Min Woo Lee wants to make a name for himself, and he’s letting his golf do the talking.
By shooting a course record 64 to lead the WA PGA Championship, Lee is continuing to take great strides out of the shadow of his older sister Minjee.
Leading any professional tournament as an amateur is an achievement in itself, but it’s another thing entirely to win it, and there are many within striking distance of the Royal Fremantle junior after a low scoring day at Kalgoorlie Golf Club.
Queenslanders R.J. Caracella and Daniel Nisbet, and South Australian Jason Norris all sit a shot back the lead.
Norris was grouped with Lee and almost matched him shot for shot. Caracella and Nisbet has earlier equalled the course record of 65, before the fast finishing Lee shot 30 on the back nine to better their mark.
Also lurking in the top 10 are WA professionals Brody Ninyette on 6-under, and Brett Rumford on 5-under. Rumford’s most recent round of professional golf was in July at the British Open, and the European Tour member was near his dangerous best in his return from injury.
While unexpected, Lee’s opening round performance comes as no surprise. Earlier this month, Lee shared first place at the Spirit International in his debut amateur event on American soil, and in March he became one of the youngest ever male winners of the WA Amateur, at just 16 years of age.
Today’s score isn’t without precedent either, with Lee matching his second round effort at last year’s WA Open.
“I’m pretty excited to have one my lowest rounds — I also had [a 64] at Cottesloe,” said Lee, who finished the event tied for thirteenth.
Despite playing in his home state, Lee’s record breaking day effort came from his first competition round at Kalgoorlie.
“It feels awesome to get a course record here,” said Lee.
“I haven’t played here before, but it was good to get something going and I’ll hopefully be able to follow it up.”
Lee is the second WA based amateur in as many years to set a course record at the WA PGA, with Lee bettering Jarryd Felton’s mark of 65 from 2014. Felton went on to finish T5 last year, and the newly turned professional is just outside the top ten at 3-under par.
After soaring into the lead, Min Woo is facing a much harder task in maintaining his position — but the 17-year-old says is looking forward to the challenge.
“After last year’s WA Open, I feel I know where I stand against the pros,” said Lee.
“It’s not much of a pressure thing, I think of it as just playing with mates. I played with Norrie (Jason Norris) today and he’s a good bloke, it felt just like a practice round.”
While Lee enjoys the company of his opponents, he definitely has a competitive streak when it comes to his sister. Lee let out an audible sigh when the inevitable mention of Minjee came up in his interview, and he makes no secret about wanting to step out of her shadow, although the shadow is slightly bigger than he initially remembered.
“Yeah, hopefully I can win so I can brag [to Minjee] that I’ve won as many pro tournaments — wait she’s won two actually!” said Lee, forgetting his sister’s lesser known 2014 Victorian Open win as an amateur.
“I think it’s great that she won in America this year — but it’s good to play well and not be in her shadow for once!”
But the younger sibling also sees the upside of having a high-flying sister, with Minjee already amassing over AU$1 million in earnings in just 12 months of professional golf.
As the pair bantered last week on social media, Min Woo tried bet his sister $10,000 that he would win one of the upcoming WA events.
Minjee didn’t bite. Perhaps it’s just Minjee being careful with her winnings, or maybe she’s all too aware about what her brother is capable of.
By shooting a course record 64 to lead the WA PGA Championship, Lee is continuing to take great strides out of the shadow of his older sister Minjee.
Leading any professional tournament as an amateur is an achievement in itself, but it’s another thing entirely to win it, and there are many within striking distance of the Royal Fremantle junior after a low scoring day at Kalgoorlie Golf Club.
Queenslanders R.J. Caracella and Daniel Nisbet, and South Australian Jason Norris all sit a shot back the lead.
Norris was grouped with Lee and almost matched him shot for shot. Caracella and Nisbet has earlier equalled the course record of 65, before the fast finishing Lee shot 30 on the back nine to better their mark.
Also lurking in the top 10 are WA professionals Brody Ninyette on 6-under, and Brett Rumford on 5-under. Rumford’s most recent round of professional golf was in July at the British Open, and the European Tour member was near his dangerous best in his return from injury.
While unexpected, Lee’s opening round performance comes as no surprise. Earlier this month, Lee shared first place at the Spirit International in his debut amateur event on American soil, and in March he became one of the youngest ever male winners of the WA Amateur, at just 16 years of age.
Today’s score isn’t without precedent either, with Lee matching his second round effort at last year’s WA Open.
“I’m pretty excited to have one my lowest rounds — I also had [a 64] at Cottesloe,” said Lee, who finished the event tied for thirteenth.
Despite playing in his home state, Lee’s record breaking day effort came from his first competition round at Kalgoorlie.
“It feels awesome to get a course record here,” said Lee.
“I haven’t played here before, but it was good to get something going and I’ll hopefully be able to follow it up.”
Lee is the second WA based amateur in as many years to set a course record at the WA PGA, with Lee bettering Jarryd Felton’s mark of 65 from 2014. Felton went on to finish T5 last year, and the newly turned professional is just outside the top ten at 3-under par.
After soaring into the lead, Min Woo is facing a much harder task in maintaining his position — but the 17-year-old says is looking forward to the challenge.
“After last year’s WA Open, I feel I know where I stand against the pros,” said Lee.
“It’s not much of a pressure thing, I think of it as just playing with mates. I played with Norrie (Jason Norris) today and he’s a good bloke, it felt just like a practice round.”
While Lee enjoys the company of his opponents, he definitely has a competitive streak when it comes to his sister. Lee let out an audible sigh when the inevitable mention of Minjee came up in his interview, and he makes no secret about wanting to step out of her shadow, although the shadow is slightly bigger than he initially remembered.
“Yeah, hopefully I can win so I can brag [to Minjee] that I’ve won as many pro tournaments — wait she’s won two actually!” said Lee, forgetting his sister’s lesser known 2014 Victorian Open win as an amateur.
“I think it’s great that she won in America this year — but it’s good to play well and not be in her shadow for once!”
But the younger sibling also sees the upside of having a high-flying sister, with Minjee already amassing over AU$1 million in earnings in just 12 months of professional golf.
As the pair bantered last week on social media, Min Woo tried bet his sister $10,000 that he would win one of the upcoming WA events.
Minjee didn’t bite. Perhaps it’s just Minjee being careful with her winnings, or maybe she’s all too aware about what her brother is capable of.