Danny Lee is using one of his four minor medical extensions to take part in the opening round of the 2021/2022 US PGA Tour season to be played at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa California.
Two weeks ago Lee failed to gain enough points in the Korn Ferry Tour finals to keep his regular US PGA Tour card which he had held since 2014, but due to injury time missed across the 2020/2021 season, Lee has been granted four exemptions into PGA events for the coming season, in the hope he can regain some form and secure a victory to keep him playing on the tour longer.
The 31-year-old Kiwi, who now lives in the US, has had one win on the PGA Tour in 2015 with a career-high ranking of 34 and has career earnings of more than $19 million (NZD).
Across the 2020/21 season, Lee played 24 weekends missing the cut on half of them and only making the top 25 three times and finished ranked 183 on the PGA Tour.
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This weekend Lee will tee off in the opening tournament, Fortinet Championship, alongside the likes of world number one and 2021 US Open Champion Jon Rahm, 2021 Masters Champion Hideki Matsuyama and 2021 PGA Champion Phil Mickelson.
Three of the last five FedEx Cup Champions have won a tournament in the latter portion of the year before going on to win the season-long race. Most recently, Patrick Cantlay won the ZOZO Championship last year and went on to win the 2021 FedEx Cup title. Justin Thomas and Justin Rose, who won back-to-back in 2017 and 2018, also both won in the American fall that season (Thomas: 2016 CIMB Classic; Rose: 2017 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions).
Lee will tee off at 3.28am NZT on Friday.
