(Photo: Getty images)
Min Woo Lee kicked off his final hit-out before the Masters in stunning fashion with a hot first round at the Texas Children’s Houston Open that left him one shot off the lead.
The popular Lee – who led through two rounds at the prestigious Players Championship recently – fired a four-under-par 66 to sit T-3 after day one at the par-70 Memorial Park Golf Course. “It was really good, putted really good and hit a lot of good shots,” Lee said after his round.
The wildly popular Lee carded four birdies and a bogey on his front nine, before another three birdies and two more dropped shots on his back nine for a 66.
With three rounds to go, the Houston Open is Lee’s final tournament before the Masters. The 26-year-old hopes to play well again at Augusta National having finished T-14 there on debut in 2022 and T-22 last year. Lee originally wasn’t going to tee up in Houston and instead rest for three weeks in his Las Vegas base between the Players Championship and the Masters.
“But I’m not sure about the schedule after the Masters. I’m not sure if I’ll play Hilton Head and Zurich, so I’m kind of — if I took this week off, then it would have been a long break really just with the Masters in the middle,” he said. “It was a course where it suits me, it’s long and the rough isn’t too thick. And yeah, when I can drive it well, I can make some noise, so thought this was a good time to put it in the schedule,” he said.
Lee said he was feeling good with the Masters just two weeks away.
“Yeah, my game’s actually really good. There was a couple holes out there that, you know, kind of messed me up a little bit,” Lee said.
Karl Vilips was next best of the Australians and the recent Puerto Rico Open winner carded a 68 to finish at two-under. Former world No.1 Jason Day and Aaron Baddeley both shot an even-par 70.
