On Thursday, Rachel Lee took Theodore Roosevelt’s advice to ‘speak softly and carry a big stick” to heart. Saying little and with her mother, Jung, carrying the bagful of big sticks as her caddie, the 16-year-old Sydney schoolgirl shocked the golf world by crashing a first round six-under 67 at The Lakes in her home city to lead the 2023 Australian Open.
“It was fantastic – a dream come true,” Rachel’s father, Jay, told the Guardian. “Lots of memories came flashing back – Rachel first picking up a golf club for the first time at a holiday camp when she was 10 … taking 11 shots to get out of a bunker in her first handicap game … putting competitions at home to see who cleans the bathroom.”
