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Lee named 2014 Rolex Junior Player of the Year

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Andrea Lee of Hermosa Beach, California, was named the 2014 girls Rolex Junior Player of the Year .

Introduced by the AJGA in 1978, the Rolex Junior Player of the Year award recognizes one boy and one girl who had the most outstanding year in junior golf events at the national level. Past recipients have gone on to become some of the most esteemed players on the PGA and LPGA Tours, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Charles Howell III, Hunter Mahan, Brian Harman, Jordan Spieth, Vicky Hurst, Inbee Park, Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel.

Lee, 16, solidified herself as Rolex Junior Player of the Year after making the U.S. Women’s Open cut, capturing two consecutive Invitational wins and recording top match play finishes. After 12 top-10 Invitational showings, the Stanford commit captured an eight-stroke victory at the Rolex Tournament of Champions and won the inaugural Yani Tseng Invitational presented by the Swinging Skirts in as many weeks. A four-time Rolex Junior All-American, Lee, who is the 10th Californian to be named the female Rolex Junior Player of the Year, posted top match play performances at the U.S. Girls’ Junior, the Wyndham Cup and the Junior Ryder Cup.

Her accomplishments will be heralded Nov. 23 during the Rolex Junior All-America Awards Banquet at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The awards ceremony, dubbed “The Greatest Night in Junior Golf,” will also trumpet the achievements of the rest of golf’s next generation by means of the Rolex Junior All-America Teams, HP Scholastic Junior All-America Teams and Jerry Cole Sportsmanship Award.

About Andrea Lee's 2014 season
Coming into the 2014 season, the only thing missing from Lee’s career – which included 11 top-five finishes and three years of Rolex Junior All-America honors – was a victory. Lee, 16, tallied two in 2014, both at AJGA Invitationals, made the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open, and captured the No. 1 spot in the Polo Golf Rankings.

The Stanford commit opened the season with top 10s at the Polo Golf Junior Classic and ANNIKA Invitational. In May, she notched her 12th career top-10 Invitational showing, placing second at the Thunderbird International Junior which ignited a stellar summer performance.

In three consecutive weeks, Lee made the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open after a second-round 70, won the Rolex Tournament of Champions by eight strokes and captured the title at the inaugural Yani Tseng Invitational presented by the Swinging Skirts, earning a sponsor exemption into the 2015 Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic.

Lee was integral to team match play success in 2014. She returned to the Wyndham Cup’s West squad for the third consecutive year, helping the team retain the Cup and totaling a 10-2-0 career record—the sixth-best Wyndham Cup career record for a girl. The following week, she made her second appearance at the U.S. Girls’ Junior, advancing to the quarterfinals. Lee then traveled to Scotland with fellow Rolex Junior Player of the Year Burns, where she helped the U.S. win its fourth consecutive Junior Ryder Cup.

Lee closed the season in October with a T8 finish at The PING Invitational.