Lee will join golf's money ranks soon

The short-term pain of forfeiting a winner's cheque of almost $600,000 to retain his amateur status will be more than compensated by some long-term gain for brilliant young Kiwi golfer Danny Lee.

That's the view of New Zealand Golf chief executive Bill MacGowan, reacting to Lee's sensational win in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth where he became the youngest victor on the European Tour.

Lee turned down the $582,000 payout, determined to forge on with his plans to play the US Masters as an amateur invite courtesy of his win at the US Amateur championship last September.

Lee will turn professional after the Masters in April.

The 18-year-old already has management companies chasing his signature - IMG who manage Tiger Woods are favoured to snare Lee - and invites to other top tournaments lining up.

He's also now got the luxury of a two-year exemption on the European, Asian and Australasian tours to help bed him into the money ranks.

"There might be a short-term gap but long-term he is probably going to make up for it. This has only increased his value," said MacGowan.

"He's always wanted to play the Masters as an amateur and he's sticking to that.

"We always told him that if he could get some invites to pro events as an amateur and do well in them that would stand him in good stead for the future when he did turn pro.

"You can see that in the last 24 hours ... this is only going to help him."

MacGowan wasn't prepared to guess what Lee's value might be in the wake of this latest success. "But he's worth more today than he was on Friday!"

With Lee coming from South Korea - his family moved to New Zealand when he was eight and he now has Kiwi citizenship - he is hugely marketable in the massive Asian golf market.

Woods gained what was reported to be a $US40m five-year deal with sports giant Nike when he turned pro in 1996.

Lee won't be in that bracket and is set to enter the pro ranks amidst a global economic downturn. But he can point to the fact that he stole Woods' record as being the youngest US Amateur winner last year.

Lee is now in Melbourne preparing for the week's Moonah Classic. He then returns to New Zealand to contest both the NZ PGA in Christchurch and the New Zealand Open in Arrowtown.

His success in Perth has been a major boost for those championships, especially as doubts continue over Michael Campbell's appearance at the NZ Open because of his ongoing shoulder problems.

"We can probably chuck the marketing budget in the bin now to be honest," joked MacGowan, realising that Lee will now be a major drawcard at the Open.

MacGowan is delighted at the Kiwi presence. He said Campbell was still 50-50 to play but the appearance of Sir Bob Charles would give Lee inspiration to be the first amateur since Charles to claim the title.

On the bigger scene MacGowan said Lee's success would help the New Zealand game.

The revival of Mark Brown's career and the success of Tim Wilkinson on the US tour had meant a big year for the sport.

"Things are starting to go. We need to have international exposure like this and then we get the attention," said MacGowan.

- © Fairfax NZ News