KEY POINTS:
The path has been cleared to enable the world's top amateur golfer to contest the New Zealand PGA Championship in March.
Tournament promoter Bob Tuohy has allocated one of his two sponsor's invitations to Danny Lee, guaranteeing the reigning US Amateur champion a start in the US$600,000 ($1.15 million) tournament in Christchurch on March 5-8.
The Rotorua 18-year-old will become the first amateur to compete in the championship since it was relaunched after a 16-year absence in 2004 as a Nationwide Tour and Australasian Tour co-sanctioned event.
Tuohy's decision will come as a relief to the New Zealand Professional Golfers' Association (NZPGA), which is keen for Lee to compete at the Clearwater Resort, Christchurch.
But it feared the rules which prevent the inclusion of amateurs from qualifying for the championship would rule him out.
Unaware of Tuohy's decision, the NZPGA had asked the Australasian Tour, under whose authority the tournament is staged, if anything precluded Lee playing.
Tour officials have yet to provide an answer, but their stance is now immaterial given Tuohy's decision.
"The two sponsor's invites are allocated at my discretion," Tuohy said today.
"There is nothing to prevent an amateur playing."
Tuohy, an Australian who also promotes the New Zealand Open and New Zealand Women's Open, had no qualms about offering Lee an invitation once it became clear the teenager was keen to play.
"He is one of the best New Zealand players in the world today regardless of his amateur status," said Tuohy, who placed Lee behind Mark Brown and David Smail in the New Zealand pecking order.
"Danny is very much up there and he has a great future in front of him."
Lee is using the championship and the New Zealand Open the following week near Queenstown to help prepare him for a switch to the professional ranks, which he intends doing after the Masters in the United States in April.
He will tee off in the first major of the year at Augusta, Georgia, as a reward for winning the US Amateur last August.
Since August he has accepted invitations to contest six professional tournaments, making five cuts with a best result of sharing 11th place in the Australian Masters near Melbourne in November.
- NZPA
