Danny Lee was such a surprise contender at the Masters on Thursday that when he sank an 18-foot birdie putt to grab second place, he could not get anyone to notice.
The 25-year-old New Zealander rolled in the tricky putt from beyond the green at the par-three 12th to stay hot on the heels of the eventual first-round leader, defending champion Jordan Spieth.
“It was a tough putt and I knocked it in and no one clapped,” Lee said. “I guess nobody was watching my putt. I was just waving at myself to the crowds: ‘I made birdie, guys.’”
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Other back-nine birdies on 10 and the par-three 16th put the South Korean-born Kiwi on four-under-par 68 after 18 holes, level for second with Ireland’s Shane Lowry, two shots adrift of Spieth.
“I cannot ask for any better place to finish off the first round,” Lee said. “I was very pleased with my round.”
Lee is back at Augusta National after a seven-year absence. He won the 2008 US Amateur title to earn a 2009 Masters berth and went 74-81 to miss the cut in his final event before turning professional.
The world No. 38 earned his way back to the Masters by winning his first USPGA title at last year’s Greenbrier Classic.
“After I make the winning putt at the Greenbrier Classic, all I was thinking about was coming back to this place. I’m having a blast out here,” Lee said.
“Ever since you started playing golf as a kid, you grow up watching the Masters. I was watching Tiger Woods shooting four-over on the front nine and winning the Masters,” he said. “And it’s just good to see my name up there on the leaderboard.”
Lee’s success comes after a caddie switch, having dropped long-time aide Kurt Kowaluk for former John Daly bagman Mike Hartford.
“Obviously it worked very well,” Lee said. “It was very hard for me to let my ex-caddie go. It was a very tough decision for me and I’m still a little bit upset about it, but we were a little bit thinking about different stuff out on the course and it wasn’t matching up very well and I wanted to bring my A-game this week, because it means a lot.”
Lee has only cracked the top 30 twice this year, a fourth at the Phoenix Open being his only top-10 effort.
“We’ve been working very hard on my short game and putting the last couple weeks and I can see some good results coming in,” he said.
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