It may be a while before Min Woo Lee gets to return home to Australia. For that matter, even if he left today, it would still be quite a while before he got home because the flight is so long.
But whenever he gets there, he'll be arriving with fond memories of his time in the Chattanooga area. And he has a big silver trophy to remind him.
Lee outlasted the other 155 entrants this week in the 69th U.S. Junior Amateur golf tournament, winning the title Saturday at The Honors Course in Ooltewah with a 2-and-1 win in match play over Noah Goodwin from Corinth, Texas.
After winning, Lee proclaimed the 7,000-yard-plus Pete Dye layout as "the best course I've ever played." And he admitted the fact he had just won the most prestigious junior tournament in the world had something to do with his love for the track.
"It's just great," Lee said. "It's a great match-play course. Just like the history behind it as well. It's just a very good course. It's challenging in every way.
"That's what's special about this course. You have to leave it in proper spots and not just hit it up on the green. Yeah, it's a championship course. It's a great course. It's just very different to any course really."
Goodwin also gained an affinity for the Honors.
"It's amazing," Goodwin said. "Everything is so pristine here. The course is just absolutely phenomenal. For match play it's absolutely awesome. They can do so many things with different holes out here to make it interesting."
And he was gracious in defeat.
"I couldn't have lost to a better player," Goodwin said. "He pushed me and challenged me every single shot today.
"You know, I got beat by a better player today. In the end, that's what it's all about. This tournament is just about finding the best player this week."
Lee said he played one practice round on the course last weekend. Then after 18 holes Monday and Tuesday he ended up seeded third for match play.
Saturday was the third consecutive day he played a morning round and an afternoon round. He ended the championship match, set for 36 holes, on the 35th hole when he sank a 3-foot putt afer waiting out a 45-minute weather delay.
Lee either trailed or was all-square with ninth-seeded Goodwin throughout Saturday's first 18 holes. He managed to go ahead 2 up when they played the front nine again, but Goodwin hit the better drive and better approach shot on the 31st hole, where he eventually got the lead back.
After they halved the 153-yard par-3 No. 14 with birdies, Lee closed it out by winning three consecutive holes. Goodwin banged a fairway wood to the green on what became his losing hole after he three-putted. Lee hit a high-arching wedge shot out of a greenside bowl to set up his winning putt.
"We played great golf today," Lee said. "Just, yeah, we were rock solid. Some matches I had to play safe to win a match, but this match specifically I had to play great to win. I had to play good on each hole. Every hole I won I needed to make birdie or par."
Lee isn't sure of his plans for the immediate future, but he knows he will be around for the U.S. Amateur Aug. 15-21 at the Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Goodwin will, too.
Other exemptions that come with winning the U.S. Junior Am include not having to qualify for the next two U.S. Amateurs and a three-year break from local qualifying for the U.S. Open, provided he remains an amateur.
Lee's older sister, Minjee, is an LPGA golfer who as a youth won the U.S. Girls' Junior Amateur. Her brother's victory makes them the only sister-brother tandem to win the equivalent USGA tournaments.
Lee is also the first Australian to win the U.S. Junior Am and the first from his country to win a USGA event since Geoff Ogilvy won the 2006 U.S. Open.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at Twitter.com@KelleySmiddie.