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).
The winning moment for @MinWoo27Lee was all-time 😂 pic.twitter.com/p5F2lGj8Ln
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 30, 2025
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 ...
