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Only 15 days ago, Min Woo Lee teed off in the third round of the Players Championship holding a share of the lead. It was the second time in three years he had been in contention at the PGA Tour's marquee event, but this time was his first round in contention as a member.
It quickly went south. About 36 hours later, Lee played the weekend 7 over and finished T-20. The 26-year-old Australian felt he got ahead of himself and didn't stay in the moment. He admitted the pressure of being in contention was a lot, and he wanted to improve how to handle it.
He spoke with fellow Aussie Jason Day, a past Players winner and major champ, and Day shared with Lee the hard part about being in contention was putting yourself there, not playing while you're battling it out on top of the leaderboard.
"As long as you keep putting yourself in those positions, hopefully one week you can keep it up and hold the trophy," Lee said Thursday.
Less than two weeks later, Lee found himself in contention again, and this time he finished the job.
Lee captured his first PGA Tour title Sunday, winning the 2025 Texas Children's Houston Open. He led by four shots heading into the final round, was up by as much as six shots throughout the day but stepped to the 72nd hole with a one-shot lead over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland, needing just a par to finish. After a wayward tee shot and long approach, Lee scrambled his way for a tap-in par, and one of the world's most popular players finally broke through on the biggest circuit.
"They always say the six inches between your ears, I think that was a big part of this week," Lee said. "I always felt like I had the assets to win, it was just can you do it mentally. Obviously a couple slip ups ... Played very wonderful golf all week."
For the week, Lee hit only 22 fairways but made 26 birdies. Memorial Park's overseeded bermuda rough isn't penal, so players bombed away throughout the week, and Lee took advantage of the easier rough conditions and used his length to his advantage. He was tied for 64th (of 69 players who made the cut) in driving accuracy on the week but fifth in driving distance (317.10 yards).
Lee's mark of 20-under 260 set a scoring record for the Houston Open, which has been in the PGA Tour rota for 77 years.
He settled into the final round nicely, making birdie on the par-5 third. His first sign of trouble is when his tee shot on the par-5 eighth leaked right and ended up under a bush. It took him some time to make a decision on what to do, much to the chagrin of playing partner Alejandro Tosti, but took an unplayable. He left himself 85 yards to the green for his fourth but stuck it to 6 feet and made the par putt.
On the ensuing par 3, he stuffed his wedge shot to 5 feet and buried the putt.
For the week, he finished second in Strokes Gained: Putting, gaining nearly nine shots on the field.
On the back nine, he added birdies on Nos. 12-13, and it seemed like he would cruise to victory, but it's never that easy in professional golf. Sami Valimaki tied the course record with a 62 and got into the clubhouse at 17 under, but Scheffler and Woodland refused to go away down the stretch. Woodland made an eagle on the par-5 16th before stuffing his approach shot to a couple feet on 18, playing his last four holes in 4 under and signing for a 62, also tying the course record. He posted 19 under, which gave Lee a mark to work with.
Scheffler, who finished T-2 in Houston last year, birdied four consecutive holes from Nos. 13-16. He had an eagle look to reach 20 under on No. 16, but couldn't convert like Woodland did. While Scheffler was on the green stalking his eagle putt, Lee hit his tee shot into the water hazard right of the 16th fairway and had to re-tee.
"I didn't feel doubt for most of it just because for some reason this week I just wanted to be as mentally strong as I can. That's -- now I know that's what it takes, it is a grind," Lee said. "It's a pretty similar shot that I was trying to hit on 16 and 8, and I managed to hit that right shot. The last couple days I kind of hit it left, so I wanted to just hit a little fade. It was pretty much the exact same feeling, got in front of it, club face open, toe ball right and it's like 50 yards right, which is unacceptable. That's something that I'll work on with my coach."
He hit his fourth shot long on the green, after Scheffler converted the birdie to get within two shots, then two-putted for bogey, but the lead was down to one.
"That's why Sundays are so tough, you know people are creeping and you know people are attacking," Lee said.
Lee missed the green on 17 but putted from 20 feet to within two and knocked in the par. Then on 18, his tee shot sailed into the left rough, and his approach was juiced long, running just over the green. Needing to get up-and-down from 79 feet, Lee stuffed his third with the putter from the fringe to 2 feet before marking. Then, he jokingly used AimPoint to line up the winning putt before knocking it in and celebrating.
"Everyone out here knows how talented the kid is," Woodland said. "He's an absolute stud. We all know once you break through for him sky's the limit, so really happy for him."
Woodland's finish was his best since returning from brain surgery, and Scheffler's was his highest of 2025.
But the week belonged to Lee, who bombed his way around the municipal course and never got ahead of himself.
"I would say I'm one of the better drivers of the golf ball. I actually changed driver head last week in Vegas, I just wanted to see the ball launch a little bit lower," Lee said. "I have so much speed, so they say I need a little bit of spin. I want to eventually see the ball spin a little less, it's just a work in progress. The really good ones are amazing and I just need to work on a couple of the bad ones.
"I'm slowly finding my feet in my craft and hopefully we can go from there."
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: How Min Woo Lee used driver to win 2025 Houston Open, 1st PGA Tour win
Continue reading...
It quickly went south. About 36 hours later, Lee played the weekend 7 over and finished T-20. The 26-year-old Australian felt he got ahead of himself and didn't stay in the moment. He admitted the pressure of being in contention was a lot, and he wanted to improve how to handle it.
He spoke with fellow Aussie Jason Day, a past Players winner and major champ, and Day shared with Lee the hard part about being in contention was putting yourself there, not playing while you're battling it out on top of the leaderboard.
"As long as you keep putting yourself in those positions, hopefully one week you can keep it up and hold the trophy," Lee said Thursday.
Less than two weeks later, Lee found himself in contention again, and this time he finished the job.
Lee captured his first PGA Tour title Sunday, winning the 2025 Texas Children's Houston Open. He led by four shots heading into the final round, was up by as much as six shots throughout the day but stepped to the 72nd hole with a one-shot lead over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland, needing just a par to finish. After a wayward tee shot and long approach, Lee scrambled his way for a tap-in par, and one of the world's most popular players finally broke through on the biggest circuit.
"They always say the six inches between your ears, I think that was a big part of this week," Lee said. "I always felt like I had the assets to win, it was just can you do it mentally. Obviously a couple slip ups ... Played very wonderful golf all week."
For the week, Lee hit only 22 fairways but made 26 birdies. Memorial Park's overseeded bermuda rough isn't penal, so players bombed away throughout the week, and Lee took advantage of the easier rough conditions and used his length to his advantage. He was tied for 64th (of 69 players who made the cut) in driving accuracy on the week but fifth in driving distance (317.10 yards).
Lee's mark of 20-under 260 set a scoring record for the Houston Open, which has been in the PGA Tour rota for 77 years.
He settled into the final round nicely, making birdie on the par-5 third. His first sign of trouble is when his tee shot on the par-5 eighth leaked right and ended up under a bush. It took him some time to make a decision on what to do, much to the chagrin of playing partner Alejandro Tosti, but took an unplayable. He left himself 85 yards to the green for his fourth but stuck it to 6 feet and made the par putt.
On the ensuing par 3, he stuffed his wedge shot to 5 feet and buried the putt.
For the week, he finished second in Strokes Gained: Putting, gaining nearly nine shots on the field.
On the back nine, he added birdies on Nos. 12-13, and it seemed like he would cruise to victory, but it's never that easy in professional golf. Sami Valimaki tied the course record with a 62 and got into the clubhouse at 17 under, but Scheffler and Woodland refused to go away down the stretch. Woodland made an eagle on the par-5 16th before stuffing his approach shot to a couple feet on 18, playing his last four holes in 4 under and signing for a 62, also tying the course record. He posted 19 under, which gave Lee a mark to work with.
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Scheffler, who finished T-2 in Houston last year, birdied four consecutive holes from Nos. 13-16. He had an eagle look to reach 20 under on No. 16, but couldn't convert like Woodland did. While Scheffler was on the green stalking his eagle putt, Lee hit his tee shot into the water hazard right of the 16th fairway and had to re-tee.
"I didn't feel doubt for most of it just because for some reason this week I just wanted to be as mentally strong as I can. That's -- now I know that's what it takes, it is a grind," Lee said. "It's a pretty similar shot that I was trying to hit on 16 and 8, and I managed to hit that right shot. The last couple days I kind of hit it left, so I wanted to just hit a little fade. It was pretty much the exact same feeling, got in front of it, club face open, toe ball right and it's like 50 yards right, which is unacceptable. That's something that I'll work on with my coach."
He hit his fourth shot long on the green, after Scheffler converted the birdie to get within two shots, then two-putted for bogey, but the lead was down to one.
"That's why Sundays are so tough, you know people are creeping and you know people are attacking," Lee said.
Lee missed the green on 17 but putted from 20 feet to within two and knocked in the par. Then on 18, his tee shot sailed into the left rough, and his approach was juiced long, running just over the green. Needing to get up-and-down from 79 feet, Lee stuffed his third with the putter from the fringe to 2 feet before marking. Then, he jokingly used AimPoint to line up the winning putt before knocking it in and celebrating.
"Everyone out here knows how talented the kid is," Woodland said. "He's an absolute stud. We all know once you break through for him sky's the limit, so really happy for him."
Woodland's finish was his best since returning from brain surgery, and Scheffler's was his highest of 2025.
But the week belonged to Lee, who bombed his way around the municipal course and never got ahead of himself.
"I would say I'm one of the better drivers of the golf ball. I actually changed driver head last week in Vegas, I just wanted to see the ball launch a little bit lower," Lee said. "I have so much speed, so they say I need a little bit of spin. I want to eventually see the ball spin a little less, it's just a work in progress. The really good ones are amazing and I just need to work on a couple of the bad ones.
"I'm slowly finding my feet in my craft and hopefully we can go from there."
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: How Min Woo Lee used driver to win 2025 Houston Open, 1st PGA Tour win
Continue reading...
