Fan favorite Min Woo Lee ready for PGA TOUR, TGL in '24

Min Woo Lee knew he had an outside chance.

Even if the affable Aussie didn’t make it as an automatic qualifier, he thought if everything broke just right, he might somehow sneak in as a Presidents Cup captain’s pick last year.

“I had the dinner at Bay Hill last year with all the Internationals,” he said Tuesday at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP at Japan’s Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, where he’ll tee it up this week as he tries to solidify his PGA TOUR status. “Yeah, it was a cool time. Didn't have enough golf to back it up and get on that team.”

Fast-forward to today, and Lee, who is coming off a 30-under-par stripe show to win the Asian Tour’s Macao Open over the weekend, is a much better bet to break into International Captain Mike Weir’s lineup for the 2024 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal. In fact, he may just end up being a breakout performer.

Lee, 25, is ascendant, having risen to 45th in the world. A two-time winner on the DP World Tour, he tied for sixth at THE PLAYERS Championship and impressed at the U.S. Open (T5) and Travelers Championship (T9).

With enough non-member FedExCup points to rank roughly 120th in this season’s standings, he is on the bubble to secure his PGA TOUR card for ’24. And even if he doesn’t get it that way, he would get it by virtue of being third in the Race to Dubai-PGA TOUR eligibility rankings (The top 10 players not otherwise exempt earn TOUR cards for the following season, so at No. 3 on the list Lee has it all but locked up).

However he gets it done, Lee, who is sixth in Driving Distance on the DP World Tour (316.38), is expecting to play a lot more on the PGA TOUR next season.

“Yeah, it will be amazing,” he said. “I enjoyed this year, played when I could on the PGA TOUR and loved every second of it. Played really well this year, so hopefully I can keep going until next year. Yeah, it's going to be fun, I guess, living and staying around America a bit more.

“That's always been a dream of mine since I was a little kid,” Lee continued, “so I'm really excited for that to happen.”

As for where he might establish a U.S. base, he’s already got it figured out.

“Yeah, right now I think it's going to be Vegas,” he said. “Every time I go there, I always play well afterwards. My good mate Kurt Kitayama, I always stay with him. He was nice enough to offer me a room in his place for the first few months and see how it goes.”

Not long ago, Lee was known more as the younger brother of Minjee Lee, who is just over two years older and the winner of eight LPGA Tour titles, including two majors. They are the first brother-sister pair to win the U.S. Junior and U.S. Girls’ Junior. In the last year or so, however, Min Woo, who grew up idolizing Jason Day has come into his own as a dynamic, aggressive player with a fun-loving personality.

Playing more in America next season – he’s also joined a TGL roster for the team-based golf league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, starting in January of 2024 – should help him further establish his own identity.

In Japan, Lee said, he planned to do some shopping with friends in Tokyo. After this week, he added, he plans on finishing out the DP World Tour season; with a T14 at the BMW PGA Championship and T7 in the Horizon Irish Open, he’s up to fifth in the Race to Dubai standings. He’ll play in the Australian Open and Australian PGA.

Then, when the calendar turns, he’ll begin to focus on the U.S. and making that Presidents Cup team.

“After watching the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup definitely rose up in the ranks,” he said. “I wanted to be on that team last year, but I just missed out I feel like, so that was a bit of a kick in the gut.

“Ever since then,” he added, “I've kind of played well.”

Expect more of the same at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, and more of Min Woo Lee in America in 2024.