Golf: Winner's cheque will come in handy

Richard Lee provided himself with the perfect wedding present when he won the Thai Open at the weekend.

The 31-year-old Aucklander gets married in a week's time to his fiancee, Minako, at Kumeu in West Auckland and the $108,770 winner's cheque couldn't have been better timed.

Martin Phillips, best man at the wedding and a former golf professional, has nothing but admiration for the tall redhead, best known for many years for one of the better nicknames in sport - Muhammad, from R. Lee/Ali.

"He's shown a fair bit of courage to seize the chance when it came up, but then he's had to have a lot of courage and determination to survive all the lows in his career," said Phillips.

"He had a really tough year before this. Now it's opened up a lot of opportunities. The Asian tour is definitely on the up and he'll also get entry into some joint-sanctioned events with the European tour."

Phillips has been a friend since their amateur days and he remembers the reaction when the teenaged Lee came from nowhere to beat the star of the moment, Michael Campbell, in the 36-hole final of the national amateur championship in Dunedin.

"He had a former champion, Tim Woon, as his caddie but it was an amazing effort by an 18-year-old," said Phillips. "His game wasn't really that good then and people were saying he was the worst golfer to win the championship. But he's gone on to show what courage and determination can do."

And he has since shown that he has the game to go with the determination. For several years he held the course record of 62 for the famed Royal Melbourne course before it was bettered by Ernie Els last year.

He appeared to have settled into a comfortable professional lifestyle when he qualified for the Japanese tour and maintained his card after his first season. Then in 2003 he lost his playing rights in morale-shattering circumstances.

He went into the final tournament ranked in the top 70, who automatically keep their cards, but two players slipped past him and he finished 71st.

Lee spent last year without a tour to play on. He had a good finish in his one event in Japan but received no other invitations. He headed to Malaysia with 600 hopefuls and after two qualifying events emerged as the 30th qualifier for the Asian tour, guaranteed only a few starts.

He got into the field for the New Zealand Open at Gulf Harbour, shot two under for 36 hxoles and missed the cut by one. With no place at the NZPGA championship in Christchurch, he headed for Myanmar where he missed the cut.

Muhammad was down but not out. Four rounds and a playoff hole at Phuket and he was holding up the trophy and pocketing the cheque, which will start his married life on a much brighter note.