Golf: Minjee Lee accepts $1.5m as best in world

Minjee Lee and Scottie Scheffler both collected a major golfing prize and the equal cash reward was a significant moment.

Minjee Lee has added another accolade to her trophy cabinet. Picture: Michael Reaves/Getty Images

A move to equal prizemoney puts men and women “on the same plane” according to major champion Minjee Lee, who is seeking a $2.2m winner’s cheque in Florida this week before flying home to play for the same purse as the men at the historic Australian Open.

After veteran Aussie Scott Hend voiced his opposition to the men’s and women’s events being played on the same course at the same time for the same prizemoney next month, Lee accepted a cheque for $1.5m for taking out the season-long AON Risk Reward Challenge.

It was exactly the same amount of money won by men’s world No.2 Scottie Scheffler for winning the same challenge on the PGA Tour.

Lee, a two-time major champion, revealed Scheffler, a fellow resident of Dallas in Texas, even reached out to congratulate the Aussie star on her win, which came courtesy of the best accuracy rate, for a man or woman, on designated holes on tour throughout events in 2022.

“His message was really nice and very, very supportive,” Lee said.

“It was really nice just to be able to hear him say those nice things and just to say well done for the year. Well done to him too.

“And it does feel pretty darn amazing. Better than anyone in the world, so hopefully I can keep it going.”

No one was as accurate on tour as Minjee Lee. Picture: Yoshimasa Nakano/Getty Images

On Tuesday, Hend denied he was a “sexist elitist” and said his decision to boycott the Australian Open, where the men and women will both play for $1.7m in prizemoney, was because he believed both men’s and women’s events “deserve their own week”.

“It’s nothing about prizemoney being exactly the same,” Hend said.

Mate I'd love to come Play the Australian Open @GolfAust, yet I've been hammered as a sexist elitist by some people for my stance that the Women and Men should have their "Own Week" and not 2 cuts for this prestigious event. That being my stance, I can't come. #golflife#Brutalhttps://t.co/gF5k6aTX3k

— Scott Hend (@hendygolf) October 31, 2022

Lee is vying for a third seven-figure winner’s cheque this year at the LPGA’s season-ending Tour Championship in Florida.

She said being able to win a payday the same as Scheffler, and then again at the Australian Open where she will vie for the same purse as her brother, Min Woo, meant more “life-changing” money was available to female golfers.

“I think it’s really kind of cool. Min Woo, he hops back and forth from PGA and Europe, but just to be able to be put on the same platform, there’s not many opportunities we get to play for the same type of money,” Lee said.

“I think it really closes the gap between the LPGA and PGA Tour. It‘s quite life-changing money that Aon puts up, and it’s really great for the women’s tour and the LPGA.

“It’s a great opportunity for us on both tours just to be put on kind of the same plane.”

Lee, the world No.5 who has struggled since finishing fourth at the Women’s Open in August, said she felt like her better golf was starting to return, just in time to finish the year on a high.

“Probably the last few weeks I haven‘t really been quite on top of my game. I was striking it so well like eight, nine months throughout the year,” she said.

“I think mentally at some point you kind of need a break and have a break and reflect and kind of refresh. That‘s been a little difficult for me.

“I think I‘ve refreshed … I‘m learning as I’m going. I’m doing my best the best way that I know how to.”