Min Woo Lee rallies slightly in final round of Players Championship but left counting cost of what could have been

Min Woo Lee was leading the best players in the world and significant spoils were within his reach before the Aussie gun flailed with the world watching.

Min Woo Lee’s eyes must have been spinning at the thought of what was just two more solid rounds of golf away going into the weekend as the co-leader at the Players Championship.

There was the $7m winner’s cheque, but more than that, a three-year exemption into three of the majors, including the Masters, three year’s playing rights on the PGA Tour and an exemption into the tournament considered the fifth major until 2030.

Lee, now 26, and a rising star for probably long enough without a breakthrough to match his talent, has spoken often about his want to be in the heat of the battle in the big moments, among the big crowds, vying for big titles.

Things fell apart for Min Woo Lee at The Players Championship. Picture: Logan Bowles/Getty Images

He’s not shy when it comes to attention, and after Cam Smith’s defection to LIV, which puts the 2022 British Open champion off Broadway for so much of the year, Lee is arguably Australia’s most visible golfer.

Lee was cooking after the opening two rounds at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, 13 birdies through his first 36 holes, setting the pace among the best field in the world.

Lee had been there before, even deeper into the same tournament, having played in the final group on Sunday in 2023 with Scottie Scheffler, only to fade away as the world No. 1 went on to win.

But it had been a “big learning curve,” he said, and lessons were learnt.

“Just I think a bit more level-headed and a lot of learning between then and now,” he said.

“Obviously, Scottie won that tournament and he played really good and just learned to be in that final group.”

He found himself in a lot of weekend trouble. Picture: Logan Bowles / Getty Images North America / Getty Images via AFP

Those lessons didn’t produce anything tangible, however, and there was no final group presence for Lee on Sunday this year, as his tournament was blown away by a horror Saturday.

As first Rory McIlroy and then JJ Spaun made 18th-hole pars to set up a Monday playoff, the Australian was long finished, a closing one-over 73 ending a two-day spiral sure to hand him even more lessons.

Across the weekend, Lee had six bogeys, two double-bogeys and just two birdies, going backwards at a rate of knots.

His 11-under score after the second round was, come Sunday, just one shot short of McIlroy and Spaun and would have been enough for a tie for outright second and a seven-figure payday.

Instead, he found himself in a tie for 20th, some eight shots back, seven shots adrift of his Saturday starting point, a significant career opportunity blown away.

He still finished as the leading Aussie and the only one to make the cut.

Lee can also console himself with already being qualified for this year’s Masters, where he registered a top-15 finish on debut in 2022.

Originally published as Min Woo Lee rallies slightly in final round of Players Championship but left counting cost of what could have been