New Zealand golfer Danny Lee is making his presence felt in this week’s installment of the US PGA Tour, the CareerBuilder Challenge.
Lee surged after playing well in the rain Friday afternoon in a place where rainy conditions are not the norm, at the Jack Nicklaus (Happy 77th Mr. Nicklaus) designed Tournament Course at PGA West.
The CareerBuilder Challenge is played on multiple courses. Lee’s first round was the La Quinta Country Club. He shot 64 there, and then backed that the following day with a 67, so he trails tournament leader Hudson Swafford by one stroke.
Lee seems to have benefitted from a spell from golf, having not played competitively for a month, entered the CareerBuilder with limited expectations, and approached the first day of the tournament, a pro-am affair, merely hoping not to embarrass himself in front of the amateurs.
After his Friday round, Lee expressed gratitude for an opportunity to play in the rain and experiment with the necessary adaptations to playing in those sorts of conditions.
Fellow Kiwi golfers Tim Wilkinson and Steven Alker are further back in the pack, tied at 39th with minus five aggregates through the first two rounds. Wilkinson made a big surge in the second round, moving up 40 places on the strength of his four-under score.