FARMVILLE, Va. -- Ha Lee and her parents had a pretty comfortable life in South Korea. They were living in a city about one hour from the capital, Seoul, and Lee began playing golf - a popular sport in that country - with some encouragement from her father.
But in 2005 the family, including her brother, moved from South Korea to Hagerstown, a city of about 40,000 in western Maryland, around 60 miles west of Baltimore.
"We figured the USA had more opportunities to play golf and get an education," said Lee, now in her fourth year as a senior on the women's golf team at Longwood. "That is why we came to the USA."
The family settled in Hagerstown due largely to an aunt of Lee who already lived there. But the coming to America story had a sad turn when Lee's father, Young, died in 2006, about a year after the family came to Maryland. Her father was a businessman while her mother, Kum, was a teacher in South Korea.
"My dad was like my second coach," said Lee, a business administration major with a concentration in finance. "He helped me with everything."
But Lee, who was 13 when she started with golf in South Korea, stuck with the sport and played three years at Smithsburg High in Maryland and graduated from the school in 2009.
She was the 2008 Maryland Girls State High School Champion as a senior after she was a runner-up as a junior.
Lee was the Maryland State Women's Amateur Medalist in 2009 and was the PGA Mid-Atlantic Section and MAPGC Junior Tour Champion the previous year.
She is one of just two four-year players (
Ariel Witmer of Ohio is the other) on the current Lancers' roster and she has averaged 80.25 through 24 rounds with a season-best 18-hole score of 72 at the Yale Women's Intercollegiate last fall.
Lee stands just 5-feet tall and, thus, is not a big hitter. But she said the key to her success is her short game, which includes chips and putts. But it goes beyond that.
"She led the nation in driving accuracy last year," said Ali Wright, the Longwood coach. "She is really accurate."
Despite the loss of her father, Lee has a winning personality and ready smile, and brings more than just low scores to the Longwood squad.
"She is good at laughing at herself," Wright said. "She adds humor to the team."
During the 2011-12 season, she averaged 79.04 through 26 rounds and had a season-best 18-hole score of 73 at the UNC Wilmington/Seahawk Classic.
"During the fall season Ha contributed important rounds, which led to some good team finishes," Wright said.
Lee said she is grateful that her Longwood career did not end before she had a chance to compete in the Big South Conference.
The Lancers, for many years an athletic independent, joined the Big South on July 1, 2012 and the Longwood team hopes to take advantage of that this spring.
"I definitely think we have a chance to win it," said Wright, who said Campbell and Coastal Carolina are the teams to beat.
Lee is on track to graduate in May and would like to continue playing golf after graduation. She hopes to have discussions with Wright this spring about how best to do that.
But for now her focus in on her first - and only - spring season in the Big South.
"We want to win our conference in our first year," she said. "I am happy I can play in the Big South my senior year."
The 2013 Big South Women's Golf Championship is scheduled for April 14-16 in South Carolina.
Editor's Note: Special consultant David Driver is a Virginia native and has covered college sports in the state for more than 20 years. He has been a staff writer for newspapers in Arlington, Springfield and Harrisonburg and has contributed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Washington Post, Stafford County Sun and The Potomac News in Woodbridge. He was also the first sports editor for the daily Baltimore Examiner. He will continue contributing special feature content to longwoodlancers.com throughout the upcoming 2012-13 academic year as well. A former Division III baseball player at Eastern Mennonite University, David can be reached at www.davidsdriver.com.
Previous Special Features
