KEY POINTS:
It might pay for world No 1-ranked amateur Danny Lee to put his plans of turning professional on ice for nearly another year, says New Zealand Golf high performance manager David Graham.
Lee, 18, has cruised through to the semifinals of the US Amateur Championship at Pinehurst in North Carolina. If he wins the title on Monday (NZT), he will surpass Tiger Woods by six months as the youngest player to do so and will earn a spot in the 2009 British Open.
Today's semifinal winners also get a full exemption for the 2009 US Open and a probable invitation to next year's Masters.
Lee, still described as a Rotorua Boys' High School student although virtually a fulltime golfer, plans to enter qualifying school for the PGA Tour this year and go on either the PGA Tour or the second-tier Nationwide Tour.
Graham said Lee would probably turn professional at the end of this year, after October's Eisenhower Trophy world amateur teams championship in Adelaide.
"But he has a decision to make if he wins this event, as he gets into things like the Masters, US Open and British Open as an amateur," Graham said. "Those are exceptional opportunities and will only do good for his profile and development.
"So maybe he should wait until June next year to turn pro... we will be talking it through with him when he gets back."
Lee beat New Jersey's Morgan Hoffmann 4 and 3 to advance to today's semfinals. Lee, who also beat Hoffmann in the quarter-finals in the Western Amateur, has lost only seven holes in his four matchplay contests in the US Amateur.
"My iron shots went really well and the putter went well, too," Lee said. "All I have to do now is play well tomorrow and I have to play well in the finals."
Lee shot the equivalent of one-under-par, even after injuring his left shoulder on the range while warming up. Going against the advice of his uncle, Rambert Sim, to withdraw, Lee had his shoulder wrapped in ice.
"The first five holes it hurt to swing," said Lee, who feels exhausted having played the past three weeks in the Western Amateur, the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship and the US Amateur.
- NZPA
