Min Woo Lee is cooking at the Houston Open with the Australian putting on a ball striking masterclass as he leads by a whopping four shots with three holes to play in the third round.
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Lee was -17 overall after 15 holes in his third round, in which he is seven-under par, level for the best round of the day alongside Sweden’s Jesper Svensson.
It is a Trans—Tasman one-two at present with New Zealand’s Ryan Fox sitting in the clubhouse in second, one shot clear of world No.1 Scottie Scheffler and the chasing pack.
Lee has made seven birdies so far, and eight for the day considering he had to play the last two holes of his second round in the morning and birdied the 17th to get his momentum rolling from the outset.
The 26-year-old has been superb with the flat stick at Memorial Park, gaining more strokes on the greens than any other player in the field across the three rounds, but it was his mighty ball striking that was most eye-catching on Sunday morning Australian time.
He did not make a birdie putt from longer than 12 feet in his first 14 holes of the third round as he routinely stuck it close to give himself great scoring opportunities.
The highlight of his ball-striking was a near-ace at the 175-yard par 3 ninth as Lee flew it past the hole before spinning it back and the ball barely trickling by the edge of the cup.
But it was a trademark ‘Dr. Chipinski’ chip-in for birdie at the par 4 sixth that brought the crowd to life, and gave him a spark as it was his second birdie of the day, and he went onto birdie five of the next nine holes.
The West Australian is yet to taste victory on the PGA Tour, and the timing of his impressive form is sweet given The Masters is less than two weeks away.
He has also played alongside Scheffler, and outshining the best player in the world will have to give him an abundance of confidence.
The Tour has always known of Lee’s immense driving distance, he has been launching 25 to 30 yards past Scheffler consistently, but making the most of having less club on his approaches has been the key.
MORE TO COME
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