Minjee Lee back on the winner’s list with stunning playoff victory

Minjee Lee is a two-time major winner who hadn’t enjoyed much success in 2023 until she arrived in Ohio.

Minjee Lee has won her first event for 2013. Picture: Dylan Buell / Getty Images North America / Getty Images via AFP

Minjee Lee is back on the winner’s list for the first time in 2023 after holding her nerve in a two-hole playoff with English star Charley Hull to secure victory at the $3m LPGA Tour’s Queen City Championship in Cincinnati.

A monster par putt on the 18th hole in regulation play sent Lee, who took a two-shot lead into the final day and led by as many as five, and Hull into the showdown having spent the entire day playing with each other.

Lee looked in the box seat to win on the opening playoff hole when Hull sent her approach through the green and into the grandstand as they played the 18th again.

But after taking relief, Hull’s putt did everything but go in, sitting tantalisingly on the edge of the hole, giving Lee a 5m putt for victory that she didn’t make.

Second time down the 18th, the third time for the day on the toughest hold on the course, from the same fairway rough, Lee played a stunning approach to just 1m, with Hull roughly in the same spot her opponent was on the first playoff hole.

Needing to make the monster putt to keep the playoff going, Hull’s attempt missed, leaving Lee to tap in for a birdie and her ninth LPGA Tour win.

Minjee Lee is back in the winner’s list. Picture: Dylan Buell/Getty Images

For Lee it was a breakthrough after a lacklustre 2023 season. The two-time major winner has fallen out of the top 10 to 13 in the world rankings.

Her victory, which came with a $470,000) winner’s cheque, will push Lee back inside the top 10.

“I had a few moments where I really felt like I was losing but I wasn’t,” she said.

“I was like let’s play to the end and see where we end up. I never gave up.

“I worked really hard for this one and worked really hard in my game, so I know I deserve this one.

“Not that I don‘t deserve the other ones, too, but just feels a little more rewarding to know that all the hard work you put in has kind of paid off.”

The Australian star had been a regular winner before the 15-month drought, during which Lee recorded 13 top-20s and eight top-five finishes since her US Open triumph.

Lee, who is the third Australian to win on Tour this season joining tour rookie Grace Kim and Hannah Green, said her stunning shot on the second playoff hole was a “guesstimate” which ended up perfectly.

“I had like 145 metres to the pin, but you have to land it like 25 yards short of the green because I was also coming out of the rough,” Lee said.

“You can‘t really predict how far it’s going to run so it was just a guesstimate.

“I just was like, Oh, it‘s probably going to run this much, so I just need to put it on a good line and it’ll probably just roll up there.

“It was just really trusting that it was going to come out the way I thought it was going to come out and that it was going to roll all the way to the pin.”