Lee left a rainy Worksop on Monday and flew with his family to Scotland for the 139th Open Championship, which begins on the Old Course, at St Andrews on Thursday. Lee finished in T3rd spot in the event, which took place at Turnberry, last year.
The R&A has announced the prize fund for this year’s Open Championship the world’s oldest golf tournament, which is celebrating its 150th year. The 2010 prize fund will be £4.8 million of which the Champion will receive £850,000. This represents a substantial increase in the total prize fund which had remained at £4.2 million for the last three Championships, with the Champion receiving £750,000 in each of those years.
"The Open Championship sits at the forefront of world golf and it is appropriate that our prize fund reflects that position in the game,” said The R&A’s Chief Executive, Peter Dawson.
When asked about his recent injury, in the interviews leading up to the event, Lee replied, "I can't remember doing it. It may have happened over a period of time. I ruptured my plantaris muscle, which apparently is a rare muscle to start. It's not very important, but obviously if you rupture something, then there's swelling. I've got swelling into my ankle. I had about seven days doing nothing, which has been fairly boring. Apparently it's six to eight weeks recovery time if you put your feet up, but obviously with the biggest tournament on the calendar this week, I can't really afford to do that. So it's just a case of managing it this week, strapping it up, trying to keep the swelling from getting any worse, and playing as well as I can. It doesn't hurt as much as it did in Paris, but it's still obviously not quite right, but it's not going to be.
And then I've got a couple of weeks off after this to get some more treatment on it, and hopefully I'll be recovered for the Bridgestone".
Lee said the injury does affect the end of his swing, " It doesn't do a lot, but it obviously -- when I try and go up on my toe and then twist, I'm using it then, and it's kind of stretching it out and feels uncomfortable. The very last part, I'm just a little bit apprehensive. But hopefully as the week goes on, I'll get various types of strapping right. I've got strapping on now to try and support my ankle more. We can fine-tune it over the next couple of days, and hopefully it won't be too much of a problem. It's not going to be perfect, but what can you do?
Obviously it doesn't help, but I'm hitting the ball well, feel like I'm very comfortable on these greens. So you know, I'm still hoping for a good week" .
"I withdrew beginning of last week from the Irish Open. So I won't be playing there unfortunately. I would have liked to have played".
"I've finished top three in three of the last four majors. I've played well here in the past, obviously played well last year, and I've been looking forward to this week for quite some time. It's obviously the home of golf, a rich history to the golf tournament, especially when it's held at St. Andrews. I think it's even more special when the Open Championship is here, and obviously it's one I'd like to win.
You know, I'm looking forward to Thursday when we get going. It's a while since I've played links golf, but when I have played links golf lately, I've played it well. It's a form of golf I enjoy".
Lee is paired with Miguel Angel Jimenez and Adam Scott for the first two rounds, with a 13.42 start on Thursday (8.31 on Friday).
Despite many players struggling with worsening weather in the afternoon, Lee recorded a first round 67 (-5), ending the day in T8th place on the leaderboard. In the morning, the wind barely rippled the flags, the rains held off and it was warm enough to play in shirt sleeves but it gave way to stiffer breezes and occasional bursts of rain in the afternoon.
"We got unlucky with the weather, but that's the nature of links golf," he said. "One half gets it good, the other doesn't. So I have to be reasonably happy with a 67 in those conditions."
"I actually expected somebody to post a 62," he said. "I don't think I've ever known St. Andrews as calm."
Heavy rain drenched the mornings players, on Friday, with Lee recording only one birdie (at the fifth), despite so many near misses. He said later, "I got absolutely nothing out of that round. I played a lot better than that 71 would suggest but that's the way it goes sometimes".
"I've not capitalised on enough chances and that's why I'm at six under."
With the wind worsening in the afternoon, play was suspended from 2.38 to 3.45.
Lee finished the round in T3rd position and had a 16.30 tee-time with Paul Casey on Saturday. Playing late into the day in blustery wind, Lee added another 71 to his card, ending the day T4th and eight shots adrift of tournament leader, Louis Oosthuizen.
He went out in 38, having bogeyed 4 and 6 and 33 on the back nine, with birdies at 10,11 and 14, a bogey at 15 and a birdie at the last.
"I played okay and 71 is not a bad score but the reason I shot 71 was because I was not so sharp on the greens and haven't been all week," Lee said. "If I could have gone out a couple under I would have felt in the tournament more, but I've not had any momentum all week because I've not putted well enough."
"Three three-putts on the front nine is not what you're looking for. If I could have gone to a couple under rather than two over at the turn that would have been more what I was looking for. I wasn't too sharp on the greens and that's been the case all week, but I played well on the back nine. I had a bonus on 10 holing from 50 feet and, although I caught a fairway trap at 15, I had a nice up-and-down at 17 and a good birdie at 18 to finish"
"I've won from eight behind - only once though - so it can be done, and strange things have been happening this week," he added. "It will be tough and I'll have to play some good stuff tomorrow because I'm a bit further back than I would have liked to have been. If given the choice, I'd rather be chasing somebody who hasn't won a major than somebody who has. And it can be done. But, having seen the way Louis and Paul Casey played today, it will be very tough"
Lee had a 13.45 tee-time with Alejandro Canizares for the final round.
He made his first birdie of the day at the 9th, bogeyed 12, then birdied 13 and 14. Having found rough twice at 17, Lee sank his bogey putt to go to eight under. He had an eagle chance at the last but had to settle for a birdie. His final score of 279 (9-under par) saw him finish in sole 2nd place, with Louis Oosthuizen winning the title on 16 -under par. His prize money of €595,200 moves him to 2nd place in the Race to Dubai (€1,822,738), and he remains 3rd in WR.
"I didn't get off to a quick enough start. It was difficult out there and the pin positions were tough", he said later.
Again, he had so many near-misses but said, "I wouldn't put it purely down to putting because putting, everybody thinks when the wind blows it affects the long game the most, but it doesn't. It tends to affect the putting the most. So it's difficult to remain any kind of rhythm because the putter is getting blown all over the place and the ball gets hit by the wind. I'm not reading too much into my putting this week. It's very difficult, and you're putting from a long way away most of the time. I missed, I would say, three or four on the week that I would expect to hole, but no more. Not anywhere near enough to get close to Louis".
And to win a Major, he said "I've got to improve. I'm showing lots of consistency but not quite good enough".
"I don't know if it's around the corner, but hopefully it's about three weeks away. But I don't know,. Like I said, I can't do much more than I'm already doing. I'm trying to improve all the time, and I'm sticking myself in contention. What is it now, second at the Masters and 16th at the U.S. Open and third at the PGA last year and third at the Open and second or third at the -- I've lost count. But what else can you do other than getting in contention and playing well?"
