Who Is Danny Lee, the David to Bryson DeChambeau’s ‘Goliath’?

In what is probably the biggest upset in LIV Golf's short history, Danny Lee beat Bryson DeChambeau in their one-on-one match in the Team Championship. The win helped Lee's team, the Iron Heads, defeat DeChambeau's Crushers and move on to the finals of the Championship. But who is this guy?

Danny Lee is a South Korea-born New Zealander who turned pro in 2009. He is 36 years old and has several achievements in golf throughout his decade-and-a-half-long career. As an amateur, he was top-ranked and won the 2008 U.S. Amateur at 18 years old, breaking Tiger Woods' record.

He could have played in the 2009 British Open and U.S. Open, but since he turned pro in 2008, he was not allowed to compete as an Amateur Champion. After turning pro, he worked hard to break into the top 150 of the PGA Tour, which would have given him the ability to play in as many events as he wanted. However, he didn't perform to that level, making only six cuts out of eleven, and shifted to the European Tour the following year in 2010.

He performed well enough in the next couple of years to earn a Tour Card for both the PGA Tour and European Tour. However, he only made 13 out of 26 cuts and eventually lost his card. He then reached out to coach Steve Bann, who helped him play more naturally and not overthink his swing.

The following year, he dropped down to the Web.com Tour (now known as the Korn Ferry Tour) in order to regain his PGA Tour card. He achieved that goal and went on to secure his first and only PGA Tour win at the Greenbrier Classic in 2015.

That year was his best, as he added to the win with a fourth-place finish at the John Deere Classic, another fourth at the Quicken Loans National, and a sixth at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. In the Tour Championship, he was the runner-up and finished 9th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Lee fails to make a big impact on the PGA Tour and turns to LIV Golf After 2015, his most notable event was the 2019 PGA Championship, where he finished behind leader Brooks Koepka after the first round. However, with scores above 70 in the next three rounds, he finished T36 at the tournament.

After a lack of results in the intervening years, he joined LIV Golf in 2023. His most memorable contribution before beating U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau was sinking a 25-foot putt to win the LIV Golf Tucson event last year. Of his stunning victory over DeChambeau in Dallas, he said, "I felt like I took down a Goliath today,".

The journeyman is now heading into the finals of the LIV Golf Team Championship with his team, the Iron Heads.