Richard T. Lee, lone Canadian on LIV Golf, at peace with missing national open

CALEDON, Ont. — When the RBC Canadian Open begins Thursday, almost all of Canada’s top male golfers are set to tee it up — but Richard T. Lee will be a world away. 

Lee, the country’s sixth-ranked golfer, was firmly in the mix at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley through two rounds last year after a Friday 64. He eventually finished tied for 36th, his best-ever PGA Tour result.

As the event returns to Caledon this week, the 35-year-old is missing out, but it’s because he’s in a bed of his own making. The Toronto native is the lone Canadian playing on LIV Golf, having earned a spot in the circuit by topping its qualifying tournament in January (by a tidy five shots). With that, he cannot participate in any PGA Tour event. 

While LIV has stolen headlines through the year with constant buzz about its future, Lee has taken plenty of positives. Minus this week, and missing out on playing at home, his time on LIV has otherwise been, well, completely life-changing.  

“I love going back to my home country. The crowds are crazy and they root for the (Canadian) boys and I really want to go back if everything settles well next year, or the next, and I would love to go back to play the Canadian Open again,” Lee told Sportsnet.ca from his home in South Korea. 

There’s no doubt Lee made the right decision for he and his family to try to give it a run on LIV, and that was no more evident than earlier this year at a tournament in Singapore. 

Lee, a fairly unheralded journeyman who has spent most of his near-20-year professional career in Asia, took Bryson DeChambeau down to the wire, eventually losing in extra holes after he missed a heart-breaking putt of about two feet that would have extended a playoff.  

“Absolutely hated it for Richard. He’s been playing some unbelievable golf,” DeChambeau said afterwards. “I wanted to go another hole with him. As much as winning is great, I have a lot of respect for Richard and the way he golfs his ball out there.”

Despite the loss, Lee earned $2.25 million and in one tournament, essentially earned the same amount of money he had in a decade-and-a-half on the Asian Tour. 

Through just nine LIV tournaments, his total earnings sit at just under $4 million. 

“My biggest cheque has definitely been that one,” Lee said with a small laugh of his bank accounts’ Singapore sling. “When I was in the playoff I didn’t really think of the money — I just wanted to win the tournament so badly. But after the week finished, I was like, ‘Holy crap, I actually made this much money?’ A week later, I felt like I did pretty well for myself.” 

Ryan French, who goes by ‘Monday Q Info’ on X and has a robust social following built on reporting on journeyman stories just like Lee’s, says there is “no bigger” qualifying tournament than LIV’s. Lee earned $200,000 for topping that field and by earning a spot on the LIV circuit, even if you finish last in every event, you’ll make $1 million for the year. 

But while DeChambeau and Jon Rahm and some of the other biggest names on the LIV circuit attempt to navigate — and in the former's case, fight for — its future, there’s someone like Lee, who is sitting pretty now and possibly moving forward. 

Lee said a few LIV franchises have talked to him this year, but he’ll be sticking as a wild-card player since he has a handful of long-time sponsors from South Korea and doesn’t want to cancel on them mid-season. He doesn’t hear much from LIV golf CEO Scott O’Neil, but what he has heard sounds positive enough, he said, about what’s to come moving forward. 

LIV is a completely different animal than any other stage he’s been on in his career, but Lee said it took him just a few events to get comfortable. When he started, he said everything reminded him of his first major. Lee earned his way into the 2007 U.S. Open as an amateur and at just 16, he was the second-youngest player in tournament history. He shot an opening-round 79 and was forced to withdraw during the second round after injuring his wrist. He did, however, turn professional immediately after, thus beginning his long journey around the golfing world all the way to LIV. 

Lee is enjoying a solid campaign, sitting 16th in LIV’s season-long points list. He finished tied for 27th Sunday at the LIV event in Spain but now he’ll have a six-week break before its next tournament in England. 

It would, of course, have been an ideal time for Lee to return back to TPC Toronto and try to build off his success from 2025. 

He can’t, but he’s at peace with that. 

“For the husband to provide for the wife and child, it’s a big thing. You have to support them all the way. I’m doing a great job. And I still have more to come,” Lee said. “I don’t know what exactly LIV will have next year, but I’m just trying to do my best and support my family and play my best golf.” 

The rest of Canada’s top pros will be at TPC Toronto this week, but Lee will be pre-occupied on the other side of the world. He’ll be playing with his two-year-old daughter and happily waiting to continue taking advantage of the biggest opportunity of his life.