KEY POINTS:
A world of opportunity has just opened up for New Zealand golfer Danny Lee, whose burgeoning career hit unprecedented heights yesterday.
Lee beat American Drew Kittleson 5 and 4 in the final of the US Amateur at Pinehurst in North Carolina to erase a certain Eldrick Tiger Woods from at least one record book.
At 18 years and 32 days, Lee became the youngest player to win the title since it was first contested in 1895, eclipsing Woods, who was six months and 29 days older when he won the first of three successive amateur crowns in 1994.
As for Lee, becoming the first New Zealander and just the ninth foreign-born player to hold aloft the Havemeyer Trophy, American amateur golf's most coveted prize, brings with it tangible, major rewards. The two finalists are guaranteed a start in next year's US Open, and organisers of the Masters traditionally offer the same inducement. He has also been invited to the British Open next year.
Those invitations are valid only if Lee remains an amateur, which he has said he intends to, so delaying an inevitable switch to the pro ranks for close to another year. As well, Lee's success has bought him the precious commodity of time as he considers a variety of offers from equipment suppliers and international management groups all scrambling to add the teenager to their stables.
Lee's profile has gone through the roof in the US this month, with the US Amateur title following his tie for 20th in the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship and his win in the prestigious Western Amateur.
New Zealand Golf high performance manager David Graham walked the fairways with Lee at the Wyndham Championship and again during the early rounds of the US Amateur.
They were far from alone, with Graham saying Lee has been courted by a large number of business representatives.
It is not too strong a statement to say that Lee decimated the Amateur field at Pinehurst.
Kittleson, 19, did place him under pressure by gaining a two-hole advantage by the sixth but Lee responded by winning four of the next five holes to assert himself.
The New Zealander kept pushing, extending his lead to six holes leaving the 20th, before Kittleson, of Scottsdale, Arizona, reduced the difference to two after 26.
Again Lee hit back, with the 11th of his 13 birdies coming at the 27th before he closed out the contest with four holes to spare.
- NZPA
