Min Woo Lee has changed his focus to the European Tour — at least for the moment.
Australia’s most exciting young male golfer has flown to Muscat in Oman in the Middle East to play the Oman Open on the European Tour this week, a spot in the field coming his way as a result of his top-five finish in the ISPS Handa World Super 6 in Perth recently.
Previously Lee, 20 and in his first few months as a professional, was chasing playing rights in the United States, a quest that he has not given up upon.
But now with two strong results in European events in 2019 he has a second option that is viable to say the least.
The former US junior champion and Royal Fremantle member has earned 184,000 Euros with his fourth in the Saudi International event earlier this month and his tied-fifth in Perth. Both are European Tour events, and the reality is that he could potentially play his way on to the tour in the same way that Lucas Herbert did in 2018, purely with earnings as a non-member.
Lee most likely only needs one or two more strong finishes to reach that goal. Or better still, a win in Oman…
It’s been a quick rise for the Western Australian, who only turned professional in January after a fine amateur career in which he matched some of the feats of his elder sister, LPGA Tour professional and world top-10 player Minjee.
He has made one of the most stratospheric rises on the official world golf rankings, going from No. 954 at the end of 2018 to No. 302 now.