Learn more<\/a><\/p>\nThere\u2019s no doubt Lee made the right decision for he and his family to try to give it a run on LIV, and that was no more evident than earlier this year at a tournament in Singapore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lee, a fairly unheralded journeyman who has spent most of his near-20-year professional career in Asia, took Bryson DeChambeau down to the wire, eventually losing in extra holes after he missed a heart-breaking putt of about two feet that would have extended a playoff.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely hated it for Richard. He\u2019s been playing some unbelievable golf,\u201d DeChambeau said afterwards. \u201cI wanted to go another hole with him. As much as winning is great, I have a lot of respect for Richard and the way he golfs his ball out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the loss, Lee earned $2.25 million and in one tournament, essentially earned the same amount of money he had in a decade-and-a-half on the Asian Tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Through just nine LIV tournaments, his total earnings sit at just under $4 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy biggest cheque has definitely been that one,\u201d Lee said with a small laugh of his bank accounts\u2019 Singapore sling. \u201cWhen I was in the playoff I didn\u2019t really think of the money \u2014 I just wanted to win the tournament so badly. But after the week finished, I was like, \u2018Holy crap, I actually made this much money?\u2019 A week later, I felt like I did pretty well for myself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ryan French, who goes by \u2018Monday Q Info\u2019 on X and has a robust social following built on reporting on journeyman stories just like Lee\u2019s, says there is \u201cno bigger\u201d qualifying tournament than LIV\u2019s. Lee earned $200,000 for topping that field and by earning a spot on the LIV circuit, even if you finish last in every event, you\u2019ll make $1 million for the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But while DeChambeau and Jon Rahm and some of the other biggest names on the LIV circuit attempt to navigate \u2014 and in the former’s case, fight for \u2014 its future, there\u2019s someone like Lee, who is sitting pretty now and possibly moving forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lee said a few LIV franchises have talked to him this year, but he\u2019ll be sticking as a wild-card player since he has a handful of long-time sponsors from South Korea and doesn\u2019t want to cancel on them mid-season. He doesn\u2019t hear much from LIV golf CEO Scott O\u2019Neil, but what he has heard sounds positive enough, he said, about what\u2019s to come moving forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
LIV is a completely different animal than any other stage he\u2019s been on in his career, but Lee said it took him just a few events to get comfortable. When he started, he said everything reminded him of his first major. Lee earned his way into the 2007 U.S. Open as an amateur and at just 16, he was the second-youngest player in tournament history. He shot an opening-round 79 and was forced to withdraw during the second round after injuring his wrist. He did, however, turn professional immediately after, thus beginning his long journey around the golfing world all the way to LIV.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lee is enjoying a solid campaign, sitting 16th in LIV\u2019s season-long points list. He finished tied for 27th Sunday at the LIV event in Spain but now he\u2019ll have a six-week break before its next tournament in England.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It would, of course, have been an ideal time for Lee to return back to TPC Toronto and try to build off his success from 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He can\u2019t, but he\u2019s at peace with that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the husband to provide for the wife and child, it\u2019s a big thing. You have to support them all the way. I\u2019m doing a great job. And I still have more to come,\u201d Lee said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what exactly LIV will have next year, but I\u2019m just trying to do my best and support my family and play my best golf.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The rest of Canada\u2019s top pros will be at TPC Toronto this week, but Lee will be pre-occupied on the other side of the world. He\u2019ll be playing with his two-year-old daughter and happily waiting to continue taking advantage of the biggest opportunity of his life.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALEDON, Ont. \u2014 When the RBC Canadian Open begins Thursday, almost all of Canada\u2019s top male golfers are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-724301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Just](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/300x60_GENESIS_PGA_Logo-SN.png\"){kind=logo}
Just play, we\u2019ll handle the rest<\/p>\n