U.S. Amateur winner Lee at Turning Stone to win

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He was born in South Korea, and he's lived in New Zealand for the past seven years.

Danny Lee wants to make a name for himself in the United States, though, and the 18-year-old high school senior is already well on his way.

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Danny Lee is hoping to become the fifth amateur to win a PGA TOUR event.

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Transcript: Lee at Turning Stone
Lee supplants Tiger at U.S. Am

Four weeks ago, Lee became the youngest player to win the U.S. Amateur when he made 13 birdies in 32 holes and beat American Drew Kittleson 5 & 4 at Pinehurst No. 2. Tiger Woods was six months older than Lee when the game's undisputed No. 1 captured the first of his three Straight U.S. Am titles.

Lee is in Verona, N.Y., this week, playing the Turning Stone Resort Championship -- and as he enters his second PGA TOUR event, the teenager's goal is simple.

"I'm not just here for making the cut," Lee said. "Hopefully if I play well enough I can win this tournament. That's my goal for this tournament."

Lee declined to speculate on what a victory might mean to him.

"I will say something after I win the tournament," he said.

Since the 1950s, only four amateurs have ever won PGA TOUR events -- Gene Littler (1954 San Diego Open), Doug Sanders (1956 Canadian Open), Scott Verplank (1985 Western Open) and Phil Mickelson (1991 Northern Telecom Open).

Lee, who learned the game from his mother, Jin Seo, a teaching pro, won the Western Amateur and then played in the Wyndham Championship where he acquitted himself well. He shot four rounds in the 60s at Sedgefield Country Club and tied for 20th in his first TOUR event. His U.S. Amateur win came the following week.

Lee credits advice he received from Jerry Kelly and Y.E. Yang with helping him in Greensboro. Rambert Sim, a long-time family friend who owns a driving range in San Diego and travels with Lee in the U.S., told the Syracuse Post-Standard that Kelly helped Lee learn how to adapt his short game to bent and Bermuda grass, which is not common in Australia or New Zealand.

"At the Wyndham I think I found a fine group on the practice round," Lee said. "I played with Mr. Jerry Kelly and Mr. Yang, and they give me lots of advice. That really helped me a lot. They understood me for like how I have to play golf safely, and that worked pretty good. I found my confidence from there."

Lee's current plans are to turn pro next year after the U.S. Open. He earned invitations into the first two majors next year by virtue of his U.S. Amateur victory.

This week, though, he'll tackle Atunyote Golf Club, which features wide fairways and well-conditioned greens.

"I'm hitting it well and starting to putting it better," Lee said. "I have a good feeling about this tournament."