Min Woo Lee is off to a fast start the Texas Children’s Houston Open. The Australian carded a four-under 66, good for a spot on the early leaderboard.
The great round is an encouraging sign for the fan favorite, who struggled mightily the last time he found himself in contention. Lee co-led the Players Championship along with Akshay Bhatia through 36 holes, finding himself in the final group on Saturday. It didn't go well, and Lee crashed with a 6-over, 78 on a difficult day at TPC Sawgrass.
After his Thursday round at Memorial Park, Lee discussed what he learned from his disappointing performance while in contention at Sawgrass.
“Yeah, I think especially Players on Saturday, it was windy, it was tough, and I think I kind of get away with it a little bit where you think you're going to hit it as good as the first two days,” Lee said.
“Thursday and Friday I hit it unbelievable and there wasn't too much wind so obviously it wasn't as hard, but even the ones that you kind of don't hit too well — or even the ones you hit well and don't go as close as the first two days, mentally, you're like, what's going on, because you felt so good on Thursday, Friday. One, just mentally trying to be present and not get ahead of yourself. You don't need to be perfect to play a good round of golf," the 26-year-old added.
Thusday Lee did exactly that. After making bogeys on holes 12 (he started on the back), 2 and 4, he immediately bounced back, making birdies on 13, 3 and 5.
With his ability to bomb it off the tee and use soft hands around the green, Lee is perfectly suited to contend at Memorial Park, which is why he decided to tee it up this week prior to the Masters.
“Yeah, my game's actually really good,” he said Thursday. “There were a couple holes out there that kind of messed me up a little bit. But I was going to take three weeks off, but I'm not sure about the schedule after the Masters. I'm not sure if I'll play Hilton Head and Zurich, so I'm kind of — if I took this week off, then it would have been a long break really just with the Masters in the middle. It was a course where it suits me, it's long and the rough isn't too thick.”
Despite the weekend struggles at Sawgrass, Lee had to play extremely well to get into the final group on the weekend at the biggest non-major of the year. That form has followed him to Houston, and if he keeps it up, he might get another shot to show he can perform while in contention on the weekend.
Lee will tee it up at 2:25 p.m. ET on Friday alongside fellow Aussie Karl Villips and this year's Farmers Insurance Open champion, Harris English.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Min Woo Lee Starts Fast in Houston While Looking to Put Sawgrass Behind Him.
