Date: March 02, 2016
Author: Martin Blake

Minjee Lee eyes top 10 as rise continues

 

Minjee Lee has made the biggest leap of any player in the women's world rankings over the past 12 months, an impressive 46 spots to No. 16 in the world.

But the Perth teenager has more elevation in mind as she tees it up in the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore starting today.

Lee, 19, and veteran Karrie Webb are the two Australians in the hot 60-player field, which includes the top 10 in the world rankings and 18 of the top 20.

The young woman from Royal Fremantle, a member of Golf Australia's rookie program for young professionals, has had two starts in this LPGA Tour season for a tied-20th at the Women's Australian Open in Adelaide and tied-eighth in Thailand last week, indicating that she has a good chance of backing up her outstanding rookie season from 2015.

Lee, the former Australian amateur champion and US girls' title-holder, won her first LPGA tournament and established herself as one of the best players in the world.

The 41-year-old Webb, now ranked 30th, is battling hard to ensure that she is one of the Australians who makes the Olympic team when golf makes its reappearance at the Games after a hiatus of more than a century in Rio de Janeiro later this year.

At the moment, Webb and Lee are both inside the cut-off point for Rio, where 60 players will be taken from the world rankings to a maximum of two.

Webb tees off at 12.22 (AEST) today and Lee at 12.34.