Eddie Lee regains the motivation for a career in golf

New Zealand golf is littered with young players who have forsaken the amateur ranks to pursue a professional career, lured by the promise of a comfortable living, only to find the reality much different.

Seven years ago Eddie Lee, at 19, turned professional weeks after representing New Zealand in the Eisenhower Trophy world amateur teams tournament. He was one of the more talented golfers to make the switch in the last 20 years and had already won a professional tournament – the Maekyung Open in Korea – as a 18-year-old in May 2002.

Interviewed after that success Lee said he wanted to challenge Tiger Woods and was dubbed "Leopard" Lee. But like so many others Lee struggled to make an impression – and a living – firstly on the Asian Tour, and then on the Japan Tour.

The returns were slim in Asia for the first four years, and then three years ago he qualified for the Japan Tour and after seven years as a professional he is finally starting to gain some traction – and some money.

A lot has happened in Lee's life since he departed New Zealand. He is now married to Yubin and has two children – Erin three and Ye Sung (a son) one – has settled in Korea, just south of Seoul, and has regained the motivation for golf, which he says deserted him for a while.

While he has been a professional for seven years, Lee is still a youngster in golfing terms. He had his 26th birthday just three weeks ago and says he is much more focused and organised now.

"Golf was what I wanted to do when I was younger, but now that I have a wife and children they are the focus."

Lee moved onto the Japan Tour in 2007, but had limited starts that year. He played just 15 tournaments and made the cut in only four. In 2008, the statistic improved markedly. He was able to play 18 tournaments and he made the cut in 10 and made enough money to finish 62nd on the moneylist and ensure a full card for this year.

In 2009 he played 21 tournaments and made the cut in 15 and produced the best golf of his career in the second half of the year. He made the cut in 10 of his last 11 tournaments and finished 43rd on the moneylist with three top 10 finishes.

His best was a tie for fifth at the Dunlop Phoenix last month, one of the top tournaments of the year. He finished ahead of Vijay Singh and the teenage star of Japan golf, Ryo Ishikawa, who finished at the top of the moneylist in his first year on the tour.

Lee finished the year with Y23,337,902 (NZ$360,000). His results pushed him several hundred places up the world rankings during the year to 433. That places him sixth of the New Zealand professionals behind David Smail, Danny Lee, Tim Wilkinson, Mark Brown and Michael Campbell. He is just four places behind Campbell.

Lee had to finish in the top 70 to ensure his full card for next year, but his real goal was to make the top 30 this year.

"I didn't quite make that but hope to next year. It's been a good year. I played well at the start and finished well but struggled a bit in the middle." He admitted that he committed the cardinal sin of golf by trying to make changes to his swing mid-year. "I played badly after doing that and then went back to the basics. I learned you don't muck around with your swing in the middle of the season."

Lee still has contact with his old coach, Shane Scott, who coached him in Christchurch.

"I email him still but I have a coach here (in Korea) who follows the same theories as Shane. It's easier to have someone here who can watch my swing."

Lee's ambition has always been to play on the US PGA Tour, but says that he intends to stay on the Japan Tour for at least another two years to further hone his game. "The golf courses are tricky. They are not that long but they are tree-lined and have small greens. If you miss the green on the wrong side it's an easy bogey. So you have to get your course management right. You have to play a bit conservatively.

"It's a good tour to play on because the practice facilities are great, the courses are great and the weather is good."

The Japan Tour also offers less travelling and better prizemoney than the Asian Tour.

"Here you don't have to travel so far between events and you are playing for between US$1 million and $2m each week. In Asia it can be US$300,000 one week and US$4m the next and then back to $300,000.

"If you make the cut here you are not losing money."

Lee said his goal is to win a tournament "or two" and then head to the US for the PGA qualifying school. As a Japan Tour winner he believes he will be exempt into the second stage of the US qualifying school.

Lee said he realises he expected success too early. "You have to work for it and I know that now. Shane (Scott) always said your career is like a marathon. It's not a sprint. I think I'm on the right track now."

- © Fairfax NZ News