[PHOTO: Monica Marchesani/LET]
It is a rare delicacy in the modern menu of professional golf, yet self-confessed foodie Minjee Lee is ready to savour her annual taste of links golf starting with the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open, which tees off this afternoon, Australian time.
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A week out from the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales, Lee is making her 10th start in the Women’s Scottish Open, absorbing almost all of Scottish culture with the guidance of new caddie and Edinburgh native, Mikey Patterson.
The pair already have a major championship together courtesy of Lee’s third major championship win at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship last month, Patterson’s efforts to tempt Lee into eating haggis and black pudding less of a success.
On the back of her third-place finish at the Amundi Evian Championship Lee “ate my way through London” before turning her attention to sweet Scottish strawberries and the links courses for which she has become so fond.
The world No.5 has finished in the top 20 in each of her past three starts at Dundonald Links and is ready to sink her teeth into more links-style creativity.
“I like when we do get the opportunities to play links golf, just the creativity,” said the 29-year-old. “I really enjoy this type of golf I guess. I just like the cool weather.
“Sometimes we’re hit with a ton of wind, rain, the conditions are much harder usually, like the surface. Just being able to like picture it in your mind and executing it gives me a lot of joy when I can do it.”
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The 2025 championship marks the seventh time that Dundonald Links has hosted the Women’s Scottish Open and the fourth year in succession. It breeds a familiarity that Lee hopes to use to her advantage.
“We’ve been here quite a few times now, so I know the course really well,” said Lee, who has the added luxury of staying on-site this week.
“I know where to miss it and where it’s best to play from. When the wind does get up, I just kind of know my way around the course now. I think that really helps, playing it more than a couple times now.”
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Cassie Porter and Kelsey Bennett will make their tournament debuts, Porter out in the first group of the day alongside fellow Australian Kirsten Rudgeley.
