Rachel Lee was a competitive swimmer until she realized a hard truth about her prospects in the sport: She was too small. While she had stopped growing, many of her counterparts had become taller and stronger.
So Lee discarded her ear plugs and got a set of golf clubs. Why not? Her house backed up to Waverly Woods Golf Course in Ellicott City and her lack of size at a petite 5-foot-1 would not be a disadvantage.
Just three years after taking up the sport, Lee is one of the best junior players in the area. Earlier this month at Springfield Country Club, she won the women’s division at the Bobby Bowers Memorial. Today in Fort Wayne, Ind., she will tee off in the 37th Junior PGA Championship, which attracts an elite field of the nation’s top juniors, boys and girls, and includes 2012 U.S. Open contender Beau Hossler.
Lee qualified with a 72-74 – 146 earlier this month at Montgomery Country Club, winning the Middle Atlantic Section PGA Championship.
