However, he made the most of a minor injury exemption which earned his place in four events at the start of the 2022 season. He caught fire over two weeks which pretty much secured two more years on tour when he finished second and then seventh a week later.
He then missed 12 cuts in the 20 other events he played but the early season form was enough to keep his card for this year and continue his impressive streak on the PGA Tour since 2014. That form hasn’t returned.
The 31-year-old has two top 25 finishes in 11 events this season, having made US$316,795. Which sounds like a nice earning for five months’ work but when you factor in tax, travel and accommodation expenses along with caddie and coaching fees, that cash is soon whittled down.
If his season continued as he was going then he would have been battling to retain his spot on next year’s PGA Tour — much like he has been for a number of years now. Not much is guaranteed on the PGA Tour, unlike LIV. It would have been a grind for Lee.
He doesn’t have any major invitations as it stands having to earn his US Open spot last year through qualifying, his only major appearance since 2020. He missed the cut at The Country Club.
The Players Championship would have been the biggest tournament he’d play this year, an event at which he’s made the cut just twice in eight attempts.
Lee will have to be comfortable with the ethics of his move — there are many who see LIV Golf as a sportswashing exercise by a repressive regime.
He might point to the fact that Saudi athletes are welcomed at major sporting events and — regime or not — the Saudi government does a lot of business with New Zealand as a trading partner; they are our 24th most important market in terms of two-way trade.
The question is why did LIV Golf want Lee? You certainly wouldn’t call him a drawcard.
While fellow Kiwi Ryan Fox seems to be hitting his stride jumping into the world’s top 30, Lee has been on a slide since his only win at the Greenbrier Classic in 2015.
Ranked 267th in the world, he hasn’t been in the world’s top 100 since July 2020.
LIV probably didn’t need any more big names. If golf fans aren’t tuning in for Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson, who all signed up for LIV last year, then they probably wouldn’t be swayed even if the likes of world Nos 6 and 7 Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffle made the jump.
The fans certainly aren’t lining up in Mexico this week to see Danny Lee.
