Craig Lee excited to play The Belfry for 'real' in Betfred British Masters

Craig Lee reckons he’s got the Brabazon Course at The Belfry cracked through playing the Ryder Cup venue on a simulator in his golf studio at home in Stirling. But he’ll be tackling it for real in a couple of months’ time and, what’s more, it will be in a DP World Tour event.

The smile on his face says it all as Craig Lee shows off the trophy after winning the PGA Play-Offs at Aphrodite Hills in Cyprus. Picture: The PGA

The Betfred British Masters, which is being hosted on this occasion by Nick Faldo, is the first of four events Lee will play on the circuit this year as a reward for winning the PGA Play-Offs in Cyprus last week.

The success at Aphrodite Hills has also teed up starts for the 45-year-old in the ISPS Handa World Invitational, the Horizon Irish Open and the BMW PGA Championship on the main tour, as well as the Challenge Tour’s British Challenge and Scottish Challenge.

For the first of his exciting opportunities, Lee will be in a field at The Belfry that is set to be headlined by former US Open and Olympic champion Justin Rose and that particular test certainly isn’t going to be alien to the Scot.

“Ironically, The Belfry is the only golf course I’ve got on my simulator. So, tee to green, I’m phenomenal around there,” he said, laughing. “It will be interesting to see how that compares to real life. But, bear in mind, on a simulator you don’t have to chip and putt (laughing again).”

Lee, a likeable individual, held a DP World Tour card for five seasons between 2012 and 2016, finishing runner-up to Thomas Bjorn after a play-off in the 2013 Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre.

He called time on his playing career at the top level at the end of the 2017 season, since when he’s devoted most of time to coaching, including a ‘Pros on the Road’ initiative, but also playing in domestic events on both the Tartan Tour and Tartan Pro Tour.

“It was a bit of a surprise, to be honest, but I was delighted nonetheless,” he said of beating 23 fellow PGA professionals from around Great Britain and Ireland to win the 54-hole event in Cyprus. “They are phenomenal opportunities and, even playing in some of these events for six or seven years on tour, it is still exciting to get an invite to play in a few more.

“It really is the cream on top of the cream for me as it’s where everybody wants to be and I will probably appreciate it even more now as I know how well you are looked after at these events and how good courses are."

Lee made the cut in his most recent DP World Tour appearance in the 2020 Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, where he opened with a 65. “I’m not there to make up the numbers,” he added. “I’ve said to a few people that over the last couple of years I’ve probably played the best golf I’ve ever played. I’m obviously not delusional to think my game is good enough to win at that level, but it’s always nice to compare it to these guys and sometimes it’s not as far away as you think it might be.

“My short game is a lot tidier now that it has ever been and it will be really interesting to see if my game can hold up at the top level. The Senior Tour is still a bit too far away for me at the moment, but it will be nice to ask questions of myself in these events later this year.

“It’s not just the standard of golf. I’ve got to test the body and see how it feels playing five rounds of golf, including prep and hopefully four tournament rounds. How will my body hold up to that? And what do I need to do to improve in that respect? It is going to be quite an eye-opener. Game-wise and technical-wise, I feel pretty confident as it’s better than it’s ever been and, if the body holds up, you know what might be possible, to be honest.”

While his rivals were hitting balls, Lee spent the week before heading out to Cyprus moving ten tonnes of gravel on his driveway as he bids to sell his house. “It wasn’t the ideal preparation,” he admitted. “Since putting the house on the market, it’s just been absolutely pandemonium due to how busy it’s been.

“I hadn’t had a chance to practice or even hit many shots at all before I went out to Cyprus. I was very under-prepared, but I think that maybe worked to my benefit as I had no expectations whatsoever. But I obviously managed to find a bit of form in the first couple of rounds and the last round was certainly a fun one to play.”

He was back giving lessons in his studio on Monday and is playing in this week’s Aberdeen Golf Links Pro-Am at Royal Aberdeen, Trump International and Cruden Bay. Once the dust settles, he’ll probably be parking up his ‘Pros on the Road’ van for the foreseeable future and maybe even for good.

“Last year just about broke me, to be honest,” said Lee. “I was playing pretty much Monday to Friday then jumping in the van to drive up to the far end of Scotland to teach on Saturday and Sunday. Then head back down the road and do it all over again.

“It was my own fault for the scheduling, but, when you are trying to play in everything you can, it just became far too much and I’d pretty much decided that the ‘Pros on the Road’ would be the first thing to go and I don’t think I’ll be doing a huge amount of that this year. Obviously now I’ve got into these events, it would be daft not to give them 100 per cent energy to try to do well in them.”