‘Kind of sucks’: why Min Woo needs to play like a robot
Murray Wenzel |
It goes against Min Woo Lee’s instincts, but the Australian admits he must embrace “robotic” golf to fare better on the biggest stage.
The 27-year-old won his maiden US PGA Tour event this year, but then missed three of four cuts at the majors and was better than 47th just once in the Tour’s big-money signature events.
His fade-out, finishing 57th in the season standings, contributed as Australia was left without a representative at this week’s Tour Championship for the first time since 1998.
“A-plus for the win; it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do since I was a little kid,” Lee said of his Houston Open triumph ahead of outstanding world No.1 Scottie Scheffler.
“And then signature events, probably whatever the lowest thing is the grade is.”
Lee will return to play this year’s Australian PGA Championship at Brisbane’s Royal Queensland from November 27-30, where he won two years ago.
Currently enjoying some downtime in Queensland, the West Australian said the lessons were clear ahead of a return to action next month.
“Very robotic type of golf, a lot of fairways, a lot of greens and very accurate, which is something that I obviously struggle on,” Lee said of the play required on courses that hold signature events.
“I hit it long and I’m a bit fiery and a bit wayward, but I can still recover from there.
“But when the rough is that thick you can’t really miss fairways, and if you do you’ve just got to hack it out, which is just a kind of major-type course.
“You want to be very accurate and you want to become a very robotic golfer, which kind of sucks in my golf because I’m not that type of person and not that type of golfer.
“I’m trying to lower my speed and trying to get more accurate, which is a little bit backwards.
“But hopefully this period that I have with my team in the next few weeks is going to be a good one and I can perform well next year, and then the rest of the year.”
Lee, known as the “Chef” with the catchphrase “Let him cook”, has shot to global fame in the past two years, befriending Justin Bieber and acting as the pop star’s unofficial coach.
He said the origins of that fame can be traced back to Royal Queensland and a long-range chip-in Lee still rates among his favourite shots on the way to the 2023 title.
“It did start there and I owe it to the supporters that came out and watched me … wearing chef hats,” said Lee, who is yet to commit to December’s Australian Open.
“I know it’s not ideal to wear a chef hat when you’re watching, but no, it is very cool to have that support and it’s just a wonderful tournament.
“I love playing there. I play well there and I can’t wait to be back.”
AAP
