When Andrea Lee learned to let go of the pressure she was putting on herself to win on the LPGA Tour last season, she got her first victory at the Portland Classic. And this year, when Lee felt the pressure mounting to match what she achieved last season, she found a way to shed it just in time to qualify for her first Solheim Cup team.
Lee returns to Columbia Edgewater Country Club as defending champion and with much to celebrate. On Sunday, Lee secured the sixth and final automatic qualifying spot in the U.S. Solheim Cup Point Standings to earn a spot on the U.S. squad. The berth didn’t seem like much of a likelihood for Lee at the start of the season as she began the year at No. 9 in the rankings and was unable to record a single top 10 finish until August.
“I did have a pretty rough start to this year. I think the first half was just trying to find that rhythm again like I had last year. I think I was getting too ahead of myself and getting anxious wanting to play well after having a good 2022,” Lee said on Wednesday in Portland. “I just want to go out and I guess pick up right where I left off last year and go out and try to just play really good golf.”
But come August, the season began to turn around for Lee. While she felt like her game was on form at the Amundi Evian Championship, bad breaks and a bad draw with the weather led Lee to miss the cut. That became the turning point for the fourth-year Member, who was determined to not let it weigh her down and to let the results come on their own.
“I just took a step back, just tried to go out there and stay really patient and not try and let anything upset me or frustrate me,” said Lee.
The following week, she picked up her first top 10 of the season at the FREED GROUP Women’s Scottish Open presented by Trust Golf and added another top 10 the following week at the season’s final major, the AIG Women’s Open. Then, after taking two weeks off, she came away with a tie for 13th at last week’s CPKC Women’s Open to punch her ticket to the Solheim Cup.
“Obviously it was a huge goal of mine coming into this year. After that kind of rough, four, five-month stretch I thought maybe this year is not it for me,” Lee said about possibly not making the U.S. Team. “And if not, that's okay. Like I still have next year. So, yeah, try not think about it. I think that was the key to actually helping me play better golf to get on the team.”
Lee has learned over the last year how to manage the pressure and nerves that come with competing at the highest level. It helped her earn her breakthrough win at the Portland Classic and a first appearance in the Solheim Cup. And while she’s learned to better handle the pressure she puts on herself, how she’ll handle the intense environment of competing in the Solheim Cup remains unknown. But Lee says when it comes to that type of pressure, the kind she doesn’t put on herself, well, that’s a different story.
“Just learning from all those past experiences, I think are going to really help me,” Lee said about handling the intensity of the Solheim Cup. “I mean, it is nerve-wracking but also just super fun to me at the same time. I love the big crowds. I feel like I kind of thrive under that kind of pressure and I'm just really looking forward to having that at the Solheim Cup this year.”
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