FARMINGDALE, N.Y. _ Danny Lee has newfound distance _ but can he go the distance?
That's the big question about Lee, the 2008 U.S. Amateur champion from New Zealand who shot a 64 on Thursday, one stroke behind leader Brooks Koepka.
Lee has seen strong starts in major championships evaporate before, including when he went 68-77 on the first two days of the 2015 U.S. Open at Whistling Straits, and 68-74 at the Masters in 2016.
He believes his increased length off the tee will help sustain the kind of play that got him near the top of the leaderboard after the first round.
"I'm definitely hitting it further," he said. "I can carry my driver about 290, 295 in the air. That's a huge bonus for me. And that was actually the first time I got to play in a major with this distance. I'm actually interested in myself, what I can do out there this week."
Lee, 28, who was born in South Korea and moved to New Zealand at age 8, became the youngest winner of the U.S. Amateur at 18 years, 1 month. That's six months younger than Tiger Woods when he won it in 1994.
That didn't guarantee Lee success as a pro. He bounced around the European Tour and the Web.com Tour and struggled to break into the top 100 in world rankings (he's No. 119). The opportunities tend to dry up when players fall out of the top 100.
"Yeah, it's definitely tough out here playing in the Tour golf life," he said. "It's not easy. Some of the top 20 guys in the world make it look easy, but it's not always fairy tales and unicorns out here."
That includes a back injury in 2017 that had him contemplating a career change.
"I felt something on my back, and the only place I could go was lying on the ground," he said. "The next morning when I got up from my bed, I could not move my legs. I never had that kind of injury before, so I was freaking out and was telling my wife, 'OK, are we going to open up a Korean barbecue restaurant now?' And she's like, 'Hell no.' "
In the opening round, Lee was cooking.
