JON JOHNSON
With a season behind him on the Houston Academy varsity golf team, 13-year-old Douglas Lee approaches the 75th Annual Press Thornton Future Masters with added confidence.
He will be competing in the 13-14 age division when the prestigious junior golf tournament begins play Sunday at the Dothan Country Club.
“Playing high school tournaments has helped me a lot to prepare for this,” Lee said on Thursday morning.
This past spring, it was his round of 79 during the Class 4A, Section I tournament at the Dothan Country Club that helped the Raiders advance to the sub-state round.
“Our young guy, our seventh grader had the low round of the day,” HA coach and director of golf at the Dothan Country Club Kevin Klein said back in April. “He carried us really. Without him, we might have been staying home. We have four seniors and a seventh grader and our seventh grader saved us.”
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Lee recalled the up and down round which ultimately proved good enough to help his team advance.
“I was even through the first nine holes and I was kind of moseying along the next five,” Lee said. “The last four I was 5-over. I was playing pretty good and at the end I kind of leaked some oil, I guess.”
Having a chance to compete against older players during the high school season has helped Lee up his game.
“The seniors treated me pretty well and helped calm my nerves and stuff,” Lee said. “Most of the seniors were better than me at the start of the season, but towards the middle or the end I started beating them in some of the tournaments. It helped me strive to be better.”
Lee has carried over his good play into the summer season.
“Lately, I’ve been playing pretty well,” he said. “I’ve been playing a lot of SJGT (Southeastern Junior Golf Tour) tournaments. I’ve played three recently and I’ve gotten second (Sea Palms, Ga.) and third (Moultrie, Ga.) in two out of three of those.
“In those tournaments, I was actually hitting my irons pretty well. The driver was pretty solid. Putting was a little iffy, but it was pretty good. I would say chipping was probably one of the struggles.”
Lee began playing golf competitively five years ago and got serious with the sport the past two years.
Among his highlights was last summer shooting a 5-under 67 in his second round of the Under Armour World Championship tournament in Orlando a day after a first-round 80. During the round of 67 – his best round ever as a player – Lee had six birdies and one bogey.
Learning from Klein, DCC head professional John Fountain and Tolver Dozier, who has a local golf academy, has kept Lee on the right track.
“They’ve helped me a lot, actually,” Lee said of the instructors. “I started taking from John when I was like 10 … he helped me get started. I started taking from Tolver (six months ago) and he knows the game really well. When I first came there, my putting stroke was awful, but it’s a lot better now.”
This will mark the third Future Masters for Lee, who played as a 10-year-old and then again last year at the age of 12.
He’s glad the tournament returns to his home course of the Dothan Country Club after last year being held at Highland Oaks while the DCC course was undergoing major renovations.
“I’m really amped up for it because I’ve been practicing for it for the past six months,” Lee said. “Mainly, all the greens are different than what they used to be. They added some bunkers in on some holes. I think it’s harder.”
But he also believes being able to play the course on an almost daily basis is a plus for the local golfers.
“I mean, most people will know that the greens are hard and they’re not going to spin as much,” Lee said. “But, usually you’ve got to land everything short of the greens and let them bounce up because they’re so hard … you’re not going to hold anything on them. That’s probably one of the main strengths I have for playing here.”
He will also have plenty of support from being a local player, though it can also add a bit of pressure.
“I feel a little more pressure because I’m a local guy and feel like I have to do good, but after the first hole, it’s not that bad,” Lee said.
His father, Stuart Lee, played in the Future Masters on four occasions when he was 9, 10, 16 and 18.
Now he walks the course in support of his son.
“I was just talking with an acquaintance from Birmingham the other day about this tournament … about how the people who used to come stay with us and now their kids are coming to play,” Stuart said. “It definitely brings back old memories and glad to be making new memories with old friends and new.”
The game of golf has also been a good bonding experience for him with both his son and daughter.
“It’s been huge,” he said. “Not only Douglas, but my 15-year-old daughter (Mary Lawrence) plays and it’s definitely been a bonding experience with both of them.”
Play also begins in the 11-12 age division on Sunday while the 10-under age group have a practice round and begin their competition on Monday. All three young age divisions have their final rounds on Tuesday.
The players in the 15-18 age division have a practice round on Wednesday and begin their three-day tournament on Thursday.
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