus on what I can control and just go play golf and try to battle the wind.”

Pre-round driver switch works wonders for Herbert

Cliff Hawkins

Relatable: Lucas Herbert noticed something was off with his driver on the range prior to Saturday’s round, which caused him to feel a little uneasy. Who among us hasn’t hit a few squirrely ones on the range and thought “it must be the driver, right?”

Not relatable: It actually was the driver, so Herbert replaced the clubhead with one of the extras in his locker, went out and shot a six-under 65 to get into contention. Tour pros, they’re absolutely nothing like us!

“We were hitting a few on the range, sort of hit probably … I hit pretty much most of the drives I wanted to hit, I was just kind of hitting a couple low ones,” Herbert said. “Obviously sort of get ready for playing on a windy day. Hit one that felt weird, and I hit another one that felt weird. I looked at the driver and it sort of looked a bit suspicious. Yeah, with sort of probably 12 minutes until we teed off, it was back to the locker, get a new driver head. Luckily, we had spares. Had to run with that on the fly, but it turned out all right.”

Sure did. Herbert, who just picked up his second European Tour win at the Irish Open in July, is four back of Pendrith’s lead, all this after telling himself “we’re in for a long week” after just three holes on Thursday morning. The 25-year-old Aussie was two over at the time, and the rain was coming down sideways. “I’ll be heading back to the mainland on Friday,” Herbert said he thought to himself.

Things have since escalated quickly, as Herbert is now in legitimate striking distance of a PGA Tour win. He wouldn’t mind a little more of that weather to roll in on Sunday, which could bring everybody back into the mix.

“The harder it is, the better, I think. I’ve always enjoyed a good test of golf and I think, yeah, the conditions make it tough tomorrow, could make it a bit of fun.”

Weather is LOOMING on Sunday

It looks like Herbert will definitely get his wish, though the question now is whether or not lightning will be a factor, thus halting play. As of now, there is an 80-percent chance of rain and thunderstorms are expected, which is why the PGA Tour has moved up tee times and is sending players off two tees on Sunday. (The final threesome goes off at 8:57 a.m. EDT and Golf Channel will broadcast the final round live from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.)

Should the lightning and thunder hold off, though, players will not only have to play through the rain but the wind, too, with 15- to 25-mph winds expected. Simply put, weather will be a factor in the final round. The hope is that it doesn’t push play to Monday, which no one wants.

Danny Lee expected to be here

Cliff Hawkins

An injury and some poor form have seen Danny Lee fade into the background a bit on the PGA Tour, which makes his strong week so far feel a bit out of nowhere. At 14 under, Lee is in solo second, in prime position to claim his second tour title, the last coming at the 2015 Greenbrier.

Lee doesn’t see his place on the leader board as unusual, at least judging off the way he answered a question about having “low expectations” coming into the Bermuda Championship.

“I worked my ass off last month,” Lee said. “Getting on the plane all the way to [come] over here, I was kind of expecting to do something great, and I need to. So I didn’t come here just to play golf. I came over here to play some good, really good golf.

“I’m doing it right now, so it’s good to see that happening right now. I just need one more day like this.”

One more good day would prove incredibly clutch for Lee, who has just three starts left on a minor medical extension. Safe to say the only expectations he could afford to have would be high ones.

The post Pendrith pulls away, pre-round driver switch works wonders and bad weather looms in Bermuda appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
Matthew Wolff, K.H. Lee and Danny Lee have withdrawn from the Open Championship, which begins Thursday at Royal St. George’s. They will be replaced in the field by Andy Sullivan, Antoine Rozner and Troy Merritt.

K.H. Lee, who won his first PGA Tour event at the AT&T Byron Nelson in May, will miss the year’s final major due to the birth of his child. An injury will keep Danny Lee out of the field.

Wolff, however, did not provide a reason for his withdrawal. The 22-year-old world No. 35 did not play between the Masters and the U.S. Open as he took time away from the game to focus on his mental health.

“I just—I think the biggest thing right now that I’m trying to do is enjoy myself again and just take care of myself really,” Wolff said at Torrey Pines, where he finished T-15. “I love these fans and I want to play well for them, but right now I’m just really trying to be happy and I, like I said, I live a great life and I want to enjoy it.”

He played in each of the following two weeks, missing the cut at the Travelers Championship and finishing T-58 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Wolff is now the fourth healthy top-50 player who will not be in the field at Royal St. George’s. Sungjae Im and Si-Woo Kim opted to skip to focus on the Olympic tournament, where a medal would exempt both from mandatory Korean military service. Kevin Na will not make the trip after due to “travel restrictions.”

The post Matthew Wolff, two others withdraw from Open Championship at Royal St. George’s appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
A lot of crazy things happened in golf during 2020, including, ironically, the fact that not much at all happened when a global pandemic broke out. But while Thanksgiving gatherings have been discouraged this year, the CDC said nothing about handing out pretend turkeys. So we should still be safe going forward with our annual Thanksgiving rundown of the year’s biggest turkeys, recalling the moments from 2020 that our culprits would probably rather forget.

Paul Azinger

In a pre-pandemic world, Zinger’s zinger at Tommy Fleetwood and the European Tour during the final round at the Honda Classic was all the rage. In case you don’t remember what he said—we don’t blame you, because again, there’s been a LOT going on since—it was basically, “Yeah, yeah, he’s won a few times in Europe, but he hasn’t proven he can win on the PGA Tour.” Was there some truth to what the NBC analyst said? Sure. Even Fleetwood himself is on the record saying the PGA Tour is “another level,” and he did himself no favors when he found the water on the 72nd hole and ended his chances of grabbing that first PGA Tour win. But Azinger’s condescending tone rubbed people the wrong way and went a bit too far. The world would mostly forget once COVID-19 became a much (much) more important topic of conversation, but we didn’t forget here!

Rickie Fowler
Nothing summed up Rickie Fowler’s disappointing year better than a missed tap-in at the PGA Championship. Hey, it happens to the best of them, but a six-incher? To miss the cut at a major by one shot? Ouch. And ouch for anyone who had him on their DFS roster that week …

Siiiiicccckkkkk @NoLayingUp @TronCarterNLU @BigRandyNLU @DJPie pic.twitter.com/GlmhqRhzNG

— Matthew Lawless (@Lawless2Lawless) August 7, 2020

Bryson DeChambeau

Jamie Squire

To be clear, Bryson had a fantastic 2020. He firmly established himself as one of the world’s longest and best players, won his first major and replaced Tiger/Phil as the most-talked-about golfer on the planet. But that last part wasn’t always good. Whether it was scolding people around him on the course (“sound travels”), getting into bizarre rules arguments (fire ants!) or making statements than came back to bite him (“This plays like a par 67 for me”), there were plenty of turkey-ish moments. So eat up, big guy. Or, drink up. Bryson will probably be guzzling turkey smoothies on T-Day.

Honda Classic first tee announcer
This guy had one job and yet he made three mistakes during Luke Donald’s intro. First, mispronouncing Donald’s hometown in England. Fine. Then, saying Donald had won the tournament in 2016 instead of 2006. A little worse, but still, we’d let it slide. But then he announced Donald as “Luke McDonald.” Not acceptable! The man is a former World No. 1! And with two first names, he has one of the easiest names to remember! Turkey!

James Adducci
We hate to rub in the fact that someone lost money on a bet. A lot of money, in fact. But when you’re a high-profile gambler, you’ve got to take the bad with the good. Last year, Adducci was all the rage for his bold and brilliant $85,000 bet on Tiger Woods to win the 2019 Masters that netted him $1.2 MILLION. He made another bold bet this year, but it certainly wasn’t brilliant: $45,000 on Phil Mickelson to win the U.S. Open. This time, he was hoping for a $3 MILLION payday, but Mickelson missed the cut. By seven shots. Maybe Adducci should quit while he’s ahead. At least, we think/hope he’s still ahead …

Danny Lee
Look, Winged Foot’s greens are notoriously difficult, but a six-putt is a bit much. Especially when recovered footage showed Lee slapping the ball around No. 18 during the third round of the U.S. Open like he was playing polo. See for yourself:

Footage of the Danny Lee six putt pic.twitter.com/hElgBlWzIj

— The Fried Egg (@the_fried_egg) September 20, 2020

Shortly after this meltdown, Lee withdrew from the tournament, citing a wrist injury. Perhaps he really did hurt his wrist with those club slams because he was still in line to make a decent check. In any event, Lee would eventually apologize for his actions—but that doesn’t keep him from earning a turkey.

This guy
We don’t know his name, and that’s better for him—because this is just, wow:

My brother’s friends first shot at St Andrews is unforgettable pic.twitter.com/DsKHW3TizB

— Tom (@culley999) February 21, 2020

Sure, there are bound to be some first-tee jitters in front of a gallery at the world’s most historic golf course, but yikes, that’s rough.

Scott Piercy

Chris Keane

In the far more serious division, the four-time PGA Tour winner posted a homophobic meme on Instagram about former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, and another referencing far-right conspiracy theorists QAnon. Despite issuing a quick apology, Piercy was dropped by all five of his sponsors, including Titleist, FootJoy, and J Lindberg. “Yeah [it has been tough week],” Piercy said after his opening round at the Players before the season was put on hold. “People got the wrong idea of me.”

Kevin Kisner
Golf fans got a different idea of Kisner as well thanks to an insensitive tweet. In response to former NBA player Rex Chapman tweeting about the hardships COVID-19 has caused his family, being upset over the country’s rising death total and expressing displeasure at President Trump’s handling of the pandemic, Kisner replied, “Guess they can’t follow the guidelines.” Like with Piercy, he quickly apologized, and called his comment reckless. But also like with Piercy, the damage was already done. OK, let’s get back to some sillier gaffes, shall we?

Matt Wallace
In a Phil Mickelson-like move, Matt Wallace had his caddie tend the pin on a 56-yard shot during the U.S. Open. Unlike Phil, though, Wallace proceeded to completely chunk the shot—embarrassing!

Classic. Matt Wallace has his caddie tend it from 56 yards out and then he chunks it. pic.twitter.com/WeRP3wvP6l

— Fantasy Golf Pod (@fantasygolfpod) September 17, 2020

Chunk. City. Not Matt’s finest moment. Although, given his history with caddies, it wasn’t his worst moment either.

Wearside Golf Club

Ross Kinnaird

The 2020 golf season will be remembered most for Dustin, Bryson and hoodies dominating headlines. The latter getting the most attention thanks to Tyrrell Hatton (above) winning the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, while wearing the comfy garment. But shortly after that victory, England’s Wearside Golf Club doubled down on its no hoodie policy.

Sunday : One of the world’s best golfers won a big tournament wearing a hoodie. Maybe golf will progress and trust people to dress themselves?

Tuesday : pic.twitter.com/5xpMX2qOtE

— The Club (@TheClub) October 13, 2020

And people wonder why golf gets a bad rap. While Wearside gets the brunt of our scolding on this topic, if you think it’s a big deal that someone is wearing a hoodie on a golf course in 2020, then you’re a turkey, too.

Man vs. Turkey
An actual turkey making it into this piece! You love to see it! Only, we’re giving the turkey award to the man and not this beautiful bird, who was just trying to defend his home turf:

This was a really weird year, huh?

The post Bryson DeChambeau, Paul Azinger and hoodie haters: Golf’s biggest turkeys from 2020 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Finishing up his third round, Lee faced a four-footer for par at Winged Foot’s 18th hole, a putt he could not convert. Lee missed the comebacker as well and proceeded to play “whack-a-mole,” nonchalantly swiping at the ball until it found the cup. Lee ended up with six putts on the green, equating to a quintuple-bogey 9. Shortly after his score was posted, Lee withdrew from the event citing a wrist injury.

Three days after the incident, Lee took to Instagram to issue a mea culpa.

“I apologise for my poor actions at U.S. Open last week,” the statement read. “It was very unprofessional and foolish. obviously hurt lots of my fans and followers and my sponsors out there… my frustration took over me and combined with injury I had to fight with it for all week.

“Still it’s just an excuse. I shouldn’t left like that… and also like to apologize to USGA they did Tremendous job last week at Winged Foot. On the course and off the course. Now I’m going to take some time off and think about what I did and starting next time I’ll show up as a better person and have better sportsmanship. Thank you.”

Lee, 27, made 22 starts on the PGA Tour last season and finished 45th in the FedEx Cup. He is not in this week’s Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship field.

The post Danny Lee apologises for behaviour at U.S. Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
MAMARONECK, N.Y.—Ernie Els, you have company.

Els, you may remember, infamously six-putted the first hole at Augusta National during the 2016 Masters. Els took so many strokes that the telecast originally had him down for the wrong number. Luckily for Danny Lee, the cameras (apparently) weren’t rolling when he reached the 18th hole at Winged Foot on Saturday.

Unfortunately for Lee, the U.S. Open has a shot-tracking device on its digital scoreboards.

Lee managed to mostly escape Winged Foot’s wrath through 17 holes, walking up the last at three-over on the day. And though his approach came up short of the green, a solid pitch left four feet for par. But Lee was unable to convert. And failed to make the follow-up.

And the next. And the next. And the next.

For those scoring at home, Lee took six putts on the 18th, walking off with a quintuple-bogey 9. After the four-footer for par, Lee faced putts from six feet, six feet, seven feet, four feet, and seven feet. Marshals would later describe the situation to Golf Digest as “whack-a-mole.”

As of 4:00 p.m. the NBC telecast had not shown Lee’s 18th green adventures. Lee did not drop by the flash area and wasn’t found on the putting green after his round, but the USGA confirmed to Golf Digest the shot-tracker data is correct.

The quintuple left Lee with an eight-over 78.

UPDATE: Lee has withdrawn from the U.S. Open, citing a wrist injury.

The post Danny Lee six-putted from four feet on Winged Foot’s 18th hole appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“For some reason starting from Korea, my game felt really really good,” said Lee, who opened with a nine-under 62 on Friday at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. “I changed my swing a little bit to gain distance off the tee and I really feel like the new swing is grooving into my body now. I feel very comfortable with all my clubs and even with my wedges and I think it’s showing, it’s been showing me a lot of good results.”

That it has. In five starts this year, Lee has already earned $1.3 million, much of that due to a solo second at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges. But he backed that up with a T-10 at the Zozo Championship and kept the good momentum rolling on Friday. He flirted with 59, going seven-under through eight, then reaching 10 under with a birdie at the 13th. He finally cooled off with a bogey at the par-4 14th, then parred his way home to match the lowest round of his career on the PGA Tour.

Lee leads by one over Brendon Todd and Adam Long, who combined for 16 birdies and just one bogey, which came from Long. Vaughn Taylor, Zach Johnson, Mark Hubbard and Chris Baker are tied for fourth at seven-under.

Billy Horschel, one of the tournament favourites, shot a six-under 65 and sits in a tie for eighth with Harris English.

The post Danny Lee flirts with 59, settles for nine-under 62 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.