Adding another title to her young golfing resume, Andrea Lee attained her season-long goal Thursday when she was named Rolex Junior Player of the Year by the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA).
Lee, of Hermosa Beach, joined Sam Burns of Shreveport, LA as the female and male winners of the award.
Introduced by the AJGA in 1978, the Rolex Junior Player of the Year award recognizes one boy and one girl who had the most outstanding year in junior golf events at the national level. Past recipients have gone on to become some of the most esteemed players on the PGA and LPGA Tours, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Charles Howell III, Hunter Mahan, Brian Harman, Jordan Spieth, Inbee Park, Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel.
Lee dominated the Polo Golf Rankings, the proprietary system created by the AJGA to identify and rank the top junior players who have competed in the premier junior golf tournaments in the U.S.
Lee averaged 100.02 points in seven tournaments played, well above female runner-up Kristen Gillman, Austin TX who totaled 87.06. Burns posted 83.73 points to lead the boys division.
This season marked the fourth time Lee has been named a Rolex Junior All-American.
“Being able to receive the Rolex Junior Player of the Year award means so much to me,” Lee said. “It has been one of my biggest goals ever since my first year playing in the AJGA and to accomplish this is just incredible. It definitely ranks as one of my highest achievements so far in my junior golf career.”
A junior at Mira Costa High School, Lee won the CIF State girls championship last season but opted not to play for the Mustangs this season while she focused on tournament competition. She won two tournaments in June, capturing the Rolex Tournament of Champions and the Yani Tseng Invitational presented by the Swinging Skirts. Lee also had a runner-up finish at the Thunderbird International Junior in May.
“The Rolex Tournament of Champions was my first AJGA win and I think it was this event that really propelled me to winning the Rolex Junior Player of the Year award,” Lee said. “I went on the week after to the Yani Tseng Invitational back in San Diego and I just think that I brought the confidence that I had at the Rolex TOC with me. After a fight for a win there, I think that really sealed my junior player of the year spot. I’ve just learned so much this past summer about my game and how to improve as a player.”
Lee was awarded 30 bonus points as a participant in the Wyndham Cup and her performances throughout the season earned her a spot on the Junior Ryder Cup team where she helped the United States win its fourth consecutive title routing Europe 16-8 at Blairgowrie Golf Club in Scotland.
Lee is preparing for the Polo Junior Golf Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, FL to be held Nov. 22-28 where she will be in the field with Redondo Beach’s Robynn Ree.
Ree was the tenth-best golfer in AJGA girls competition this season finishing with 40.17 points. Ree also was named to the Rolex Junior All-American team for the second time and said placing second at the Tournament of Champions in Tennessee was the highlight of her season.
“It is such an honor to be named First Team All-American,” Ree said. “It’s like a dream come true. I got Second Team All-American last year and being able to move up to First Team is a huge accomplishment.”
