Danny Lee Donates $90,000 to New Zealand Golf Development

New Zealand’s top ranking golfer Danny Lee has donated $90,000 to New Zealand Golf to help progress the development of the game in his home country.

Benefitting from the money will be New Zealand Golf, Bay of Plenty Golf and Springfield Golf Club – Lee’s home club.  The money will be split equally between the three and each organisation has committed to use the funds to progress the development of the game.

Danny Lee’s donation is a direct result of him playing his debut President’s Cup In October 2015, which was held at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Korea.  There is no purse or prize money at The President’s Cup, instead players allocate their slice of the proceeds to their chosen charities.

"I am honoured to be able to further support and donate these funds to New Zealand Golf” Lee said.  “I started playing golf through them as a child and they greatly supported my golfing development. I hope we can help grow the game of golf in New Zealand, and I look forward to being back in New Zealand one day soon,"

A total of $6.1 million will be distributed to charitable causes around the world from The Presidents Cup 2015.  This is a record-setting amount for the prestigious competition and more than $38 million has been raised since the event's inception in 1994.

New Zealand Golf CEO, Dean Murphy had nothing but praise for Lee.

"We are incredible humbled to receive this donation from Danny Lee. We are extremely proud of Danny and his achievements at the highest level on the world stage and we are so pleased that he remains so close and committed to New Zealand Golf," said Murphy.

"Danny and his team are always so willing to give back to New Zealand and we look forward to a time in the near future when his schedule will allow him to return home to play."

Chris McAlpine, the Bay of Plenty District Associate Executive Director, who has watched Lee’s career progress from the age of 12 said "This is a tremendous boost for golf in the Bay of Plenty which we will direct at Junior Development."

"It's been so special following his career from the time he was 12 years of age and barely spoke a word of English. His sense of humour was as much in evidence as his golfing ability from that age."

"It means so much to us for Danny to have kept in touch and what a marvellous way to show his gratitude."

Lee is currently number 34 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Danny Lee playing in the last round of the 2015 Presidents Cup