Min Woo Lee is at home in Las Vegas.
Photographs by Chris McPherson
Nestled on our West Coast, more than 2,000 kilometres from the next place with a population of more than 10,000, Perth may be the most remote city in the world. Imagine a skinny teenager restless for exploration and hungry for excitement. “Since I was a little kid, I was maybe a bit of a show-off, always trying to make someone laugh or make myself look cool,” says Min Woo Lee, Olympian golfer and five-time winner on international tours. Despite weighing just 75 kilograms, the 27-year-old is one of the longest drivers in the game, averaging 287 metres off the tee and ranking 14th on the PGA Tour for distance in 2025. The maths of timing and torque explain only so much. Could it be that power also comes from somewhere deep and ineffable, like a spirit? Whatever Lee possesses, he’s found a home for it in a city that is literally the polar opposite of his origin – Las Vegas. He spent his first full season on the PGA Tour there camped at buddy Kurt Kitayama’s house but has now built his own near the gates of The Summit Club. After Lee gave us a tour of funky Fremont Street, we went to dinner at his favourite Japanese restaurant on The Strip, Yellowtail. While the catchphrase “Let him cook” has grown around Lee for his saucy greenside chips and pitches, on the town the foodie with a near insatiable appetite for life relishes reading a menu. Our advice? Let him order.
Min Woo Lee on grading his 2025 season
“A-plus for the Houston Open win. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do since I was a little kid. But overall, probably a B. I think it was a very successful year. Security-wise, I’ve got another two-and-a-half years [exempt] on the PGA Tour and that’s pretty awesome. We obviously want to be at the Tour Championship, so that’s going to be the goal next year.”
Min Woo Lee on navigating the PGA Tour
“The signature events were courses that I figured out later [in the season]. They require a very ‘robotic’ type of golf: a lot of fairways, a lot of greens and [ask you to be] very accurate, which is something that I obviously struggle with. I hit it long and I’m a bit fiery and a bit wayward, but I can still recover from there. But when the rough is that thick, you can’t really miss fairways and if you do you’ve just got to hack it out, which is just a major-type course. So you want to become a very robotic golfer, which kind of sucks because I’m not that type of person and not that type of golfer.”
“The hype videos I post on social media definitely put more pressure on me to deliver. But I like the way that little bit of cockiness, that little bit of swag, gets my back against the wall and forces
me to lock in and play well”
Min Woo Lee on returning to Royal Queensland
“It’s quite cool to come back to where the chef hat started and ‘Let him cook’ went viral. I know it’s not ideal to wear a chef hat when you’re watching, but it is very cool to have that support. I love playing there, I play well there and I can’t wait to be back.”
