Fan favourite Min Woo Lee was tested Sunday as both Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland mounted furious final round charges, but when the dust settled Lee’s 3 under par round of 67 was good enough to earn him 1st place at the Houston Open.
The 26 year old Aussie had carded 3 wins on the European Tour, 1 on the Asian Tour, and 2 on the PGA Tour of Australasia, but was still waiting to earn the first PGA Tour victory of his young career. And he certainly had to earn win number 1 at the Memorial Park Golf Course, as his American counterparts each shot 19 under par for the weekend.
Lee was acutely aware of the low rounds being posted around him by Scheffler (-7) and Woodland (-8), but was able to keep calm, needing a two putt par from 55 feet on 18 to seal his win. After hitting a beautiful lag shot which stopped just inches away from the cup, Lee tapped in his final stroke and let the emotions wash over him on the final green.
“It’s hard — it’s really hard,” Lee said. “Obviously, Scottie is a wonderful golfer and he keeps you on your toes. The first time being in front, I’m glad I got it done. I’m very exhausted. It was a lot of mental grind. I’m so proud of how I handled myself.”
The social media star rattled off 41 consecutive holes without a bogey until an errant tee shot on 16 found the water. Outside of that, it was relatively smooth sailing for Lee whose older sister Minjee Lee has had no problems earning significant victories on the LPGA Tour to date.
“Everyone out here knows how talented the kid is. He’s an absolute stud,” Woodland said. “We all know once you break through for him sky’s the limit, so really happy for him. For me, it was great just to get those juices flowing again, just to see some results.”
For his efforts, Lee will take home $1.71M from the weekend, while Woodland and Scheffler will take home $845K apiece. Rounding out the top 5 was Sami Valimaki of Finland who shot a tournament record round of 62, with Wyndham Clark, Taylor Penrith, Rory McIlroy, and Alejandro Tosti all finishing tied for 5th at 15 under par.
The win makes Lee the 5th player to earn their first career PGA Tour victory this year already. Up next for the tour is a stop in San Antonio, Texas for the Valero Texas Open. Then it’s off to Augusta for the grand-daddy of them all, as the Masters kicks off on April 10th.
Photo: MDGovpics. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.