Min Woo Lee: ‘I hit the ball far – but I don’t win every week’

Min Woo Lee hasn’t only emerged as one of the PGA Tour’s most consistent players, but also one of its most powerful players.

On day two of the US Open in Los Angeles, Lee averaged 364 yards off the tee and he is ranked 24th in longest drives on the tour. You can often find extremely satisfying shot tracer clips of his tee shots on social media.

The Australian might not resemble the muscular frame of Brooks Koepka or Dustin Johnson, but his ability to crunch the ball has caught the eye, and has helped him break into the world’s top 50 and reach the cusp of a permanent PGA Tour card.

But when asked about the possibility of golf ball roll back and the threat distance poses to some golf courses, with reference to Rory McIlroy’s comments on the Travelers Championship, Lee downplayed the value of power in the game.

“I talk to Ian Baker-Finch and Trevor Immelman, and they used to hit driver on most holes back in the day, and now for us, it’s a 2 iron or a 3 wood,” Lee told NCG at The Belfry. “There are definitely fewer drivers, but that’s with pretty much every course.

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“I still enjoy it. You still want to hit the fairway and you still want to make birdies, so I still hit a few drivers and there were holes you still had to pay attention to (at TPC River Highlands).

“I don’t really care what happens (with golf ball roll back), but I don’t have a problem with where it’s at right now.

“I hit the ball far, but I don’t win every week. With every other sport, if you’re bigger and stronger, you’re probably going to be better than other people, but the thing with golf, it doesn’t matter how far you hit it – you can still compete.

“That’s why most of us aren’t NBA players, we’re not genetically like that – big and strong. I don’t have a problem with it. There are courses that are meant to be played a different way, but I’m fine with where we’re at.”

Lee, 24, earned Special Temporary Membership on the tour after finishing inside the top 20 at the PGA Championship, with his fellow Aussie Ryan Fox also earning this status too.

With top-10 finishes at the Players Championship, the US Open, and the Travelers Championship, Lee is on course to earn the required points to officially secure the US card he’s longed for.

“That’s the place to play,” Lee said.” The best players are there, and this year has been an awesome eye-opener to go out there and compete with them.

“My first year out there was brutal. I missed so many cuts, I played well in the majors, but I missed a lot of PGA Tour cuts. I thought maybe I’m not good enough to play this, but those experiences have helped me to get to where I am now.”

Lee also described his enjoyment of playing at the Australian Open and the Australian PGA Championship at the end of 2022 across Royal Queensland, Kingston Heath, and Victoria Golf Club.

Playing out of Royal Fremantle himself in Western Australia, Lee said “there’s got to be more tournaments out there,” and described the famous Sandbelt area as “a gem.”

The LIV Golf League visited the Grange in Adelaide at the end of April and attracted a large and excited home crowd.

However, despite the Australian core Greg Norman has built on the rebel tour with Open champion Cameron Smtih at the head of affairs with Ripper GC, Lee has never been interested in leaving the PGA Tour.

“There hasn’t been any talk about it. My goal is always to just play as well as I can and get to the PGA Tour, and obviously, that’s happened right in between.

“I don’t know what position I’d have been in if I was already on the PGA Tour, but I just had one thing on my mind and that was to get my PGA Tour card. I don’t have much to say about it really.

“It looks fun, and it seems like they’re doing a pretty good job, but I’m happy where I am right now.”

One event Australia will host in 2028 is the Presidents Cup at Kingston Heath, an announcement Lee was delighted to hear for one of his favourite courses.

He is yet to represent the Internationals in the match largely dominated by America since its inception, and he watched last September as Immelman’s plucky side went down fighting at Quail Hollow.

He, Fox, and Lucas Herbert were a notable trio to miss out on selection, but Lee attributes his omission from the team to his resurgence this season.

“It wasn’t disappointing,” he added. “I didn’t play that good last year but I played well in the majors, so for the high calibre events, I thought I might’ve had a chance, but I used it as fuel and after that, I went on a tear starting from Spain all the way to now.

“I really love playing match play events and I did that a lot as an amateur. I feel like I thrive in front of a crowd and looking forward, I want to try and make the next one.”

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