Page 20 - All Arkansas Preps 2020

20M Sunday, June 28, 2020 | All-Arkansas Preps | Advertising Supplement to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
OUTSTANDING PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
MACKENZIE LEE SOPHOMORE / NORTH LITTLE ROCK HIGH SCHOOL
GIRLS GOLF
MACKENZIE’S
■ Height:5-4
■ Weight: 120 pounds ■ Handicap:Scratch
■ Rolex American Junior Golf Association ranking: 23
■ 3rd place at Bass Pro Shops Payne Stewart Junior Championship, 2019
■ 2018-2019 Class 6A state champion
■ FUTURE PLANS: Eventually play golf at a Division I school
>> WHY SHE WON
Mackenzie Lee, a sophomore at North Little Rock High School, toppled last year’s girls golf overall state champion and has been named the 2020 All-Arkansas Preps Outstanding Player of the Year for Girls Golf. Lee and last year’s All-Arkansas Preps Outstanding Player of the Year for Girls Golf winner, Bailey Dunstan, faced off at Little Rock’s Pleasant Valley Country Club at the girls overall championship this season. Lee won
the event with an even-par (72) on the 5,885-yard course.
In addition to her victory in the overall, Lee also won the
Class 6A state golf title by 15 strokes at the Fayetteville
Country Club. “I feel like this whole year, it wasn’t the best one,
especially with my swing,” she said. “I think I had some luck with it.
I’ve been playing with plan B or plan C.” Lee said she started playing
around the age of 3 because her father and her older brother played,
so she started playing because she just thought that’s what she was supposed to do. Brad Kilbury, North Little Rock High School girls golf coach, said he has been very impressed with Lee’s work ethic in the two years he’s been her coach. “She’s the type of person that when she gets done with a round, she’ll go over to the putting green and either chip or putt and work on some things that she knows she didn’t do well during the round,” he said. “She’ll try to correct it right then instead of how most people will wait until the next day or a couple of days later.” Standing at only 5-4, Lee said her size can keep her from hitting longer shots, but she makes up for it with her short game. Kilbury said he has noticed that Lee has been able to better control her emotions from shot to shot. Lee’s father, Sukwoo Lee, said he’s quite proud of his daughter this season because she accomplished so many goals. He thinks her competitive tendencies help her to stay focused during games. “She never gives up and is a little greedy [to win], but in a good way, because it motivates her,” he said. “She loves her friends more than anything else. Lastly, she doesn’t listen to me
[ for golf advice].” Mackenzie Lee currently has a 4.0 grade-point average and said she enjoys studying math because in math, there is always one solution to a problem. As a sophomore, Lee hasn’t decided on a college yet, but she thinks she wants to play for a Division I school.
PHOTO BY TONY BAKER PHOTOGRAPHY
SUBMITTED PHOTO