By Torleif Sorenson on 5/18/15

#LPGAWinnerSelfie w/ @minjeegolf @KingsmillLPGA pic.twitter.com/PsrEyZpBX9

— LPGA (@LPGA) May 18, 2015

Darkness forced a delayed to the conclusion of the LPGA Kingsmill Championship late Sunday evening, while Australian-born Minjee Lee was marking her ball at the 16th green. But she came back this morning and finished the job. Her final-round 65 put her two shots clear of the nearest runner-up, 2011 U.S. Women's Open champion So Yeon Ryu.

This is her maiden victory as a professional golfer, but we probably should not be surprised. Why?

• Until she turned pro in September of 2014, she was the number-one ranked female amateur golfer in the world.


• As an amateur, she captured 13 victories, including the 2012 U.S. Girls Junior Amateur Championship, and the Australian Women's Amateur Championship twice.


• Also as an amateur, she won the 2014 Women's Victorian Open, a professional event on the ALPG Tour.


• This past December, she was the co-medalist at LPGA Q-School.

In this day and age when we have become accustomed to seeing young women succeed on the international stage, it is a somewhat surprising that Minjee Lee has become only the seventh woman to win on the LPGA Tour before turning 19 years old. (Marlene Hagge, Morgan Pressel, Paula Creamer, Jessica Korda, Lydia Ko, and Lexi Thompson.)

Also surprising is that Lee thought this moment would be way off in the future:

"I didn't think that moment would come this year, so I'm stoked to have won."

Lee's original schedule for today was to head up the road from Kingsmill Resort and play in a qualifier for the 2015 U.S. Women's Open at Hermitage Country Club, northwest of Richmond. But by virtue of maintaining the overnight lead and winning this morning, she can skip it — and that is awfully impressive.

Advance, Australia Fair. :)


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