Golf: It's all in the mind, Charles tells Lee

NZ golfing great Bob Charles has passed on some putting advice to young sensation Danny Lee. Photo / Getty Images

There is a simple solution to Danny Lee's angst with the putter, according to golf great Sir Bob Charles.

Speaking with the benefit of his almost 73 years, Charles today suggested the teenager possessed the answer to the problem - because it sat on his shoulders.

"It is all in the mind. Putting is a mind game," said Charles, once rated among the top 10 greatest putters of all time by legendary South African Gary Player.

"If he thinks he is not going to put well, he won't putt well. If he thinks he will put well, he will putt well.

"Didn't you notice how Tiger Woods made those putts at Torrey Pines (last year) to win the US Open? It was all in his mind. He decided he was going to make them.

"I guess the word is confidence."

Charles has been delighted at the rapid advances Lee, 18, has made ahead of his planned switch to the professional ranks next month in the United States.

The Korean-born Rotorua-groomed sensation erased world No 1 Woods from the record books last August by becoming the youngest player in history to win the US Amateur championship.

It was no flash in the pan, with eight appearances in professional tournaments since then yielding six cuts made, and a breakthrough win last month in the tri-sanctioned Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth.

Lee warmed up for the New Zealand Open starting in Queenstown tomorrow by finishing in a tie for seventh in the New Zealand PGA Championship in Christchurch on Sunday.

He left Christchurch bemused about the state of his putting, which has been unreliable of late, and yesterday said he wanted to meet Charles to get some tips on that aspect of his game.

That meeting has yet to take place but event organisers hope to arrange it in coming days.

Charles is hugely impressed with what Lee has done to date and predicts big things for the talented teen.

"I think it is fantastic what he has done," Charles said.

"As an 18-year-old he is better than Tiger Woods was at the same age.

"Danny has a wonderful future ahead of him."

- NZPA