“Golf always came easy to me,” says Alison Lee, who left college aged 19 to turn professional and was playing in the US Solheim Cup team less than a year later.
Lee cracked the top 25 of the world rankings in her debut season on the LPGA Tour, banking more than $600,000 and confirming her status as a star of the future.
A couple of years later that star began to wane, however. By 2018 she had dropped out of the top 300 and her confidence had also plummeted.
“I had a three or four year period where I struggled with my game,” she adds. “I didn’t feel like I was playing to my full potential, and I didn’t feel like myself, honestly.”
A turning point came in 2021 at the Aramco Team Series Sotogrande, where Lee claimed the maiden title of her pro career and secured her return to the top 100.
She won again late last year at the Riyadh leg of the series, part of a run of four straight top-two finishes as she surpassed $1m in prize money in a single year for the first time.
“In the last two years, I’ve found something in my swing and from a mental perspective as well,” says Lee, now 29.
“I feel like that’s the only thing that holds me back a lot of the time. But I feel like I’ve had a turning point with my game in that regard.”
A key figure in her improvement has been former men’s world No1 Fred Couples, whose informal encouragement has helped Lee snap out of slumps.
“He’s helped me so much from a mental perspective. He doesn’t have to do that; he’s one of the best golfers ever,” she says.
“When someone like Fred tells me how great I am, it really hits deeper. He’s become a mentor to me. We still chat every few weeks; he checks in to make sure I’m on the right path.”
Even aside from her two wins, Lee has performed consistently well at Aramco Team Series events, including finishing third in London earlier this year.
“Being on a team takes a little more pressure off. I’ve been able to come out and play with fewer expectations, and a lot of the time that works for me,” she says.
Lee will be one of the star attractions at Mission Hills, where the Shenzhen leg of the series is due to begin on Friday.
Alison Lee helpes US win the Solheim Cup last month
It will be her first outing post-Solheim Cup, where she and the US beat a Europe team featuring Anna Nordqvist, Emily Pedersen and Celine Boutier – all rivals in China this week.
“It was awesome to play in that setting. We had record-breaking ticket sales and TV viewership, and playing was so fun. It’s like nothing I’ve experienced at any other event,” Lee says.
“Thankfully, we’ve had no drama this year. I played against Anna twice in the team pairings, but it was overall good fun. The sportsmanship was great. At the end of the day, we’re all friends.”