Jack Lee has played in all of Coastal Carolina’s 21 team events since he arrived on campus in the fall of 2023.
His parents have traveled from England to see him play two collegiate events – the Myrtle Beach Golf Trips Intercollegiate at the Grande Dunes Resort Course in each of the past two seasons.
They watched him finish 27th at even-par 216 last year.
This week, the second overseas trip became a special family memory.
Tony and Sally Lee followed their son around the course for 54 holes to witness his first collegiate victory.
Lee closed Tuesday with a 1-under-par 71 to shoot a career-low 14-under par 65-66-71–202 for a two-shot win over Florida Atlantic’s Biagio Gagliardi in the season-opening 16-team event.
“They was with me every shot,” the native of a London borough said in his British accent. “Looking at how many college events I’ve played so far, and for this to only be the second one they’ve come to, and to be able to win it, it was very special. It meant even more to me to be able to, for the week they’re here, play the best golf I’ve played so far.”
Lee set career personal bests in the event for single low round (65), best 36-hole score by six strokes with a 13-under 131, and best total 54-hole score by nine strokes.
He had a strong summer on the links back home, and returned to CCU for his junior year with renewed confidence.
“The last thing I said to my parents before I left to come back out was my one goal was to win a tournament this year, and obviously things fell into place this week,” Lee said. “I played some really good golf, kind of very similar to what I had been doing at home.”
Rounds of 65 and 66 gave Lee a six-shot lead entering Tuesday’s final round. He birdied two of his first three holes to extend the lead, and he still held a three-shot lead going into the 18th hole, which he parred to essentially seal the victory.
“Sleeping on a lead of any kind is tough, but sleeping on a six-shot lead, you’d think it would be comforting but it’s like everyone expects you to win,” Lee said. “You’ve always got the thought in the back of your mind that if you do lose, you are the one that’s messed it up.”
Sophomore teammate Drew Sykes, a fellow Englishman, gave Lee a comforting pep talk before Sykes headed to the tee for his round.
“He gave me some good words that really helped me out, just telling me to just trust my ability, you know, my golf has got me in that position so far so just keep doing what I’m doing and see what happens,” Lee said.
Escalation to a trophy
Lee was second on the team in 18-hole scoring average as a freshman at 73.26, recording three top-20s, a pair of top-10s with a top finish of sixth, and three rounds in the 60s.
He slipped last season to a 75.53 scoring average without a top-20 or a round in the 60s, though he got the job done academically as a Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) All-America Scholar.
His highlight last season was sinking the winning putt on the first playoff hole of the Sun Belt Conference Championship to lift CCU into an NCAA regional, and he hasn’t slowed down since.
He tied for 44th at the NCAA Bremerton Regional in Washington state, closing with a 2-under 142 in the final two rounds after struggling with an 81 in the opening round.
This past summer, it took Lee a tournament to readjust to playing in strong winds in the United Kingdom, and he finished 20th in the Scottish Amateur, “which was a decent start to the summer swing,” Lee said.
He advanced through the first qualifying stage for the British Open but fell short in the second/final stage, then finished second in the Walton Heath Trophy tournament by two shots to Lewy Hayward with a 12-under 276.
“It’s been slowly building sort of since conference last year,” Lee said. “Obviously my match being the one it came down to and holing a putt on the playoff hole to win conference for us. I think that just sort of started a run of good golf.”
In CCU intrasquad qualifying this preseason, Lee hasn’t shot a round over par, “which gave me a lot of confidence going into this week that my bad golf isn’t that bad, just stick to my plans,” he said. He may be done with team qualifying after his win Tuesday.
Lee, 20, a member of the England National Boys team when he was recruited by CCU coach Jacob Wilner as part of his first true recruiting class, has had to reassess his goals with one collegiate win under his belt.
“I’m just going to try and win as many as I can,” Lee said. “I’m just going to try to keep giving myself opportunities to win tournaments and see where I can go from there, see how many I can get.
“I’ve sort of proved to myself that I can do it, so now that just gives me that little bit of extra confidence when I go to tournaments. I know I can compete and I know I’ve got the capability to have a lead and close it out, trusting that my game is good enough to win at this level.”
Lee brought his parents, Tony and Sally, back to the airport on Wednesday, reliving and savoring the moments of his victory together in the morning before their departure.
“That was sort of our way of remembering that memory that we made,” Lee said.
Neither of Lee’s parents were golf enthusiasts during his youth, but Tony regularly brought Lee, who played a lot of competitive soccer growing up, to a driving range.
“We don’t really know how it sort of came about, I just really enjoyed going to the driving range and my dad would keep taking me and he was like, ‘If you ever want to stop you just tell me.’ ” Lee said. “But I always wanted to go back. I always just found the fact that it being an individual sport, if I do well you get rewarded, whereas if you do well with a team sport sometimes you still lose. I just fell in love with the fact that I can keep getting better at the game.”
His parents have chosen to attend the season-opening September event over CCU’s spring event, the General Hackler Championship at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club.
“They sort of like warm weather so they was like, ‘We’ll come in the one in September rather than the one in March just for the heat,’ ” Lee said.
College programs invade the Strand
The Golf Capital of the World became the capital of college golf this past weekend and early week, as the Grand Strand hosted 49 teams in three Division I tournaments.
At Grande Dunes, FAU finished at 26-under 838 to win the team title by nine strokes ahead of runners-up Clemson and Florida Gulf Coast, led by Gagliardi’s 7-under 65 in the final round. Coastal placed fourth at 15-under 849 (278-287-284).
The Myrtle Beach Golf Trips Intercollegiate field also included Appalachian State, High Point, Campbell, Charleston Southern, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Maryland, Old Dominion, East Carolina, Texas State, Elon and VCU.
The Golfweek Fall Challenge tournaments were held in Pawleys Island. Georgia Southern won the men’s event at True Blue Golf Club, while Charlotte won the women’s event at Caledonia Golf & Fish Club.
The men’s field also featured Austin Peay State, Ball State, Central Arkansas, East Texas A&M, Loyola-Chicago, Mercer, Nevada, North Alabama, Presbyterian, Tennessee Tech, USC Upstate and Western Carolina.
The women’s field also included Coastal Carolina, Appalachian State, East Tennessee State, USC Upstate, Arkansas State, High Point, Winthrop, Boise State, Lipscomb, Campbell, Morehead State, Old Dominion, Cincinnati, Presbyterian College, Troy, Delaware, UNC Greensboro, East Carolina, and UNC Wilmington.
The CCU women finished fourth and ahead of the tournament’s three other Sun Belt Conference schools, and were led by junior Varatkarn Kunkaew of Thailand, who tied for seventh at 1-under 212, and junior Texas State transfer Carla Bourdeaux of France, who tied for 13th at 214.
The CCU men’s other finishers were Sykes in seventh at 6-under 210, freshman Lucas Arntsen (playing as an individual) in a tie for 13th at 212, senior Max Bengtsson in a tie for 28 at even-par 216, sophomore Coleman Ferguson in a tie for 56th at 222, and senior Owen Kim in a tie for 62nd at 224.
Playing as individuals, freshmen Santiago Schele shot 219, Cam Roberts shot 225 and Harrison James carded 226.
CCU is next in action Sept. 15-16 at the Highlands Invitational in West Chester, Ill.
Hackler tourney renamed
The General Hackler Championship, which will celebrate its 25th playing from March 15-17 at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, has been renamed the Michael A. Marino.
It is now named in honor of the late Mike Marino, who was an active member of The Dunes Club for more than 30 years before his passing in 2024. His son, businessman Patrick Marino, helped bring celebrities to the PGA Tour’s Oneflight Myrtle Beach Classic Pro-Am in May and made a hole-in-one while playing with Kevin Costner.
The college-am that precedes the competitive rounds has been renamed the General James Hackler College Amateur Championship, in which club and community members will be paired with college players.
Hackler was one of six founding members of the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame, was instrumental in creating the area’s golf package that combines tee times and accommodations, and was a strong supporter of Coastal Carolina University.
