It was a surprise because no one expected her to make the leap to professionalism before finishing her university studies. But Andrea Lee has chosen to jump into the LPGA Tour pool and leave behind her brilliant amateur career that had led her to be number one in the world ranking until her momentous decision, taken in November. An only child, Andrea started playing golf at the age of 5 with her father, James, and at the age of 8 she was already competing in tournaments, with her mother, Sunny, as a spectator and her father as a caddie.
After a brilliant junior year (she won forty titles in four years), Andrea began her college education at Stanford in 2016, where she enrolled as a Science, Technology and Society major. Her outstanding golfing talent came to the fore as early as her freshman year, scoring three wins in the five championships she contested and recording the lowest average round score (71.62 strokes) per round (71.62 strokes) at Stanford and nearly came close to achieving the lowest collegiate score of all time. He climbed, of course, to the top of the U.S. amateur rankings.
Among the pre-college accomplishments of the young woman born 20 years ago in Hermosa Beach, a city in Los Angeles County, California, stands out her participation at only 15 years old in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open, where she made the cut (she finished 69th). She was also four years in a row, since 2012, a member of the Rolex Junior All-American First Team; in 2014 she was named Junior Player of the Year and was a semifinalist in the U.S. Women’s Amateur; in 2015 she won the silver medal at the Pan American Games and won the Southern California Amateur. In 2016 she placed second at the Canadian Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Jr. Girls’ Championships, and represented the United States at the Curtis Cup and the World Amateur Team Championship. This year, her last in college, she started it as fifth in the world amateur ranking and, thanks to her great sporting performance (semifinalist in the U.S. Women’s Amateur; third in the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship; made the cut in the U.S. Women’s Open), she climbed back to the top of the rankings in the summer, where she had already been last year for seven weeks.
In April she played in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur and in August the USGA and the R&A (the world golf governing bodies) awarded her the Mark H. McCormack Medal, an honor that also carries with it for Andrea a place to play in next year’s U.S. Women’s Open and the Women’s British Open if she continues to maintain her amateur status.
“Receiving the McCormack Medal is a great honor and is one of the most rewarding achievements of my amateur career,” said the recipient. “It shows that all my hard work over the past year has really paid off, and to be at the top of the rankings is a very surreal feeling. This will serve as further motivation for me to keep working towards my goals in the sport.”
Andrea, who has bogeyed four holes-in-one and two albatrosses so far, is one of the most decorated golfers in Stanford University history, having tied the school record with eight individual victories. She made the WGCA All-America first team for the third consecutive year, and was one of five finalists for the Annika Award, given annually to the outstanding player of the year. The young Californian has been a member of the U.S. team at two editions of the Curtis Cup and one of the Women’s World Amateur.
Now it remains to be seen if the talented former amateur is able to carve out a niche for herself in the increasingly competitive and “Asianized” world of women’s professional golf.
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IN SHORT
WHEN HE HAS FREE TIME
In the little free time she has left after practicing and competing in golf, the young Californian enjoys watching movies, shopping, singing, bowling or snowboarding. Not anymore, but Amdrea has gone on to compete in soccer, taekwondo and figure skating on ice.
A DREAM COME TRUE
A big dream of Andrea’s come true was walking alongside her father, who caddied for her, down the 18th fairway at Pinehurst during the 2014 US Women’s Open. She was a 15-year-old teenager and had played the practice round with Michelle Wie, who was the winner of her first and so far only major.
SPECIAL EMBRACE AT AUGUSTA NATIONAL
During the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, Andrea felt very warmly embraced, especially by one of the members of the famous club: Condoleezza Rice. The former Secretary of State greeted her with a big hug. Perhaps the fact that Rice is a professor at Stanford University, where Andrea is a student, played a role.
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