Tain

Lee

The 31-year-old Lee, who was born in Maryland and calls California home, carded a 4-under 67 in the final round Monday at The Landings Club’s Marshwood Course in Savannah, Ga., and finished at 6-under 276. Zack Fischer became the first two-time medalist in the modern era (since 2013) of the KFT Q-School, breaking a four-way tie at the top with his own birdie from 12 feet on the 72nd hole to finish at 14-under 268. While finishers 2-10 (and ties) are guaranteed entry into the first dozen events, those who finish Nos. 11-40 are guaranteed entry into the only first eight events. Lee’s playing partner Monday, Patrick Newcomb (T-11), just missed his shot at an extra four starts when he lipped out a birdie putt at 18 that would have put him at T-10. Tain made four PGA Tour starts last season, making three cuts with a best finish of T-14 at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree, where he Monday qualified. Lee earned all four starts as a Monday qualifier.

This marks the fourth time this season that the 31-year-old Maryland native has qualified for a PGA Tour event. “I just know when you hit it tight, it’s always longer than it looks,” Lee told the Detroit News about his 6-inch birdie putt to secure his spot at Detroit Golf Club. “But this was the one time it was actually 6 inches, so I figured I can manage that. But even then, I managed to wipe my putter grip like 10 times before I had to putt.” Lee has made the most of his three previous PGA Tour starts: He made the cut in all three events and finished T-69 at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, T-59 at the Valero Texas Open in April and most recently finished T-14 at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree. “It means it means so much to me now,” added the former NCAA Division III champion. “That first one means a lot because you get to play in a PGA Tour event, but there’s just so much on the line for me now that I didn’t know about two weeks ago. So, yeah, I was nervous for sure on that first playoff hole.”

The World No. 1882 was one of four golfers stranded on Saturday evening due to inclement weather and returned on Sunday morning to can a 16'1" birdie-3 at 18. That bumped him into the third-to-last twosome with Tyrrell Hatton (67), scheduled out at 1:30 pm ET. After a torrid start, four birdies in his first five, the 31-year-old was in the lead on 11-under total for most of the middle portion of his lap, but limped home in 4-over 39 after bogeys at 13 (3-putt from 32'4"), 14 and 17, and a double bogey-6 at 15, where he took a penalty after an errant tee ball and then 3-jacked from 28'2". In all, he ticked five birdies on eight (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, posting -1.471 SG: Off-the-Tee, 1.257 SG: Approach, -0.488 SG: Around, and 0.173 SG: Putting. The Maryland native, who turned pro in 2012 but is making just his third start on the PGA TOUR, all this season and all as an OQer, would earn another start with a top-10 finish at Congaree.

The 31-year-old, who open-qualified on Sunday due to final qualifying for the U.S. Open beginning on Monday, is now 3-for-3 in his PGA TOUR career, each as an OQer. He debuted a T69 at the Farmers in January, T54 at the midpoint, and tacked on a T59 at the Valero Texas Open 10 weeks ago, T61 at the halfway point. Prior to the aforementioned Farmers, the World No. 1882 hadn’t competed on a major tour since missing six of 11 cuts on the Mackenzie Tour in 2019, where he finished No. 51 on the Order of Merit. He’ll play out of the penultimate twosome in R3 with Harris English. On nine (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, the Maryland native offset three bogeys and a double with eight birdies, including three straight at 10-12. He posted 0.816 SG: Off-the-Tee, 3.114 SG: Approach, 0.634 SG: Around, and 4.564 SG: Tee-to-Green. Lee’s birdie split featured three from between nine and 20 feet, and recorded 1.462 putts per GIR and 0.463 SG: Putting. After 36 holes, he ranks No. 1 in putts per GIR (1.520) and 4th in SG: APP (4.763).

The 31-year-old played his way into the field this week via Open Qualifying and he’s taking advantage of the opportunity so far. Lee picked up a local caddie this week and the duo dissected the course very well today, piping 12-of-14 fairways to set up 12 greens in regulation. “We got off to a good start, struck it pretty well and rolled a couple in. This course, as firm as it got, with the roll out, you don’t know some of the lines off the tees, so my caddie helped me out a lot with that, that was good... My caddie was just giving me lines and I was kind of pointing and shooting and that was pretty much it today.” Lee arrived with a T69 and T59 on his PGA TOUR resume, both this season, and he’s on pace to keep that flawless cuts-made streak alive.

Killeen has been trying his hand at Monday Qualifiers for years now and finally bagged one. He had a strong Korn Ferry Tour career with two wins and 13 other top 10s, in 150 events played. Killeen also spent one season on the PGA TOUR (2012), going 17-for-33 with a pair of top 25s. Killeen is a fan favorite on Twitter and he’ll be one to watch closely this week in San Antonio. Others to play their way in today include: Sam Fidone (66), Tain Lee (66), and Patrick Grimes (66).

Lee circled nine birdies and squared just one bogey on his lap around Club de Golf Mapocho. The course has the distinction of offering players five par 3s and four par 5s, with a mere nine par 4s on the docket. This is just the 10th career Web.com Tour start for Lee, with six of the first nine resulting in missed cuts. It will be a learning experience to see how he responds to his lofty position through 18 holes.