Lee is in the US for the next two weeks, and has already played one practice round at Pebble Beach on Sunday, with another on Monday."The course was in spectacular condition, I would say. A real demand and test. It's going to be tough", he said later. " I played in 2000. I finished 5th. I played one Pebble Beach Pro-Am. It plays a lot different in June to the other way it plays".
He travelled on to Memphis for the St Jude Classic, at TPC Southwind, which began on Thursday. The event raises funds for the St Jude's Research Hospital, and in addition to the trophy, the winner is presented with a blue and white seersucker jacket.
Lee played the opening two rounds with Len Mattiace and Chad Collins and had an 8.05 (CDT - GMT-6 hours) start on Thursday from the 10th tee. Opening with a bogey-free 7-under 63, (despite finding water at the third, and still made par) the round included five birdies and an eagle. He also matched the lowest back nine score of 29, at the TPC Southwind course and finished as first round leader, one stroke ahead of the field.
"“It’s a solid test with a lot of intimidating tee shots", he said. "There’s a real good variation on the golf course and I was pleasantly surprised when I played Tuesday and then the pro-am Wednesday.”
" Twenty- nine, that was a pretty good start", he said when interviewed later. "Couple of good shots at 12 to about 8 feet. Nice 5-iron into 14 to 5 feet. Holed a nice one from 30 feet at 15 and hit 5-wood to 3 feet on 16. 3-wood, 7-iron to about 15 feet on 18".
And on the back nine? "I missed a couple of greens in there. Played solidly. Birdied the 1st from 8 feet. Missed a good chance at the next. Hit it in the water at 3, got in with a 4-iron. Slipped a little bit there but holed a nice putt for par. Missed from about 12 feet on 4 for birdie. About 15 feet on 5 for birdie. Made a nice 15-footer on 7 for par and missed from 4 feet on last for birdie. So, you know, pleased with the start. 63 is always a good start. I couldn't be disappointed with that. Could have been better, but I'm not going to cry too much from missing from 4 feet on the last".
"I wasn't even aware I shot 29 on the front-9. But then I birdied 7, and I had about an 8-footer on the next for birdie and thought knock this in, try to birdie the next. Then I realized it was par 70 as well. So I needed a couple more for coming to 59. I didn't dwell on that for too long. I've had a chance to shoot 59 before. You tend not to do it when you let your mind get away from you a little bit. I was just trying to hit good shots, really, and carry on doing what I had been doing on the front-9. To shoot a 29, you have to roll a few putts and the putts didn't continue to go in on the back-9. That's how it is sometimes".
He had a 13.06 start on Friday, from the first tee. Lee struggled with the blustery wind and fast greens in the second round, occassionally looking to the heavens when another birdie try slipped by. He had birdied the 4th but dropped a shot at 8 to go out in 35, and dropped to 6-under when he bogeyed the 14th. However, birdies at the last three holes, saw him finish with a 68, and he shared second round lead with Garrett Willis on 9-under par.
"It was tricky out there this afternoon", Lee said. "The wind got up and it was gusty, so quite hard to judge. Got off to a nice start, birdied the 4th. Didn't get up and down on 9 like I felt like I should have done".
"Good shot into 14. Too good. Came out to 5 feet from the back and missed that. Finished birdie, birdie, birdie. Got up and down through the back of 16. Hit two good shots to 17 to about 25 feet, made that, and nice 3-wood, 9-iron to about 3 feet at the last".
"It was a day of patience. I didn't hit the fairways early on, so I was coming out of the rough a lot. I wasn't missing the fairways by a long way, just on the edge. Couple I thought on the fairway were in the rough. It's windy round here, and the greens are firming up as they do in the afternoons. They dry out. You've got to be on the fairway to attack the flags, and I just didn't hit it close enough to the flag early on. So it was a day of patience and battling, and I was rewarded at the end of the round with three birdies for doing that".
"When I bogeyed 14, I stood on the 15th tee and set myself a little task of trying to birdie two of the last four holes to shoot under 70. I birdied the last three holes, and I had a chance at 15, too. I'm pleased with that. It's a great way to finish off the day. It sends you into tomorrow with momentum".
Lee was paired with Garrett Willis and Charley Hoffman for the third round, with an 11.30 tee-time. Lee recorded four bogeys and three birdies, for a 1-over 71, and on 8-under par ended the day in T3rd place, three shots behind the leader. he joined Heath Slocum for the final round,with a 12.21 tee-time.
Lee got off to a good start with birdies at three of the first four holes, but it looked like it could be over when he bogeyed the 17th. He pushed his tee shot, well to the right, overshot the green on his approach and got a free drop with the ball against the stand, but he failed to save par, and had to settle for 10-under par. Robert Garrigus, meanwhile streaked ahead to 12-under par, but he too found trouble when he made a triple bogey at the last, and so with Robert Karlsson, they went into a three-way tie and a sudden-death playoff.
"You certainly don't think three behind ... ," Lee said later. "It's amazing how things pan out."
Garrigus was knocked out at the first hole (18th), so it was off to the 11th for Lee and Karlsson, who had both made par. Lee's tee shot on the 146-yard par-3 11th just cleared the water while Karlsson, hit it pin high, 10 feet right of the flag. With his ball sitting down in the grass just off the fringe, Lee chipped in the ball but it bobbled over the fringe and it travelled another 5 feet past the hole. Robert Karlsson pushed his putt just past the right side of the hole, resulting in both making par. So it was off to the 12th, where both three putted for bogey, and it was back to the 18th where both found the fairway off the tee, with Lee's ball travelling the furthest (303yds), leaving him 150yds to the green. His second left him a 6ft 1 inch putt for victory, while Karlsson could only manage par.
"I guess it was 5, 6 feet. I'm not sure", Lee remarked later. "I wasn't looking, but the good thing about it was it was straight downhill. So I just had to get it started on-line. The greens are fantastic. Even at the end of the day, it was a nice down-grain putt so I wouldn't bobble off-line. I started on the line I wanted. I started celebrating when I knew it was going to go in".
"You try to do the right thing all the time," he said. "It doesn't always work for you. I've been in contention a lot, especially this year, and I suppose I got a break today with other people's misfortune but made the most of it and took a chance. Golf is a funny game. Sometimes it gives. Sometimes it takes away."
" In my career I've had highs and lows. I've dropped down in the world rankings and come back up it. So to be contending for golf tournaments is a real positive, because I couldn't see a fairway or the golf course eight years ago. Now I'm contending for golf tournaments. What is there not to enjoy? There's far more people -- you look at the charity this week, the kids' hospital, far more people go through worse things than playing bad golf. That's why I play golf with such an optimistic outlook. Good things will happen. I enjoy golf".
""It's definitely nice to win again," he admitted. "Nobody likes negative questions when you try to be positive all the time. You get into contention. Sometimes you don't finish off. It could be a lot of different things, you know, conspire to that. It's nice to now say 12 years for my second one!"
Interesting Facts
Lee joins Billy Maxwell (1958), Bob Lunn (1968) and Dicky Pride (1994) as the only players to win the St. Jude Classic in their first appearance.
The win is Lee's second on the PGA TOUR, and comes 123 starts and 12 years, two months and eight days since his victory at the 1998 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
In all, Lee has made 133 starts on the PGA TOUR, with 23 top-10 and 52 top-25 finishes
Lee's only other PGA Tour win also came the week before a major championship. Following his win in New Orleans, he finished 44th at the 1998 Masters Tournament
Only eight players have won the week before a major and gone on to win the next week. Let's hope Lee can make it nine!
