Richard T.

Lee

The Canadian staged a remarkable recovery having posted three early bogeys to leave the 6th green level-par for the week and apparently in a fight to make the cut. No fear. He streaked five birdies on the bounce at 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 before maintaining the momentum with an eagle-3 at the par-five 14th and birdie-4 at the par-five 15th. It was a run which laughed in the face of his previous experience at Crans-sur-Sierre GC (WD-MC). The Asian Tour regular has had limited starts on the European Tour and is only 8-for-19. However when he makes a weekend he doesn’t waste it: he has six top 25 finishes including two top fives and T10 in this year’s Lyoness Open.

The Canadian checks in at 11th in the Asian Tour order of merit. The top 10 automatically earned a birth into the field, but Daisuke Kataoka (5th) did not make the trip, so that opened a slot for Lee. The 26-year-old has two career wins on the Asian Tour, most recently the 2017 Shinhan Donghae Open in Korea. He was also the 2013 rookie of the year on that circuit. As for his experience on the PGA TOUR, he is just 2-for-4 with both “cuts made” coming in no-cut events, one being the CIMB Classic (two years ago) where he finished T75. The Arizona resident certainly has some game, given the two victories overseas, but he is a long shot to contend in this week’s field.

This is the Canadian’s first start in the event and it’s so far, so good after a strong day’s work left him just three off the pace. Lee wobbled at the end of his opening nine when wiping out early gains at 10 and 15 with bogeys at 17 and 18. But he got back on track with a birdie at 1 and picked up three shots in his final five holes, including a walk-off par breaker at 9. Lee split 11 (of 14) fairways but could only hit 12 greens in regulation. He limited the damage with 4-for-6 scrambling.

The 18-year old shot 8-under-par 280, making the cut by two strokes. Notables joining him at next week’s final stage at PGA West include 49-year old medalist, Jim Rutledge (15-under, three-stroke margin), Ted Purdy, Y.E. Yang and Craig Kanada. Included in the notables that failed to advance are Mark Hensby (by one stroke), Robin Freeman (by one stroke), Phil Tataurangi, Bob Burns, Jin Park, Bob Sowards, Doug LaBelle II, Esteban Toledo, Todd Fischer, Jeff Brehaut and Clay Ogden.

The Canadian is best known for playing in the 2007 U.S. Open at the age of 16 but now plies his trade in Asia after an unsuccessful spell on the Web.com Tour. Lee’s bogey-free lap comprised 15 pars and birdies at four, six and 12. He hit only 12 greens in regulation but was 6-for-6 in scrambling. The 24-year-old also opened with a 69 last year before slipping back with a Friday 76. Closing rounds of 67-70 saw him finish T18. This is his first start of 2015 after rounding off his 2014 campaign with a T38 in the Thailand Golf Championship.

The Canadian’s late burst completed a closing 1-under-par 37-34=71 and an aggregate of 11-under 277 -- five shots behind winner Anirban Lahiri. Lee had just a single birdie on his opening nine and that was sandwiched between bogeys at six and eight. He balanced the books with a birdie at 11 before back-to-back bogeys at 12 and 13. It still looked set be a memorable tournament but he put some real gloss on the week with birdies at 14, 16 and 17 to climb from outside the top 10 to T5. For the second day running he needed just 25 putts.

Lee, who played in the 2007 U.S. Open at 16 before his career stalled, is now at 6-under 138 after his second straight 69 on the par 72. Teeing off at 10, he suffered a sticky start with back-to-back bogeys at 12 and 13 but responded with a trio of birdies at 14, 15 and 16. Another par breaker at the first was wiped out with a slip at two but the Canadian birdied the two front-nine par fives - the third and the fifth - to break 70 again. He hit 12 greens in regulation for the second day running and will start Saturday’s third round five shots off the lead.

Lee was tied third on 9-under 135 when posting, just two behind clubhouse leader Miguel Angel Jiménez. The recent consistency the Canadian has found was borne out in his stats as, for the second day running, he split 9 (of 14) fairways and found 15 greens in regulation. He was also 2-for-3 in scrambling again. The former teen phenom, who played in the 2007 U.S. Open at just 16, circled three birdies on each nine while his only bogey came at the par-4 fourth.

Lee’s best round of the week at Black Mountain included three birdies in the opening four holes, another at 13 and a final pair at 17 and 18. He kept a bogey off his card thanks to an excellent short game. Lee was 6-for-6 in scrambling, 3-for-3 in sand saves and needed just 24 putts. This is further confirmation from the Canadian that he’s on the rise again having vanished off the radar after competing in the US Open as a teenager. He was also T5 in Malaysia last week and will seek to continue his good form in next week’s Hero Indian Open.

The Canadian has been a feature of the recent co-sanctioned events in Asia and arrived in India on the back of a T4 in the True Thailand Classic and a T5 in the Maybank Malaysian Open. He continued his excellent run here with a bogey-free lap of Delhi GC that featured four birdies in his first eight holes. They came at 11, 12, 15 and 17 as he completed his opening nine in just 31. Asian Tour regular Lee, who played in the U.S. Open as a teenager, circled further par breakers at the first and sixth. At the time of posting, Lee and Chawrasia were two shots clear of the field.