PNGA Player of the Year Erynne Lee earns way onto LPGA Tour
Erynne Lee of Silverdale, Wash. has earned her way onto the LPGA Tour for the upcoming 2018 season. With two wins in 2017 on the Symetra Tour, the LPGA’s developmental tour, Lee finished fifth in the tour’s Volvik Race to the Card, with the top 10 on the money list advancing to the LPGA Tour.
Not having much success on the Symetra Tour halfway through the ’17 season, competing in seven events but not recording any top-10 finishes, Lee asked her dad to start caddying for her. With him on the bag, she played in eight events and had five top-10 finishes, including the two victories.
In an interview with Tim Rosaforte of Golf Channel, Lee explains how it was with her dad caddying for her again.
“I started the year with my boyfriend caddying for me,” she said. “And it worked well because he was very encouraging and had great perspective of the game from the overall standpoint. My dad is very serious and very committed and involved my game, so it was a good balance of both. So after having my dad come back on my bag mid-season, I just felt a little more confident and reassured. It’s been a great ride, and just to see it unfold before our eyes is a dream come true.”
Lee’s mother passed away when Erynne was just 19. “There’s never been a day when I don’t think of her,” she said. “I think about what she had done for our family. She’s what I call a ‘Tiger Mom,’ and her attitude was that you go through each day as if it is your last. She was the pillar of my golf career. She had no knowledge of golf but took it upon herself and study about it and instill it on my sister (Katie) and I.”
After their mother passed away, the two sisters became very close. “Yes, before mom passed, we fought like some sisters do, but afterward we became very supportive of each other.” Katie followed Erynne to UCLA. Katie also plays golf; she won the 2012 Washington State Champion of Champions, and made it to the Round of 32 in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links.
Erynne, a graduate of Central Kitsap High School who would go on to compete four years on the UCLA women’s golf team where she was a consistent first-team All-American, won the 2011 Washington State Women’s Amateur, and for several years dominated the local and regional amateur golf scene.
She was named the WSGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year in 2008, 2009 and 2010; and the WSGA Women’s Player of the Year an astonishing five times (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013).
She was also named the PNGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year in 2008 and 2009, and the PNGA Women’s Player of the Year in 2008, 2011 and 2012.
Multiple times she won the award for Junior Girls’ and Women’s in the same year.
