Tain Lee '12 Leads PGA Tour Event for Eight Holes, Finishes Tied for 14th
RIDGELAND, S.C. - Former Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Men's Golf standout Tain Lee, playing in only his third career PGA Tour event, held the lead for two hours (eight holes) during Saturday's third round, before settling for a tie for 14th place out of the 156-golfer field on Sunday at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree at -7, four off the winning score of -11 earned by Garrick Higgo.
Lee, who won the 2010 NCAA Division III Championship for CMS as a sophomore to become the first national champion in program history, entered the third round on Saturday at -7 and ended it at -7, after some ups and downs over his 18 holes. He began his round on Saturday in storybook fashion, birdieing four of the first five holes to move up to -11, pulling into a tie for the lead on the fourth and taking the lead to himself on the fifth by one shot over Chesson Hadley and Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 ranked player in the world.
When the CBS national broadcast went on the air at 12 noon (Pacific time), Lee was in the lead and he stayed atop the leaderboard for two hours as he picked up pars on seven straight holes to remain at -11. He hit a rough patch on the back nine, beginning when his par putt on 13 teased the lip but stayed out for bogey, his first of the day.
Just as Lee started to cool off, Hadley heated up, birdieing four of five holes to surge into the lead at -14. Lee slipped into a tie for seventh, where he stood when inclement weather suspended play with him on the green, 20 feet from the pin. On Sunday morning, he birdied that putt to get him back into a tie for fourth entering the final round.
Sunday saw a bunch of low scores from the earlier golfers, which made the top of the leaderboard more crowded. Lee started off with a bogey on the first, but quickly regrouped and birdied the second and fourth to get to -8 and back into the top 10. He stayed at -8 through 11 straight pars from the fifth through the 15th, just missing on a couple of birdie attempts, including a 15-footer that settled on the lip on the par-3 seventh.
Down the stretch, he stood in 12th place and likely needed a birdie on one of his last three holes to move into the top 10 and earn an automatic exemption into the Travelers Championship in two weeks. On 16, though, his delicate chip came up short of the green and he ended up with his first bogey since the first hole of the day. He closed out with two greens in regulation, but neither his 30-footer on 17 nor his 50-footer on 18 ended up with the sort of miracle birdie that ends up on the highlight reels. He did make a nervy four-foot putt on 18 for his final par, which was the difference between 15th place and 19th place, and around $30,000 in extra prize money.
Leading the tournament on Saturday was a remarkable story for Lee, who needed to earn his way into the Palmetto Championship through qualifying. He earned one of the spots in the championship by placing second in Monday's qualifier, which requires a $450 entry fee and placing in the top four out of almost 100 golfers. After making it in with a -6, he responded on Thursday with his lowest PGA round so far, shooting a 67 (-4) to place in the top 10 (tied for seventh) after one day.
Lee came back with eight birdies on Friday to shoot a 68 and move alone into third place, four shots behind Chesson Hadley at -11 and two behind Dustin Johnson at -9. Over the four rounds, he ended up with 20 birdies total, including five on Thursday and Saturday, and two on Sunday (to go with 14 pars).
The big challenge in Lee's first two PGA Tournaments was making the cut, which he did successfully on the number. This time, he soared way past the +1 cutline by recording a -7 after 36 holes, making him 3-for-3 in his pro career making it to the weekend, improving from 69th place to 59th place to 15th place in his three events.
Lee also went through qualifying to make his first two PGA Tour events earlier this year, earning spots at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in January and the Valero Texas Open in April, making the cut both times. At the Valero Texas Open, Lee shot a 73-73-72-71 to finish with a one-over 289 for the weekend, tying for 59th. He made the cut on the number with his two rounds of 73, showing steady nerves on the second day, when he had pars on 15 of his 18 holes and added a birdie on 14 which proved to be pivotal to making the cut on the number with a 146 (+2).
In January, Lee earned his way into his first career PGA Tour event, when he was a co-medalist in the qualifying round of the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. He made his debut count, making the cut with a -1 after two rounds and finishing in the top half of the 156-golfer field in 69th place.
Qualifying for the Farmers Open was a landmark moment for Lee, who has played professionally on smaller U.S. tours and in Canada since graduating from Claremont McKenna in 2012. He needed to sink a tricky putt in pre-qualifying just to earn a spot into the Monday Farmers Insurance Open qualifier, which had 96 competitors vying for the final four spots in the field. In difficult conditions that included rain, wind, and occasional hail, Lee shot a 69 to tie for the low round of the day, earning him a spot in his first career PGA event.
As a member of the Stags, Lee captured the 2010 NCAA Championship with a four-round score of 280 (-7), becoming the first member of the program to win an individual title. The second-place finisher was Mitchell Fedorka of SCIAC rival La Verne, who now serves as the head coach for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Lee nearly made it two straight individual titles at the 2011 NCAA Championship before settling for a runner-up finish and adding a fifth-place finish in 2012. He was a first-team All-American all four seasons, while also earning the Jesse Clark Sportsmanship Award from the SCIAC, in addition to all-league honors.
To view the full results from the Palmetto Championship, visit the official website at the link below:
Palmetto Championship at Conagree