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Kiwi golfer Danny Lee tees off the 18th hole during the final round of the Bermuda Championship at the Port Royal Golf Course on October 31st.
A lot can change in a few months, ask kiwi golfer Danny Lee.
In a downward spiral after losing his PGA Tour card in September and tumbling to number 257 in the world rankings, the 31-year-old has regained his PGA Tour status, overtaking Ryan Fox as the top-ranked Kiwi.
Not entirely banned from the game’s most prolific and lucrative tour – Lee had a medical exception (10 starts) – he did so after finishing second in the Bermuda Championship and seventh in the World Wide Technology Championship in Mayakoba .
With the prospect of playing mostly on the Korn Ferry Tour (formerly Web.com), Lee needed at least one solo third party to earn enough FedExCup points (190) to recapture his full ticket (minus the majors). He earned 245 for second place.
CONTINUE READING:
* Steven Alker wins New Zealand golf on Red Letter Day in Florida
* Danny Lee’s hot finish leaves Danny Lee only briefly in Bermuda
* Danny Lee fighting for the title of the Bermuda Championship on the US PGA Tour
While a late meltdown in Bermuda cost Lee a chance for his second PGA Tour win, his current form has catapulted him to 192nd place on the rankings. Fellow Kiwi Fox is 201.
Lee had held a one-stroke lead with eight holes to play, just for a bad tee shot, followed by an equally crude approach that resulted in a double bogey and a three-stroke swing.
Cliff Hawkins / Getty Images
Danny Lee of New Zealand places a putt on the sixth green during the final round of the Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course on October 31st.
He followed with two more bogeys before catching birdies on three of the last four holes and ending up at 14 under par with Patrick Reed, one stroke behind Australian winner Lucas Herbert.
“That has always been my pace,” said Lee, looking rushed during his ugly run.
“It doesn’t matter where I stand, I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but I try to keep it constant. It is not my thing to take the time to take a shot.
“I just bite my tongue and just try to drag it out,” Lee said of his graduation. “There are so many times when that time comes, or when that disappointment happened, I just half set it up so I didn’t want to do that this time. I gave 120 percent. “
Lee skipped the Tokyo Olympics to keep full status on the PGA Tour and ended up in the top 25 players on the Korn Ferry Tour in September.
Cliff Hawkins / Getty Images
Danny Lee has finished in the top 10 in two of the first three PGA Tour events of the season.
After a six-week break due to a broken rib, however, the full member of the PGA Tour since 2014 took 27th place.
Now that he has regained his status, Lee has more than doubled his earnings from the 2021 season when he bagged $ 347,000 (NZD484,000) from 24 events.
He didn’t score a single top 10 result, but he already has two out of three events in the new season and $ 797,000 in his name.
Lee has made $ 14.5 million on the PGA Tour since 2009.