On Andrea Lee’s run to victory, and the Portland Classic’s future
Five birdies on her final nine lift former Stanford star Andrea Lee to the AmazingCre Portland Classic title
Andrea Lee started the year relegated to playing the Epson Tour — the LPGA’s junior circuit — and wasn’t sure what the future had in store.
In her fifth Epson event in April, Lee won the Casino Del Sol Classic in Tucson, which wrote her a ticket back ,to the LPGA Tour. Now, five months later, she reigns as champion of the AmazingCre Portland Classic.
The 24-year-old out of Hermosa Beach, Calif., lit it up with five birdies on the final nine Sunday to finish with a 6-under-par 66 and claim the title by one stroke over Daniela Darquea of Ecuador.
And, as if on cue, when asked how it felt to win her first LPGA crown, Lee had the perfect corporate response: “It feels amazing.”
AmazingCre is a golfwear brand in South Korea serving as title sponsor of an LPGA event for the first time. If you’d heard of it, you’re one ahead of me. But sponsorship of a pro golf tournament is a good way to increase exposure, and Lee was the center of attention Sunday at Columbia Edgewater.
The former Stanford standout started the tournament slowly with an even-par 72 on Thursday. She followed that with rounds of 64, 67 and 66 to finish at 19-under 269 and collect the $225,000 first prize in the $1.5 million event.
“I can’t believe it,” said Lee, who moved up to 25th on the LPGA money list with $767,602 in earnings in 16 tournaments. “All the hard work paid off. It has always been my dream to win on the LPGA tour. That I accomplished it today is a great feeling.”
Lee spent much of the day peaking at the “crazy leader board,” and it was indeed a logjam. Seven players were within a shot of the lead beginning Sunday’s final round. Midway through the round, five players were tied for the lead at 15 under, while another seven players were within three strokes.
“It was fun to be a part of,” said Brooke Henderson, the No. 3 player on the LPGA money list who tied for 10th with a score of 14-under 274. “If you make some birdies, you can make some moves. It’s nice for the fans to have that many people in contention. It makes it exciting.”
Lee — who began the day tied for the lead — stumbled at first, going 2-over through four holes.
“I was pretty frustrated,” she said. “I told myself to stay calm, that there were a lot of holes to be played and a lot of par-fives. I stayed super patient and made a lot of putts.”
The rest of her card read eight birdies, six pars and no bogeys. That’s making a lot of putts.
Lee left Stanford after her junior year with a sensational college golf record and a degree in science, technology and society. She had a decent rookie season on the LPGA Tour in 2020 but slumped last year, missing 10 of 13 cuts in one stretch. It took some time on the Epson Tour to get things straightened out.
“My junior and college career was pretty smooth sailing,” she said. “I expected a lot out of myself coming to the LPGA. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well. It is difficult to win out here. Over the last year, I’ve grown as a golfer. I have managed to use all the experiences to get this win.”
Lee dedicated the victory to her late grandfather, Min Lee, who died last November.
“He was my No. 1 fan,” she said. “He always called me a champion. He always believed in me.”
After Lee tapped in for her one-stroke victory, several peers on the LPGA Tour gave her a champagne shower on the 18th green. Then she had a long hug with her father, James Lee.
“He said, ‘I’m so proud of you,’ ” she said. “I started crying. My dad is not a man of many words. It’s a nice moment to have.”
Lee’s caddy, incidentally, was Drew Ernst, who had carried the bag of a champion here before. His sister, Austin Ernst, won the tournament in 2014.
Local favorite Caroline Inglis closed with a 71 to finish tied for 15th at 11-under 277, earning a check of $20,427.
“Not the Sunday I wanted, but that’s just golf sometimes,” said Inglis, 28, the former two-time Pac-12 champion at Oregon who now lives in Vancouver. “You have to take the good things from the week and move forward with it. I didn’t make a single putt today. My speed was a little off. And I made a few errors. I wasn’t very tidy.”
Inglis will never forget her hole-in-one on the 13th hole during Friday’s second round.
“This is my home course,” said Inglis, now 105th on the LPGA money list with a career-high $121,031. “It’s been such a fun week, to be able to hang with all my friends and family members. It was pretty special getting the hole in one.”
This was the 51st running of the tournament that began in 1972 as the “Portland Ladies Classic,” making it the longest continuous-running non-major on the LPGA Tour. It was the first big-time sports event I worked as a professional journalist, in 1975 for The Oregon Journal. Jo Ann Washam won the top prize of $5,700 in the $40,000 event that year at Portland Golf Club. Many of the women’s game’s greats have won in the years since, including Kathy Whitworth, Nancy Lopez, Amy Alcott and Annika Sorenstam. Times change, but the tournament is still bringing world-class golf to the area.
Yet I worry about its future. I covered only Sunday’s final round, during which I felt like crowds were a little more sparce than usual despite temperatures pushing 80. Tournament Golf Foundation president Mark Ganz thought otherwise.
“I’m very pleased that Portland really turned out for this tournament,” said Ganz, the former CEO at Cambria Health Solutions, the title sponsor from 2014-21.
Ganz said he had “no idea” what attendance was for the week.
“But I’ve never seen the parking lot so full, which is the best indicator,” he said. “These are great galleries we’ve had.”
Only eight of the top 25 money-winners on the LPGA Tour participated at Portland this week. I remember many years when the figure was 20, or 22, or 23.
One of the problems is timing of the event. The previous tournament was held in Cincinnati. Next week’s tournament will be in Rogers, Arkansas.
“The place in the schedule doesn’t help it at all,” Ingles said. “That’s me calling out the sponsors, the LPGA, but that’s why the field went down so far.
“It’s disappointing to see it in a spot where (LPGA players) don’t want to come play here, because (the schedule) goes east coast, west coast, east coast. It’s not fair to the tournament.”
The LPGA has back-to-back events in Ohio to start September, then Portland, then Arkansas (Sept. 23-25). After that are events in Fort Worth, Texas (Sept. 29-Oct. 2), and Somis, Calif., north of Los Angeles (Oct. 6-9).
There are two possibilities that would help Portland. Move it up two weeks to Sept. 1-4 — yes, Labor Day weekend, but oh well — and either have the Dana Open and Kroger Queen City Classic move back a week, or move Dana Open back two weeks and keep Kroger where it is. Another option would be to move Portland back a week to Sept. 23-25 and push the Arkansas event to the Sept. 15-18 slot. Portland to Fort Worth to Somis would be a reasonable travel schedule for the players.
“It’s not up to me,” Inglis said, adding with a smile, “Just a suggestion.”
Portland is at the bottom end of the purse — $1.5 million is the tour minimum — but Columbia Edgewater is a major plus.
“Jim Myers is an incredible greenskeeper,” Inglis said. “He did a great job this week. This golf course is so good, and all the players love it. It has so much potential. I’d love to see (the tournament) elevated in the years to come.”
Henderson echoed Inglis’ feelings.
“This place is beautiful,” said Henderson, who has played in all the Portland tournaments since 2015. “I love this course. I love every hole out here. The layout is great. It’s always in perfect position. I look forward to playing here next year.
“I’m happy (the tournament) is still running. It’s been going for a really long time. It’s important to keep it going here because the fans appreciate it. But every tournament is getting bigger and better all the time. They just have to continue that trend.”
I don’t know if that means bumping the purse up again or not. Probably so. Would that help lure more top players? Only if the schedule gets rearranged.
TGI has two more years on its contract with Columbia Edgewater, but no further deal with AmazingCre.
“This was a one-year trial period for them and for us,” Ganz said. “It’s a two-way street. Both parties agreed that we would look at it for one year and evaluate whether we want to continue. We’ll have a conversation with them after this tournament.”
Ganz hosted AmazingCre’s CEOs — Yong Moon You and Seul Gi Bae — in a dinner at his home this week.
“Very good men,” Ganz said. “We know the type of sponsor we want — ones that care about the community, who are here to support the women golfers. AmazingCre is only a two-year company. They’re genuine about their interest in women’s golf. I’m grateful for any company that understands that women play the game every bit as well as the men. That has been good.
“They just have to decide, are golf tournaments what they want to do? This has been a learning experience for them. So we’ll see.”
Yes, we will. At least we know the Portland Classic will be back at C-E next year. That’s a good thing. When, and with what title sponsor? To be determined.
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