Min Woo Lee has been chasing more than a social media presence for a while and Sunday at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, the 26-year old Australian got it.
With world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland pushing him, Lee steadied himself after a late bogey to win his first PGA Tour event by one stroke, adding another element to his “Let him cook” social media slogan.
Lee, who has nibbled around the edges of winning the past two years, set the tournament scoring record at Memorial Park, finishing at 20-under-par 260, one clear of Scheffler and Woodland (who closed with a Sunday 62).
At one point in the final round, Lee led by five strokes, but what had might have been a comfortable finish was thrown into doubt when Scheffler made four straight birdies starting at the 13th hole and Lee bogeyed the par-5 16th after hitting his tee shot into the water.
“It was my first time trying to hold the lead. I’m glad I got it done. It was a lot of mental grind. I’m proud of how I handled myself.”
Min Woo Lee
Scheffler, however, couldn’t get another birdie and signed for a 63 and a share of second with Woodland. Two closing pars sealed the victory for Lee.
“I played unbelievable up until that bogey [at 16],” Lee said. “It was really hard. Obviously Scottie is a tremendous golfer and he keeps you on your toes.
Lee shared the 36-hole lead at the Players Championship only to shoot 78 in the third round and finish T20. It drew some sharp responses on social media, where Lee has become one of the PGA Tour’s most active players.
“Just a bit of a kick in the butt,” Lee said. “I knew I was going to get to this point.”
Lee acknowledged after his victory that he had not intended to play in Houston but his manager entered him in the tournament.
Lee – the younger brother of LPGA major winner Minjee Lee – couldn’t resist dropping his familiar catchphrase after winning for the first time.
“Let him cook,” he said.
For Scheffler, it was the second straight year he has come up one stroke short at Houston. Last year, Stephan Jaeger beat him and this year Scheffler was once again almost good enough.
“Just trying to put as much pressure on Min Woo as I could have. I was hoping to be able to do that on the front nine, I wasn’t able to get off to a good enough start,” Scheffler said.
“He played some really good golf. I think he made one mistake on 16, but I think he did some really good stuff out there and he just went out and beat us this week.”
For Woodland, who underwent brain surgery in September 2023, his T2 was his best PGA Tour finish since winning the 2019 U.S. Open.
“It’s been a while for me, I battled it. It was as good as I felt on a golf course in a long time,” Woodland said.
“The game was great, but I was able to slow down, I was able to slow my thoughts down and it’s been a while for me for that. So excited for where I’m at.”
In drama further down the board, Michael Kim rolled in a clutch, par-saving 7-footer on 18 to finish T32 at 8 under for the week, but that was just barely enough for him to squeeze into the 50th spot in the Official World Golf Ranking and secure an invitation to the Masters. Ben Griffin could have bumped Kim out with birdies on his last two holes, but he fell one short and wound up at No. 51 when his 5-footer on the par-5 eighth (his 17th hole) missed.
In addition to Kim, England’s Laurie Canter held on to a top-50 spot to earn his first trip to the Masters, while J.J. Spaun, Daniel Berger and Stephan Jaeger also locked up returns to Augusta National at the final OWGR deadline. Only the winner of this week’s Valero Texas Open can join the 96 players already invited to the Masters.
Ron Green Jr.