Lee eyes place on Presidents Cup squad
When KH 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 Lassotype swing coach has since led him to stardom on the PGA Tour.
In May, Lee became the eighth and latest South Korean winner on the PGA 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-yearold 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 (about 96kg) 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 football coach starring in the selftitled 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,” he said.
“I remember my mother was a violin teacher and she tried to teach me which did not go well. When she asked me to practise 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-winning South Korean team at the 2010 Asian Games in China, which exempted him from mandatory military service.
He turned professional soon after and amassed two victories each on the Korean Tour and Japan Golf Tour from 2012-2016.
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 practise every winter and he was my chauffeur 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.”
Lee welcomed the arrival of his first child, a baby girl named Celine Yuna Lee, in July with wife, Yu Joo-Yeon.
“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.
“The goal [in the 2021-22 season] will be to have another victory and getting myself into the top 50 in the world. 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.”