Min Woo Lee brings the house down, raises the roof and shoots the lights out to have Australian Open at his mercy

Min Woo Lee had the audience in the palm of his hand. Now the Australian Open is at his mercy.

Min Woo Lee hits a stunning iron shot off the pine straw to set up eagle at the par-5 18th at The Australian. Picture: AFP.

The great and wonderful challenge for the red-hot Min Woo Lee was to stay red-hot. Play again with reckless abandon. Play again with authoritative aplomb. Play again to the soaring expectations while embracing the fact his audience was so large and loud the Sulphur-crested cockatoos couldn’t hear ’emselves think. It proved bewitchingly easy. The irrepressible young fellow would be counting the sleeps until he lifts the Stonehaven Cup.

The great and wonderful challenge for the 16-year-old Rachel Lee was to stay a 16-year-old. Play again with freedom. Play again without pressure. Play as if there was zero expectation while ignoring the fact her audience had gone from a couple of Sulphur-crested cockatoos to this. None of which would be easy. This Lee was leading the Australian Open at an age when her biggest concern should’ve been how sleeps it was until Endeavour Sport’s High School’s out for summer.

Wrapping up two tournaments spanning a couple of courses is complicated. My head hurts. The Australian and The Lakes have different par totals. And it’s different for men and women at The Lakes. Head hurts even more writing this and I’m no good at maths so let’s keep it as simple as possible.

The irascible, irresistible Min Woo Lee finished like a runaway train at The Australian course on Friday, tooting his horn for a sizzling birdie, par, tap-in-eagle finish to post a seven-under-par 64. He brought the house down, raised the roof and made the walls shake all in one flourish of a nine-iron up the last.

He’s 12-under for the tournament. Three shots clear of Scotland’s Connor Syme. Rachel Lee started beautifully but collapsed, as a rookie should, to a seven-over 79 at the same track. She was at plus-one, ten shots adrift of Korean legend Jiyai Shin. School was in after all.

Min Woo Lee had a thousands-strong audience in the palm of his hand. They kept going, oh! They kept going, ah! Cam Smith resembled a second wheel despite a respectable three-under 71.

Smith’s eight shots behind Min Woo after being flogged by him at last week’s Australian PGA Championship. When Min Woo was putting for birdie on the 16th, he put a finger to his lips to get everyone to pipe down for a sec. He drained the putt. Again they went, oh! Again they went, ah!

“It was unreal,” Min Woo said of the atmosphere. “That’s just the type of golf I play. I’m not that serious. Sometimes you play good, sometimes you play bad.

“Right now I’m playing good and I’m having fun. There’s not many times we get to play out here in Australia and enjoy this type of crowd. I’m soaking it all in.”

Rachel Lee’s in Year 10. Perhaps this was work experience in disguise. What do you want to do with your life, young lady? Wouldn’t mind being a pro golfer. OK, try the Open lead and see if you like it. She was unfazed when she began on a sun-kissed Friday arvo. Most of the murmuring, applauding, roaring, intrusive, stickybeaking patrons were following the superstars on adjoining fairways but she had about a hundred people in tow. Biggest viewership of her life.

Certain sporting teenagers play out of their skins from the very first moment they discover the limelight. Rafael Nadal beat Pat Cash as a 14-year-old. Sachin Tendulkar was 17 when he made his maiden Test century. Shane Gould was a shy 15-year-old when she won three Olympic gold medals in three world record times. True, they’re extreme examples, but you never know when a good ’un is going to pop out of the summer clouds.

She needed extensive physiotherapy on Friday morning for a sore neck. From the strain of looking all the way up there to the top of the leaderboard? Played her first couple of holes like a seasoned pro. Didn’t blink. Didn’t flinch. Made a challenging par putt on her second hole, the 11th, where the green is such a gorgeous natural amphitheatre you could be sitting in Shakespeare’s Globe. Mum’s her caddie. That’d keep her out of mischief.

She was dressed in all-white like it was quarter-finals day at Wimbledon. Stalked her putts. Swung the club beautifully on the front nine. A couple of birdies. ‘Atta girl. Stumbled on the way home. Three bogeys and a double. She played well given the enormity of the occasion. Stayed a 16-year-old. A 16-year-old work experience kid still in the top ten at the Australian Open.

Lee stole the show. Great and wonderful. He grabbed the men’s lead and ran off into the night. Sparked a terrifically rowdy atmosphere that will only grow in decibels and spectator numbers on the weekend. His nine-iron off the pine straw at the 18th, he smoked it. Drew it towards the flag. Behind the green, folks were shouting themselves hoarse. Yes! The ball drew nearer. Yes! It kept drawing. Yes! Go in! It nearly did. He led enough overseas raiders for a Melbourne Cup: Scotsman Connor Syme (-9), American Patrick Rodgers (-9), Chile’s Joaquin Niemann (-8) and Venezuela’s Johanattan Vegas (-8).

Sydney 19-year-old Jeffrey Guan (-7) pole-vaulted up the standings with a seven-under 66 at The Lakes. Where’s Guan come from? The same joint as Lee. Endeavour Sports High. He’s the best young Australian men’s talent in years. A two-time national junior champion who won the Cam Smith Scholarship to spend time with the British Open winner at his Florida home this year. Apparently their get-together included a five-hour chipping lesson. That’s a lot of chips.

The Open is Min Woo Lee’s tournament to win or lose. Again. “People know who I am,” he said. “I’m pretty true to myself. I don’t back down from anything and I’m an aggressive player and I’ve always been that way so unless I have a massive lead — I mean I probably wouldn’t — but if I do have somewhat of a lead, I’d still be aggressive as much as I can be. I’ll go out there and do the same thing.”