Gonzaga’s Grace Lee tests improving game at U.S. Women’s Amateur

Grace Lee showed her first true interest in golf at age 9 when she asked her father if he’d take her to a driving range.

“He took me and said I had a natural golf swing,” Lee recalled. “The first tournament I played in I got second place, so that kind of motivated me. I thought, ‘I think this is my sport.’ ”

Think she might be right.

Lee, now 20 and a rising junior at Gonzaga, will tee it up Monday with many of the best amateurs on the planet in the 124th U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The field is packed with accomplished collegians, juniors and a mother-daughter combo of 59-year-old Brenda Kuehn, who is making her 15th appearance, and daughter Rachel, ranked eighth in the world amateur rankings.

Lee definitely belongs, even if she doesn’t carry a top-25 ranking like 13 competitors in the 156-player field. She played in the 2022 Amateur at Chambers Bay near Tacoma but didn’t qualify for match play (the top 64 after 36 holes of stroke play).

Lee earned a return trip by winning a nervy four-hole playoff a month ago at the Home Course in DuPont, Washington. She shot a 2-under 70 to share third with Washington State University’s Madelyn Gamble, one behind UC Davis’s Abigail Leighton and four behind medalist and UCLA commit Kacey Ly.

Lee made a 12-foot par putt after her approach found a green-side bunker on the first playoff hole. Both players made pars on the next two holes.

“It felt intense, but my sister (Lauren) was on the bag and she definitely kept it a lot lighter and helped me relax,” said Lee, whose sister will be an incoming freshman on Western Washington’s golf team.

The fourth extra hole still brought pressure. Lee was short-sided after her second shot ended up over the green to a back pin location.

“I was a little worried because Madelyn stuck her (approach) to 9 to 12 feet,” Lee said. “I chipped in. Kind of a nice way to make it.”

Especially considering Lee cited chipping first when asked to identify weaknesses in her game. Gonzaga coach Brad Rickel needed several minutes to detail Lee’s strengths on and off the course, calling her an extremely hard worker and a great player, teammate and student.

“There’s days when she just stripes it like you can’t believe, just pure to the target constantly,” Rickel said. “She’s worked very hard on ball-striking and when that’s on it’s really impressive. And there’s days when she makes everything she looks at on the green. If she makes birdies, she’s not afraid to keep making birdies.”

That was obvious last September at the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course when she opened with a 9-under 62, one of the lowest scores in NCAA history. She followed with two 69s for a 13-under 200 and a six-shot win. Leighton finished third at 3 under.

“Just had a really good iron game that day,” Lee said. “I made so many putts, it was really crazy, one hole after another. I wasn’t really thinking, it was just all happening. My parents were there watching. My dad really enjoyed watching that one.”

Rickel isn’t sure if the 62 counted as a course record because it was from a combination of mostly men’s tee boxes and some women’s tee boxes, amounting to a longer layout spanning 6,100-6,200 yards.

“She just lit it up,” said Rickel, noting every time he caught up with Lee during that first round she was making another birdie. “Almost half the time in her two years at Gonzaga she’s finished in the top 10. She’s just straight up a good player. She progressed from her freshman to sophomore year and if she makes another jump she’s going to be playing on the national stage for sure.”

Lee is coming off one of the best seasons in program history. She finished seventh or better in six of 10 tournaments as a sophomore. Her 73.13 scoring average ranked third in school history. She trimmed nearly a stroke and a half off her freshman average. She posted the team’s lowest three scores of the season.

In her first season, Lee placed fifth at the WCC Championships and was named conference freshman of the year.

“I would think as a junior one of her goals is (breaking) our season scoring average record,” Rickel said.

Lee’s immediate goal is to play well this week in Tulsa, where the ‘lowest’ temperature in the seven-day forecast is 94 degrees. Lee and her dad, who is caddying, arrived Friday and she played a pair of practice rounds at Southern Hills, which has hosted eight men’s majors.

Rickel helped former Idaho Vandal Ryan Benzel at the 2007 PGA Championship held at Southern Hills. Rickel remembers the sweltering heat and that Benzel, a successful PGA Pacific Northwest Section pro, made the cut.

“I did tell Grace it was the hottest week of my life,” Rickel said. “They were setting records every day we were there.”

As for the course, Rickel said it was tight and tree-lined in 2007, but many of the holes were “unrecognizable” after a remodel when he watched the 2022 PGA Championship on television.

“The goal is always to win the tournament,” said Lee, who picked GU over Michigan State, Georgetown, Boston College and Sacramento State after a strong prep career at Bellevue (Washington) High. “I’ll try to do my best, not having too high of expectations but knowing what I can do and keeping that in mind. It’d be cool to make the match play.”