Australian Open: Minjee Lee charges up leaderboard in third round
Minjee Lee couldn’t let her sibling stay in the spotlight for too long, putting up a course record in the third round of the Australian Open.
Not to be outshone by her younger brother, Minjee Lee picked her moment perfectly to regain her place in the spotlight at the Australian Open.
Unusually for her given she’s a two-time major winner and ranked fifth in the world, Lee has been overshadowed most of this week by her in-form sibling Min Woo, who won last week’s Australian PGA and is in the mix to add the men’s Australian Open.
But on Saturday, Lee got all the attention, charging up the leaderboard with a sparkling five-under 67 to raise hopes of a unique family double.
“I didn’t have my best day yesterday but at least I had a little bit better score, but golf is like that sometimes,” she said.
“I’m going to do my very best, like I always do, and hopefully we’ve both got the trophy by the end of Sunday.
“It would be amazing, but I think I have some work to do.”
Lee struggled for consistency in her opening two rounds, shooting a 75 on the course 24 hours earlier.
But she improved by eight strokes, with her 67 featured six birdies, including five in her first eight holes, and just one lone bogey as she peppered the greens with her accurate approach shots.
“I just think my irons were a little bit closer and then just gave myself a couple more opportunities for birdies,” she said.
“I had a really nice front nine and yeah, I made one bogey and one birdie on the back.
“I hit it in the bunker, then I hit it short off the green and then I missed the putt.”
Lee’s 67 was significant because it set a course record for women at The Australian, which is co-hosting the women’s national championship for the first time.
If she goes on and wins the tournament, she will join Karrie Webb as the only Australian to win the title in the last quarter of a century.
Webb won the Australian Open four times - In 2000, 2002, 2007, 2008 - but no Aussie has won it since, despite a new wave of exciting talent coming through, and the odds are stacked against Lee.
She heads into the final round in third place - but seven strokes behind South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai, who equalled her course record 67.
“I’ll just have to post a really low score but I think I can do it,” Lee said. “I’d have to shoot a really low score to remotely have a chance.
The defending champion and last year’s women’s British Open winner,, Buhai remains the one to beat and Lee said her best chance is if she gets some help from the weather.
“It all depends on the wind,” she said. “A lot of the holes are very solid, you have to play solid to make the birdie.”
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