It has taken a while, but Danny Lee is finally moving towards the world golf leaderboard.
The former amateur star has reached a career-best ranking of 34 after he finished 30th at the Pebble Beach Pro Am this week, a rise of two places.
There was a lot of unrealistic expectation about Lee's professional prospects when the lanky Rotorua kid rose to top the world's amateur rankings in late 2008 and won the US Amateur at a younger age than Tiger Woods.
Since turning professional in 2009, he has been a journeyman who has struggled to live up to his billing, but is now regularly making cuts. The 25-year-old finished the 2014 season ranked at 220, and that rose significantly to 47 at the end of 2015.
Ryan Fox is the next best Kiwi at 166 and Lydia Ko remains on top of the women's rankings.
