SUNNY LEE

The Facts

Capsule Bio

Sun Hee Lee (English name Sunny) started playing golf at age 12. Unlike a lot of Korean golfers, she chose to go to college rather than immediately turn pro. She turned pro in 1996, the same year as Se Ri Pak and Mi Hyun Kim. She played on the KLPGA tour until 2001. She started slowly, but won three tournaments in 2000 and 2001. As a result, she was named to represent Korea at the only Women's World Cup of Golf held. Korea finished ninth in that tournament, but her good looks and flair earned her a lot of attention, and the nickname 'the Anna Kournikova of Golf'.

Sunny went to LPGA Q-School in the fall of 2001, and just managed to get an exempt card by winning a playoff for the last few cards. The 2002 season, however, did not go very well. In fact, try as she might, she was not able to make even a single cut all year. She had several close calls, missing the cut by only one shot , including at the 2002 Safeway Classic, where I watched her and later talked to her briefly. At the 2002 Q-School she was only able to get non-exempt status.

Sunny is very stylish and a lot of fun to watch. She is also one of the nicest players I have ever seen, going out of her way to thank people for watching her play at every hole.

In 2003, Sunny finally made her first LPGA cut (though she finished 71st). Then a little later, she shot an opening round 68 at the Wachovia Betsy King Classic, and was on the leader board after the first round! Even after three rounds she was still within the top 20, although she slipped a little on Sunday and finished tied for 29th.

Sunny finished tied for 39th at 2003 LPGA Q-School, which allowed her to maintain her non-exempt status for 2004. But she did not have a good season in 2004, and was unable to maintain her card at 2004 Q-School.

Sunny returned to Korea to play on the KLPGA. The last tournament she seems to have played there was in 2008; presumably she retired after that.

Galleries