RIVIERA MAYA, Mexico — He doesn’t get headlines like Mr. DeChambeau, but Danny Lee is just as all-in on the speed chase as his beefier colleague. The 31-year-old from New Zealand has made a concerted effort to add distance over the past couple years, and you won’t find anyone swinging harder in competition. Check out this absolute wallop he made at last week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship:
Lee was at it again on Wednesday, hard at work in a speed-training session ahead of the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. His violent moves on the range at Mayakoba Resort’s El Camaleón Golf Course caught the attention of defending champion and very curious person Viktor Hovland, who approached Lee with a question: Do you think you’d gain ball speed by using my driver, which is an inch longer than yours? Hovland handed over his D-stick and told Lee to swing for the fences.
Lee did exactly that and made solid contact. Only problem? On his recoil, similar to the one above, Hovland’s driver snapped in multiple places. Things got very quiet, with Lee sheepishly looking back at Hovland … who, remarkably, seemed pretty unbothered. Hovland’s caddie, on the other hand, wasn’t so chill because his man didn’t have a backup driver on-site in Mexico, and there are no equipment trucks at the resort this week. And, ironically, Lee didn’t even pick up any ball speed—he said the shot with Hovland’s driver measured around 177 mph, while he was reaching around 185 with his.
To the rescue came John Huh, who had a backup driver with similar-enough specs to Hovland’s. All’s well that ends well—but we’re willing to guess Hovland won’t hand over his gamer so freely next time.