Weekly Recap: Victory for Lee

As the final group in the AT&T Byron Nelson walked up the 18th fairway and onto the green on Sunday, the CBS cameras focused on the great veteran K.J. Choi. And next to him was the tournament's defending champion, Sung Kang. They were there to witness and to congratulate their countryman, K.H. Lee, who was about to win on the PGA Tour for the first time.

A number of South Korean golfers are based in the Dallas area, and they have been hogging the winner's circle at the Byron Nelson in recent years.

Lee overtook Sam Burns on the front nine and cruised to victory to join Kang and Sangmoon Bae (2013) as Korean champions of this event. All three won it at different courses: Bae at TPC Four Seasons, Kang at Trinity Ranch and Lee at TPC Craig Ranch, which hosted the Byron Nelson for the first time.

Afterward, a jubilant Lee spoke with Amanda Balionis and was clearly thrilled, remarking, "I can't believe it," that he was "very, very happy" and that the win was "perfect for me."

The 29-year-old won in his 80th PGA Tour appearance, and it opened up an entryway to all sorts of perks, beginning with a berth in the PGA Championship this week. He finished second at Phoenix earlier this season, so perhaps what we are seeing is a golfer finding his footing on Tour, and in a foreign country. He is now ranked 59th in the world.

Of course, switching up his putter clearly helped.

"Yeah, a lot of help for change putter," he told reporters after the win. "Couple months putting so bad but never change my putter, but this week change and so that's a lot of help this week."

Lee had been ranked 178th in Strokes Gained: Putting coming into the tournament. Last week, sporting a new Toulon Design San Diego, he ranked ninth in the field.

He also ranked second in both SG: Approach and Tee-to-Green, which were vast improvements over his season-long rankings, only he didn't change any of his other clubs.

Lee has appeared in only two career majors, the 2014 and 2019 U.S. Opens, and he missed the cut at both. So this week at the Ocean Course will be another career stepping stone. And then the Masters next year, following in the footsteps of Bae, Kang, Choi and Sungjae Im from his home country.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Sam Burns
Burns couldn't hang on on Sunday after leading for much of the tournament. But just being in such a position in his first start since his maiden PGA Tour win was impressive. He wound up solo second. There isn't any readily available data on this, but there can't be many golfers who finished second in their very next appearance after winning for the first time. Burns is now up to 36th in the world, and while it's a long shot, more tournaments like these past two could make him a possible darkhorse option for the Ryder Cup team later this year.

Charl Schwartzel
The former top-10 player is on quite a roll. Schwartzel tied for third, his best result since a T3 at the 3M Open last summer. He's made six cuts in a row, the past three of which are top-25s, and that doesn't include his Zurich runner-up with Louis Oosthuizen. He is closing in on the top-100 in the world at 109th. He is certainly a low-price lineup consideration this week at the PGA.

Patton Kizzire
Kizzire shot the round of the day, a 9-under 63, to zoom up the leaderboard and tie for third. That's his best finish in more than three years, since winning the 2018 Sony Open. It was his third top-10 of 2021, and they all have come in standard events. He's missed only two cuts in 12 starts. He's often been among the top putters, and this season is no different -- Kizzire is ranked 14th in that metric.

Doc Redman
The second-year player has really struggled this season, falling out of the top 100 and then the top 150 in the world rankings. But he seems to be stabilizing and notched a top-10 this past week, his first in six months.

Luke Donald
After missing 10 cuts in a row, Donald made two of his past three. And his tie for 13th was his best finish since a tie for 11th at the 2020 Honda Classic.

Matt Kuchar
After having that great Match Play tournament in which he finished third, Kuchar has kept it going. He tied for 17th, giving him a third top-20 in his past four starts. Unfortunately for him, the one exception was a missed cut at the Masters. And he also missed at THE PLAYERS. This week's PGA will be a challenge for Kuchar because of the enormous length of the Ocean Course.

Alex Noren
After opening 65-64, Noren couldn't sustain and wound up tied for 21st. But it was a third straight top-25 and moved him back inside the top-100 in the world rankings.

Hideki Matsuyama
Matsuyama tied for 39th in his first action since winning the Masters. The result was secondary to just getting in some reps in advance of this week's PGA Championship.

Rickie Fowler
We wrote in the PGA Championship Value Meter that Fowler's season to date, while far from what he was accustomed to, was not terrible for a regular player's standards – six made cuts in 10 starts with three top-25s. But Fowler then went ahead and missed another cut, this one in a pretty weak field. It would not be a surprise for him to made the cut at the PGA because of all the experience he has in majors, but it also wouldn't be a surprise if he missed.

Jason Day
A third straight missed cut, Day's fifth in 10 starts this year, is not the way to head into a major. But if there's ever a place for Day to find his form, it's the PGA Championship. He's made eight straight cuts there and every single one of them has a been a top-25 or better. The 2015 champ tied for fourth last year at Harding Park. The bad news for Day is, they play the PGA only once a year. He's now fallen to 65th in the world rankings.

John Catlin
The 30-year-old California native has spent virtually his entire golf career overseas. After winning three times in Europe since September, he cracked the top-100 in the world to qualify for the PGA. He tuned up at the Byron Nelson and missed the cut. It was his first PGA Tour event since 2018-19, when he played six times, making four cuts. The Nelson field wasn't especially strong, but it's one of the strongest fields Catlin had ever played in.

Sergio Garcia
After opening with a sterling 65, Garcia cratered with a 75 to miss his third straight cut heading into the year's second major. The Ocean Course should favor Garcia's elite ball-striking game, but he's been a disaster in majors since winning the 2017 Masters. He's missed the cut nine times in 14 major starts since then.

Brooks Koepka
Completing four rounds wasn't paramount for Koepka, completing the week healthy was. He missed the cut in his first start since the Masters, but his surgically repaired right knee appears to have come through things fine. His numbers off the tee looked great; his short game needs work, indicating rustiness. Getting more reps would've been preferred in advance of this week's PGA Championship, but don't put it past Koepka to have good week at the Ocean Course.

Matthew Fitzpatrick
Missing the cut ended a stretch of eight straight cashes, which included seven top-20s and four top-10s. So, not terrible. But Fitzpatrick will really be challenged this week by the uber-long Ocean Course. He's averaging just under 290 yards off tee.

Doug Ghim
Ghim opened the 2020-21 season with six top-25s in his first 10 starts. But this latest missed cut was his fourth in the subsequent eight events, none of them a top-25. Th 25-year-old Texan was enjoying a breakthrough season on Tour, and it still is, but let's see whether this young player can regroup and salvage it.

Tyler Strafaci
The 2020 U.S. Amateur champion, a week after being part of the victorious U.S. Walker Cup team, turned pro at the Nelson. It didn't go well. He shot 70-80 to finish tied for last among those who completed 36 holes, a whopping 23 shots behind second-round leader Same Burns. In fairness, it was probably tough to regroup a week after such a big event to end your amateur career, and even more so considering that Strafaci was briefly hospitalized during the Cup, as were other golfers, with some sort of stomach bug. He will be back at it in two weeks with another sponsor invite at the Charles Schwab Challenge.

Richard Bland
The 48-year-old Englishman finally broke through and won his first European Tour event – in his 478th attempt. Bland won the Betfred British Masters in a playoff over a golfer young enough to be his son, 24-year-old Italian Guido Migliozzi, who by the way is a two-time Euro winner already. Bland has never been in the top-100 of the world rankings. He's been as high as 102nd. This momentous win lifted him to 134th.