PERTH, Australia – Minjee Lee turned professional Sunday, a day after leading Australia to a comeback victory in Japan in the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship.
The 18-year-old Lee, No. 1 in the world amateur golf ranking and 82nd overall, made the announcement in a light-hearted video with Matthew Pavlich, captain of the Fremantle Australian Rules football team.
Lee will make her first appearance as a professional next week in the Evian Championship in France.
Born in Perth and a member of the Royal Fremantle Golf Club, Lee won the 2012 U.S. Junior Girls’, the 2013 and 2004 Australian Women’s Amateur titles and the 2014 Victorian Open.
She was low amateur at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in California in April in her first start in a major championship, and received the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the No. 1 women’s amateur this year.
Team Canada’s Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont. will jump from second to first in the amateur ranking. The 16-year-old won the individual title in Japan Saturday, beating second-place Lee by three strokes, and leading Canada to a second-place finish.