Fledgling golf professional and hot prospect Minjee Lee would love to get the Rookie of the Year award on the US LPGA tour, but is wowed by the standard of the opposition.
West Australian Lee 18, who turned professional three months ago, earned her tour card after finishing joint first in a gruelling five-round qualifying tournament the week before last.
Lee enjoyed a stellar amateur career, earning the No.1 ranking, winning the last two national titles and the 2012 US junior championship.
She was also part of the victorious Australian combination at this year’s world amateur team titles.
But the 2015 rookie class is brim full of talent with four other players ranked higher than Lee’s 82nd in the world.
They are South Korea’s Ha Na Jang (25th), the Korean LPGA tour’s Player of the year, England’s European Order of Merit winner Charley Hull (37th), South Korea’s Sei Young Kim (40th) and Japan’s Sakura Yokomine (44th).
“I would love to get the Rookie of the Year award,” Lee said in Sydney on Tuesday.
“It would be great to get that but it’s a pretty good rookie class.
There’s so many good players … It’s just a bonus if you get that.”
She isn’t worried about high expectations others may have of her following her outstandingly successful amateur career.
“Maybe they have high expectations, but I don’t really think about it,” Lee said.
“I just play my golf and stay in my own little bubble,” added Lee, who plans to base herself in the US.
Lee said she may get to play just one or two tournaments in Australia this summer.
The Open at Royal Melbourne is part of the US LPGA schedule.
However, the Masters at Royal Pines in Queensland starts just a few days after the second LPGA tour event in the Bahamas, which clashes with the Victorian Open.
Her presence in the New Zealand and NSW Opens will likely depend on whether she get invitations to tournaments the same weeks in Thailand and Singapore respectively.
She is likely to keep using Scottish Caddy Mark Britton, who has carried her bag in recent weeks.
“He’s pretty laid back and he’s always in quite a good mood and I’m not generally a depressed person, so we mesh pretty well,” Lee said.
Coaching-wise she will continue her long distance relationship with WA-based mentor Ritchie Smith.
