Kiwi Lee apologises after his tantrum
Rotorua golfer Dannylee has apologised for his actions at theus Openfollowing his 18th hole meltdown inthe third round at Winged Foot onsunday.
The 30-year-old followed an opening-round 70 with a five-over 75 tomakeit through to theweekend at the secondmajor of the year, only forhis tournament to unravel in dramatic fashion.
Lee experienced amassive meltdown onthe 18th hole, sixputting from an initial distance of four feet to record a quintuple bogey nine. Hethen smashed hisputter into his golf bag before withdrawing from the tournament due to a wrist injury.
“I apologise formy poor actions at Usopenlast week. Itwasvery unprofessional andfoolish.
Obviously hurt lots ofmyfans and followers andmy sponsors out there myfrustration took overmeand combined with injury Ihad to fight with it for all week,” Lee posted on histwitter account.
“Still it’s just an excuse. I shouldn’t left like that… and also like to apologise tousgathey did tremendous job last weekat wing foot (sic). Oncourse and off the course. Nowi gonna takesometime off and thing about what I did andstarting next time I’ll showupas a better person and have better sportsmanship. Thank you.”
Leewasthree over for his third roundwhenhe madehisway to the par-four last and left himself a four-footer (1.2m) for par at the 18th, which he knocked so far past the hole that he left himself a longer putt coming back for bogey.
Hisnext effort failed to reach the hole and his third putt— his sixth shot — then rattled nearly seven feet (2.1m) past the target, with Lee’s following attempt finishing just under four feet (1.2m) from the cup.
Theworldno 108 sawhis eighth shot go further past the target than any ofhis previous efforts, before eventually holing from seven feet seven inches (2.3m)— the longest putt of the lot— to finish his round with a quintuple-bogey nine. The six-putt from four feet (1.2m) sawlee close out aneight-over 78 and 13-over for the tournament. Bywithdrawing he gaveupany prizemoney for the eventwith last-placed earning US$24,725. Lee last withdrew from a tournament in2017, whenhe pulled out of thebmwchampionship near Chicago after just twoholes citing a lower-back complaint.