Stanford had the Lopez and Collins brothers; Duke had the Plumlee brothers; and Oklahoma had the Griffin brothers. Columbia University’s men’s golf team has the Lee brothers.
Although Justin, a senior, and Jordan, a freshman, are significantly shorter than those basketball duos, the bond that they share has been integral in their success on the golf course. This close relationship between Justin and Jordan—two of four Lee children—is also one of the contributing factors to the success that Columbia golf has had this season, as it finished in second place at the Ivy League Championships.
The oldest brother is Jason, who studied film at NYU, while the younger Lee has a twin named Jonathan.
“I get along with all my brothers, but obviously I am closest to my twin brother since we did everything together growing up,” Jordan said.
Although the relationship is strongest with his twin, Jordan says that he and Justin have created a special bond over golf.
“Golf is a very time-consuming sport, so we spent a lot of time together practicing,” Jordan said. “I kind of looked up to Justin more than Jason, while my twin brother looked up to Jason more than Justin.”
The relationship between all the brothers was generally friendly, and they would often compete with one another. When there were teams, Justin would always team up with Jordan, while Jon and Jason would make up the other team. Video games and basketball were two frequent competitions between the siblings, but Justin and Jordan had another bond—golf.
“Jason and Jonathan both stopped playing golf after a few years so I spent a lot more time with Jordan growing up,” Justin said. “We lived a quarter of a mile from our golf club so Jordan and I practiced together practically every day until I left for college.”
As one of the two youngest children, Jordan began golfing at the same time as his other brothers, and as a result, has been golfing for a larger portion of his life. Learning the game of golf at the same pace as his older brothers was crucial for Jordan, as playing golf alone can sometimes be a drag.
“It was always good to have all my brothers to practice with, rather than going alone as I got older,” Jordan said.
On occasion, the two brothers would compete in the same tournament, in which case the parents would split up—with one following Justin and the other following Jordan. Although each player wanted to win the tournament, Jordan knew that Justin had a lot more riding on each tournament.
“I did not aim to beat [him], and golf was more important for him since he was in high school and getting recruited, so I was always rooting for him to do well,” Jordan said.
Each brother mentioned their father as one of the strongest influences on his game. Their father, a former collegiate golfer himself, was around often to help his kids out with every aspect of the game—including equipment.
“My dad retired when I was in sixth grade so he had a lot of free time to spend with me and Jordan on the golf course,” Justin said of his father. “My dad was pretty involved with our golf and would often build our golf clubs and try to invent training aids.”
Their father has always been there for them on the golf course, but had they not had each other things may have turned out very differently for them—and for Columbia golf.
Although it was ultimately the prestige of the Ivy League that attracted Jordan to Columbia, he wasn’t even considering it as an option until late in his high school career. Part of the reason he was attracted to Columbia was the fact that his brother was there.
“If it wasn’t for my brother, I would have never even thought about coming to Columbia,” Jordan said.
While the rigors of being a student-athlete at Columbia may not allow time for any one-on-one basketball games up to 51, the two have still found some ways to compete with each other. Justin says that some those competitions include games of NBA 2K11 on the Xbox and even their fair share of hotdog-eating contests at John Jay.
Having an older sibling at Columbia has been a luxury to Jordan, as the life of a student-athlete can be a very trying one. Though Justin feels that Jordan has done a good job on his own, Jordan appreciates the little pieces of advice that his brother gives him.
“It has been nice having my brother here,” Jordan said. “If I have any questions, I can always turn to him. He’s helped me a lot from telling me what classes I should take to telling me where to get a good meal.”
With Justin on his way out, and Jordan just getting situated, Justin believes that Jordan is ready to lead the team to another run at three consecutive Ivy League titles. The stakes are high: if Jordan is unable to accomplish that, Justin jokes that he will disown his younger brother.
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