By Darren Walton
It wasn’t without drama, but Min Woo Lee has won his maiden PGA Tour triumph at the Houston Open.
Lee achieved a one-shot win over world No.1 Scottie Scheffler and former US Open winner Gary Woodland.
Needing a par on the 18th, Lee missed the fairway with his drive and the green with his approach shot. However he knocked a 60-foot putt dead to the hole for a tap-in par to finish with a final round 67 and a four round total of 20 under par.
Lee started the day with a four-shot lead and entered the back nine with a three-shot final-round buffer as some of golf’s biggest names hunted the Australian down.
However, disaster struck at the par-five 16th, when Lee hit his drive into the water on the par 5 16th and played his third shot from the tee. He made bogey after leaving his 40-foot par putt just short of the hole.
Scheffler cut Lee’s lead to only one with his own birdie on 16.
After starting the day four strokes in front, Lee must have felt the pressure of carrying his first 54-hole lead but it didn’t show early as he drained a series of clutch putts to keep his chasers at bay.
After letting share of the halfway lead slip at this month’s prestigious Players Championship, Lee is hoping to claim his first PGA Tour win after two runner-up finishes plus three victories on the European Tour, including the 2023 Australian PGA Championship.
The richly talented 26-year-old’s inevitable Sunday nerves would have settled somewhat when his final-round playing partner and closest chaser Alejandro Tosti dropped a shot at the opening hole to fall five behind.
But Lee’s experienced Irish caddy Bo Martin had to talk the social media superstar out of dicing with fire and attempting an audacious shot off his knees on the par-five eighth hole.
Struggling with his driver all round, the West Australian was fortunate to stay in bounds but still found his ball under a tree.
After a lengthy deliberation, he wisely opted to take a two-club-length penalty drop and eventually saved par after a painstaking 33-minute drama.
The ordeal prompted Tosti to complain to official officials, the Argentine frustrated about the amount of time for Lee took to decide on his second shot.
Tosti’s anguish would have been compounded when Lee struck his wedge shot from 87 yards to six feet and holed the putt, then stiffed his approach on the par-3 ninth to set up a priceless birdie to edge three shots clear.
AAP
