A chef’s hat, a mo and a sensational game: Golf’s $10m rock star

There are golfers that move the needle such as Tiger Woods, and then there is Min Woo Lee.

On Tuesday, he wore a white pair of casual Nike shoes with blue trimming. On the back of the left shoe it says MW, and on the right it says Lee, just in case you didn’t know his name. It’s the type of insignia you expect to be reserved for an NBA or NFL superstar, not an Australian golfer whose parents ran a Perth cafe.

From the thin moustache and wraparound Oakley sunglasses to the mullet that cascades from the back of his golf cap, there’s a uniqueness to the new rock star of world golf, who runs his own social media account and wears a chef’s hat on the course to play up to the “let him cook” phenomenon, which started when a fan yelled the expression at a PGA Tour event.

But there was a tipping point: Lee almost drew the line at the mock neck shirts he wore around Augusta National and is now making famous during the Australian summer of golf.

“When he first got it, he thought, ‘What’s this? I’m not going to wear this’,” laughs Lee’s manager Brent Hamilton. “But he tried it on once and he’s like, ‘I think it’s pretty cool’. The first time he wore it, it took off.”

Everything about “Brand Min Woo Lee” is taking off.

Min Woo Lee at The Lakes Golf Club on Tuesday.Credit: Getty

Fresh from his groundbreaking Australian PGA Championship win at Royal Queensland last week, Lee is poised to rake in more than $10 million in endorsements next year after building a giant social media presence to complement his electric on-course play.

Most of his deals – which include Callaway, ADP and ISPS Handa – contain performance clauses tied to a lift in his world rankings or performance in majors.

He’s on course to meet most of them, meaning he’s in the rarefied air of an athlete potentially making more money from corporate deals than sporting feats.

But there’s a point that really separates him from other athletes: Lee wants, what Hamilton describes as, “creative control”.

“He provides something different to your average golfer who says, ‘Whatever you give me, I’ll wear it. I’ll be happy and let’s move forward’,” Hamilton says. “He wants to be able to say, ‘I want to wear this, I don’t want to wear this’. He really cares about how he looks.

“We’re at a particular point with him, and it’s not an opportunity a lot of players have, where he can pick and choose who he wants to partner with given there’s so much interest. We can really sit down and see what a company’s core values are and think, ‘Does it align with what we stand for?’

“We’ve built this brand which is authentic and he really wants to protect it. The last thing we want is for him to be forced into a commercial and we’re doing it just because he has to.”

So, what’s it like to be the professional golfer of the future?

Lee has grown his social media following to include more than 360,000 Instagram followers, topping every NRL club bar the Brisbane Broncos.

Min Woo Lee wearing a chef’s hat during the Australian PGA Championship.Credit: Getty

He uses it to entertain his fans (he posts shots of him chipping balls into a hole, calling for “Doctor Chipinski”) and also to build his “let him cook” legion.

On Monday, he replied to a video posted by a large golf influencer on X, formerly known as Twitter, questioning the risks of his swing by uploading a picture of himself drinking out of the Joe Kirkwood Cup.

He accompanied the photo with the caption: “Sorry, what was that? I’m too busy winning.” The tweet had almost 400,000 impressions by Tuesday night.

“Since I was a little kid, I loved doing social media and loved being in the spotlight and being the front of attention,” Lee says. “It’s nice to be both – a great player and try to be funny about things and try to make people happy.”

Hamilton says: “Social media is so important for these brands. His Instagram is original. We don’t do these paid posts. Now that the performance is matching the hype and what he does on social, it’s what brands are looking for.

“He’s someone who truly wants to have fun and give back to the game. A part of that is he’s just a genuinely great kid and he’s willing to push the envelope.”

Last month, Lee joined Woods and Rory McIlroy’s exclusive group of players drafted into the made-for-television simulator league (its inception has been delayed until 2025 after the Florida venue collapsed during inclement weather).

While most of the world’s top golfers spend the majority of the year in the US and rarely venture out of the country, Lee has shown a willingness to take his talents around the world and will be partnered with Cameron Smith for the first two rounds of the Australian Open.

Minjee Lee is trying to win her first Australian Open.Credit: Getty

He’s won professionally on the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour), Asian Tour and now twice in Australia, and will spend the majority of 2024 in the US.

Combined with two-time women’s major winner and older sister Minjee, the pair will headline the Australian Open in Sydney this week while cameras follow them for a soon-to-be-released documentary on ABC’s Australian Story.

Minjee’s commercial cabinet is filled with major Asian-based firms eager to cash in on her Korean heritage. Those deals offset the loss of her only Australian corporate backer, health and wellness giant Raydel, earlier this year.

After the Lees’ mother, Clara, watched Min Woo win the Australian PGA Championship, she contrasted their differing personalities.

“Min Woo’s a performer,” Clara says. “He’s totally different to Minjee and it’s so much fun to watch him.”

Minjee says: “I think he really thrives off [social media] and really enjoys interacting with the crowd and people kind of follow that kind of energy. He’s got great energy so I think it’s cool. He likes it and he’s doing it for himself. I’ll encourage it.”

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