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Danny Lee caps off career-best season with T-2nd at Tour Championship

September 28, 2015
Danny Lee chips to the green on the 17th hole in the final round of the Tour Championship golf tournament at East Lake Golf Club, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015, in Atlanta. Lee finished a three-way tie for second place with at 5 under par. (AP Photo/John Amis)

Danny Lee chips to the green on the 17th hole in the final round of the Tour Championship golf tournament at East Lake Golf Club, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015, in Atlanta. Lee finished a three-way tie for second place with at 5 under par. (AP Photo/John Amis)

By Brian Han

2015 will be a year to remember for Danny Lee.

After starting off his career as the top-ranked amateur in the world, the Korean New Zealander almost quit golfing back in 2012 when he lost his tour card.

Encouraging words from both his parents and South Korean veteran K.J. Choi helped him weather the storm as he steadily improved his game.

Fast forward a few years, and he’s made a full rebound. Lee made close to $4 million in tournament winnings this past season, which more than quadrupled his previous career-high. He won his first PGA Tour event, the 2015 Greenbrier Classic, while proving on Sunday he can hang with the best of them — a field of the top 30 players this season to be exact.

He illustrated just that during the final round Sunday

The Korean New Zealander started off red hot during the final round of the Tour Championship by Coca-Cola.

Lee drained a 12-footer on the opening hole for birdie. He followed up by hitting a blistering iron shot to seven feet on the 222-yard par 3 second, which led to another birdie.

He made the turn at 4-under, but found some trouble on the back nine. His game wasn’t necessarily at 100 percent as he was below average in both driving accuracy and greens in regulation, but he outplayed most of his peers with a 5-under 65 — second only to Dustin Johnson’s 6-under 64.

It was good enough to put Lee in a three-way tie for second at 5-under with Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, but nowhere near the score needed to catch 22-year-old American Jordan Spieth who finished at 9-under.

What better way to cap off a historic year with one last win? And don’t forget the $10 million check he pockets as a result of winning the FedEx Cup.

Even though the PGA Tour season is over, many of the players have the Presidents Cup in sight, which is going to be held in Incheon, South Korea. It will be the first time the event has been held in an Asian country.

“The reason I played so many events was I really wanted to make it into the Presidents Cup this year,” Lee told the Korea Times in August. “It’s back in Korea. I was born there. I speak Korean. My grandparents and parents are Korean and most of my family are in Korea.”

He earned his way onto the International team with Nick Price at the helm, and they will be joined by notables such as Jason Day, Louis Oosthuizen and Adam Scott just to name a few.

Captain’s pick Bae Sang-moon will also be playing due to his knowledge of the course backed up by two recent wins at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea where the event will be held.

It will be Bae’s final foray into competitive golf before he begins his two-year mandatory service with the South Korean army.