Who Is Andrea Lee's Caddie?

Drew Ernst has become Andrea Lee's regular caddie as her career has begun to blossom

Drew Ernst with Andrea Lee at the 2023 HSBC Women's World Championship at Sentosa Golf Club
Drew Ernst and Andrea Lee have forged a successful partnership
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Having played in the US Women’s Open at Pinehurst No.2 aged just 15, Andrea Lee realised a dream of having her father, James, caddie for her, as a promising career began to take off with a tie for 69th.

Lee turned professional in 2019 and later used other caddies, including Rory Henderson, as she found her way into the higher echelons of the game following an amateur career that included winning that year’s Mark H. McCormack medal after finishing the season as the world’s top-ranked amateur.

Lee also had early success on the professional circuit, including a T7 at the 2020 AIG Women’s Open. However, it is since she has turned to Drew Ernst as her regular caddie that her career has really begun to flourish.

With Ernst alongside her, the former Stanford University student achieved T15s at both the 2022 US Women’s Open and Amundi Evian Championship later that year before claiming her first LPGA Tour win in the Portland Classic in September.

The partnership continued to reap rewards in 2023, with a T20 at the US Women's Open at Pebble Beach coming before a T9 in the Freed Group Women's Scottish Open. She followed that up with a strong first two rounds in the AIG Women's Open at Walton Heath, where Lee headed back to the clubhouse in second.  

Ernst is an accomplished player too, and competed in Division I golf at Coastal Carolina before embarking on a career as a caddie alongside her sister, Austin.

Sadly for the three-time LPGA Tour winner, though, a neck injury left her facing a spell away from the game, so Drew turned elsewhere for work, eventually teaming up with Lee for what, to date, has been a successful working relationship.

Austin once said of her older brother: “He is very calming. He knows how I am, where and when I want to talk, and when I don’t want to talk.”

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Mike Hall
News Writer

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game. 

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.