Min Woo Lee is one of the PGA Tour’s rising stars, with his booming drives and incredible short game hallmarks of his early success on the circuit. However, he is also well-known for his viral catchphrase “let him cook,” but where did it come from?
Away from the course, Lee has also demonstrated remarkable mastery of social media, with his Instagram followers alone approaching 700,000. It was on that platform - and others - where, in 2023, Lee began frequently using the phrase.
But how did Lee come about it? He explained the origins to Australian Golf Digest’s Evin Priest, telling him it comes from gaming culture. He said: “’Let him cook’ is usually said when you’re playing COD [Call of Duty] in a five-vs-five-person game and one person is left. If someone’s in the background telling him what to do, someone else says, ‘No, just let him cook. Let him do his thing.”
@PGATOUR bound. LET HIM COOK 🔥👨🍳 pic.twitter.com/ibhHwrdkDEDecember 13, 2023
Fans took to the catchphrase, so much so that, when Lee won the 2023 Australian PGA Championship, per Priest, fans were seen wearing “Let him cook” T-shirts – a sentiment embraced by Lee at that time when he then donned a white chef’s hat following his victory.
By the time the WM Phoenix Open came around in February 2024, fans were out in force to cheer Lee on wearing red chef's hats - supplied by the apparel brand that sponsors Lee, Lululemon, and the catchphrase has continued to grow with Lee ever since.
Incredibly, it’s not just Lee’s catchphrase that has become wildly popular, along with nickname The Chef, which is related to his catchphrase, another viral moniker is Dr Chipinski. Per Australian Golf Digest, that’s one Lee gave to himself, and, as the nickname suggests, it’s related to his extraordinary chipping ability around the greens.
Not surprisingly, in typically confident fashion, Lee has embraced the nickname on social media, accompanied by footage of just why it is so appropriate.
Deep into the final round of the Houston Open, Lee continued to demonstrate that his career is very much on the up, holding off the likes of Rory McIlroy and Gary Woodland as he closed in on his maiden PGA Tour title, eventually beating Woodland and Scottie Scheffler by one shot.
Given that, it's surely likely we'll be hearing a lot more from him - and his famous catchphrase - in the months and years to come.
