Champ ready to cook again under PGA ‘pressure’

Min Woo Lee will relish the pressure of defending his Australian PGA title this week rather than be daunted by the prospect of taking down a star-studded field including major champions Cam Smith and Jason Day and a long-list of worldwide winners.

Lee’s win at Royal Queensland 12 months ago was the catalyst to a memorable season that including representing Australia at the Olympic Games and being selected to play for the Internationals at the Presidents Cup.

Now a genuine crowd-puller in his own right, Lee will be right where he loves it this week after being paired with superstars Smith and Day for the opening two rounds.

“Just being in a tournament that you are coming back to defend is a special feeling, and especially being here on the grounds now, it’s cool,” Lee said on Tuesday after arriving in Brisbane the previous day after finishing in a tie for 24th at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

“You can either put the pressure on you or you can smell the flowers, and enjoy what you did last year.

“I guess that’s my approach. I don’t mind when there’s a bit of pressure on me. I do tend to play better just because I don’t want to stuff up and I don’t want to get too lazy.

“I’m going to go out there and hopefully give a show to the crowds.”

Lee, 26, described his 2024 campaign, most of which was spent on the PGA Tour, as “very consistent” without bringing the ultimate rewards of a victory.

“I feel like my game’s very close to being in contention,” he said.

“I haven’t really just converted when I needed to, but one aspect of the game I needed to get better at was my approach play, and the last few months have proven that the work that my team has done has got there because I’m hitting it better.

“I used to miss a lot of greens and then make a lot of up and downs, but now I’m hitting greens. Hopefully I can hit it closer and hole some putts.”

Lee said a “good attitude” was also essential this week at Royal Queensland rather than getting “too down” on himself.

“It felt like that the last couple of tournaments,” he admitted.

Among Lee’s threats to making a successful title defence will be three-time Australian PGA champion Smith, who is seeking redemption after missing the cut last year at Royal Queensland.

“He didn’t prep that great last year, but obviously you live and you learn,” world No.48 Lee said.

“Hopefully he’s playing good golf, hopefully I play good golf and hopefully the others do.

“We bring the best out of each other, and hopefully we can make a lot of birdies.”

Smith admitted he was “lazy” with his preparation last year.

“It was completely disappointing to play how I did last year. It was a terrible feeling,” he said.

“Being a Brisbane boy, it probably even hurt a little bit more, and it’s not very often I get to play in front of a home crowd.”

Smith has come to Royal Queensland sharper this year, having played in two tournaments – the Queensland PGA and the NSW Open – in the past three weeks.

“The only thing I want as a competitor is to be in contention on Sunday and I’ve been fortunate enough to do that the last couple of weeks,” he said, reflecting on successive top-three finishes.

“I just haven’t quite got across the line.”