LPGA’s inspiring back stories
Nichols: Tragedy shaped Open winner’s life
CHARLESTON, S.C. – I wonder if Hank Haney tuned into the 74th U.S. Women’s Open. In a perfect world, he’d learn from his mistakes and become a champion of the LPGA after spewing such ignorance on his radio show last week. Haney has since been suspended from SiriusXM at the instruction of the PGA Tour.
There would have been plenty of time for him to catch up on those in contention Sunday at the Country Club of Charleston.
Let’s start with Jeongeun Lee6, who started the day two shots back of Yu Liu and Celine Boutier, two former Duke teammates who hail from China and France, respectively.
With Michelle Wie out with an injury, Haney said he couldn’t name six players in the field but predicted that a South Korean named “Lee” would win.
His co-host then pointed out that there were six Lees in the U.S. Women’s Open field.
More than 40% of the population in South Korea has the surname Kim, Lee or Park. Finding ways to stand out from the crowd is nothing new for South Koreans. It’s what gave us Birdie Kim, the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open champion who famously holed a bunker shot, for birdie, on the 72nd hole to upset then amateur Morgan Pressel. An unforgettable name and moment in major championship history.
The name Jeong Eun Lee was so popular on the Korean LPGA that the tour began adding numbers to their names.
Lee6 embraced it, adopting the nicknames “Hot 6” and “Lucky 6.” The LPGA rookie kept the “6” when competing in the U.S. so fans back home could still identify her. Her white-blond hair suggests a playful side.
Less than 24 hours before she would rally to win the major tournament by two shots by posting a 1-under-par 70 round, Lee6 talked to Golfweek late Saturday
evening about the tragic accident that shaped so much of her life.
When she was 4 years old, Lee’s father, Jung Ho Lee, a truck driver by trade, fell asleep at the wheel while driving through the night. The accident left him paralyzed.
Jung Ho Lee and his wife, Eun Ji Ju, weren’t in Charleston this week. They don’t travel that much to watch their daughter play because it’s so complicated and expensive traveling with a wheelchair. It was the same when Lee6 was growing up in South Korea as hotels that are handicap accessible are hard to find and more costly.
Lee6, 23, describes herself as an independent player. Neither of her parents play the game.
The drive to win for Lee6 stems in part from being able to financially provide
for her family since neither of her parents work.
“I want to support my family and be successful,” she said through the help of her manager and interpreter, Jennifer Kim.
Minjee Lee, who’s actually Australian, was four shots back starting Sunday, shot 2-over 73 and tied for 12th.
California-born Andrea Lee, a rising senior at Stanford, wrote an essay for her ethics and bioengineering class in the hotel lobby the night before she opened the Open with a 2-under 69.
Mi Hyang Lee lives in nearby Columbia, South Carolina, and has worked on her game with longtime Gamecocks coach Puggy Blackmon.
Five of the six Lees in the field made the cut, including Jeong Eun Lee (also known as No. 5 in Korea). Each of them has a story worth telling.
Haney’s comments weren’t offensive to only one segment of the LPGA. The fact that he was unaware that the championship was being played this past week and the tone in which he mentioned that he doesn’t know the players basically suggests to listeners that women’s golf isn’t worth the time.
“The underlying current of that message was who cares about women’s golf?” Karrie Webb said. “That’s so damaging.”
Beth Daniel is a native of Charleston and grew up at the championship’s host club. She hated to see Haney’s comments take away from the biggest event in women’s golf. And that they came on the same day the U.S. Golf Association announced the first $1 million first-place prize in women’s major championship history.
“He’s got a show that’s supposed to promote golf,” Daniel said, “and he’s knocking down the part of golf that has the biggest growth right now. He doesn’t know that.”
A Lexi Thompson victory in Charleston would certainly have moved the needle for women’s golf. (Surely Haney knows her name.) Thompson shot 73 Sunday to finish tied for second, two shots back.
But if sports fans got the chance to know Thompson’s good friend Jaye Marie Green, watched her light up the room with a smile and an easygoing laugh, they couldn’t help but want to know more.
It’s that way with so many of the players. Maybe Haney’s comments will spark golf fans to take a closer look at the names and faces on the LPGA they don’t recognize. Dig deeper to learn the inspiring stories of a player like Lee6, who isn’t alone in the responsibilities she carries.
Karrie Webb doesn’t believe that Haney should lose his job forever. But she hopes he comes to realize that his voice is loud and that it has influence.
“It’s such a tired old message that’s been around in golf for centuries,” Webb said. “I think we’re all bigger than that now.
“And it needs to stop.”