Danny Lee knew he had to get stronger and longer if he was going to be able to compete on the PGA Tour. So he spent the past year and a half lifting weights and working on his technique, hoping to gain the extra yardage that would allow him to compete with the Brooks Koepkas of the game.
Today, Lee says, he is 15 yards longer off the tee and able to clear 300 yards in the air. The added length came in handy Thursday, when he fired a 6-under 64 in the opening round of the 101st PGA Championship at Bethpage Black and trails Koepka by just one shot.
Lee landed on just seven of 14 fairways, but used his new muscles to escape the rough and maximized his opportunities from the fairways to score well enough to trail Koepka by one shot. Lee’s 64 would have tied the previous course record.
“Whenever I hit it in the fairway, I was able to convert and I made a lot of good up and downs when I missed the fairways,” Lee said after posting his lowest score in a major championship.
His round was positive reinforcement for all the work he has put in strengthening his body. He is turning more on his back swing and not worrying about being so precise. The 2008 U.S. Amateur champion said this is the first major in which he has hit the ball with any kind of real distance. It came in handy at soggy Bethpage Black.
“I realized I wasn’t hitting it far enough to compete in the majors,” Lee said. “Now I’m hitting it 290-295 [yards] in the air and that’s a huge bonus. … I’m interested to find out the results.”
Lee had eight birdies, including back-to-back at the difficult par-3 17th and the closing par-4 18th. He had bogeys at the fifth, where his drive found the native area, and the par-4 15th, when another errant drive put him trouble. Otherwise, Lee was able to take advantage of his opportunities.
“Every hole is tough if you miss the fairway,” he said.
Lee has just one PGA Tour win, in 2015 after years of struggling to maintain his tour card.
“It’s definitely tough playing the Tour golf life even though the top-20 guys make it look so easy,” Lee said. “But it’s not all fairy tales and unicorns out here. I’ve worked hard to get my body stronger. When the results aren’t there it’s heart-breaking. But all I can do is my best.”