[Photo: Getty images]
Min Woo Lee has toppled major winner Cameron Smith, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods to be the most Googled golfer in Australia in 2023, according to data the search engine provided to Australian Golf Digest.
The most popular Australian golf topics within the search engine were split into categories of—golfer (overall), and golf-related term (overall). To get a ranking for each, Google listed searches according to its trends data within the search engine—analysing “search interest” for subjects using a sample of all searches and then indexing the topics in relation to the top item on each list. Google did not provide raw numbers for 2023 search volume.
Perth native Lee, the younger brother of two-time major winner, Minjee Lee, had a huge year.
The 25-year-old finished won the Asian Tour’s Macao Open and finished 10th on the DP World Tour rankings after a T-15 at the DP World Tour Championship finale in Dubai. That was immediately before his return to Australia for the summer of golf. Lee secured a PGA Tour card for 2024, which he earned on the back of a maiden major top-five finish – a tie for fifth at the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club in June – and a tie for sixth at the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Lee also finished in the top 10 at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship and Zozo event in Japan.
Lee’s overseas heroics set up his memorable domestic summer. He won the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland with a dramatic chip-in eagle during the final round at Royal Queensland Golf Club. His third career DP World Tour victory took him to 38th on the Official World Golf Ranking before he led the Australian Open for most of the tournament only to fade with a final-round, one-over 72 that pushed him back into third place. Lee is now ranked world No.33 and assured of a Masters invitation to Augusta National in 2024.
Smith – who was the most Googled golfer in Australia in 2022 courtesy of winning five worldwide events including the Players Championship and Open at St Andrews – generated 94.7 per cent of the search interest compared to Lee this year. That’s despite Smith winning two LIV events (London and New Jersey) while also finishing T9 at the PGA Championship and fourth at the US Open.
Lee’s profile soared on the back his results, on-course flair and social media presence. He began using the catchphrase, “Let him cook,” earlier in 2023. It is believed to be an online gaming phrase used when a gamer is taking extra time to pull off something special.
Rory McIlroy was third, generating 84 per cent of the search interest of Lee, while Tiger Woods dropped to fourth and LIV star Brooks Koepka, who won the PGA Championship, was fifth. Lee’s sister, Minjee, was ranked ninth courtesy of winning her ninth and 10th LPGA Tour victories. The top 10 most Googled golfers in Australia are listed below:
- Min Woo Lee (100.0)
- Cameron Smith (94.7)
- Rory McIlroy (84.0)
- Tiger Woods (78.9)
- Brooks Koepka (50.2)
- Adam Scott (45.5)
- Jon Rahm (42.0)
- Jason Day (41.1)
- Minjee Lee (39.8)
- Sam Bennett (33.0)
Google Trends’ sports analytics experts also provided data on the most searched golf-related terms. It comes as no surprise that “LIV Golf” reigned supreme. It was also the No.1 golf term in the US in 2023. In Australia, LIV has received a far warmer reception than other markets including the US due to homegrown heroes Smith, Marc Leishman and Matt Jones joining the league in 2022 and bringing with them an event Down Under. LIV Adelaide, held in April at The Grange, was arguably the strongest field assembled for a golf tournament in Australia in decades. Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Smith and other LIV stars helped the tournament become LIV’s biggest in its two-year history.
After that, “golf scores”, “US Open golf”, “Australian Open golf” and “Golf Australia” were the top five terms, followed by “LIV Golf Adelaide”, “Live golf scores”, “LIV Golf leaderboard”, “Golf clubs” and “LIV golf scores”. The top 20 are listed below.
AUSTRALIA
- LIV golf
- Golf scores
- US Open golf
- Australian Open golf
- Golf Australia
- LIV Golf Adelaide
- Live golf scores
- LIV Golf leaderboard
- Golf clubs
- LIV Golf scores
- Wembley golf course (Perth)
- PGA Tour
- Golf club
- Golf shoes
- Yarra Bend golf
- Golf results
- Victoria park golf
- Golf balls
- PGA
- Nike golf shoes
