Aussie of the month: Minjee Lee
We’ll get to Grace Kim, believe us, but late June belonged to Minjee Lee, who secured her place in Australian golf history by winning her third major championship: the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. At PGA Frisco in Texas, Lee overcame fierce winds, brutally fast greens and high final-round pressure to claim a three-shot victory over Chanettee Wannasaen and Auston Kim.
With the win, Lee became just the fourth Australian to lift three or more majors, joining legends Karrie Webb, Peter Thomson and Jan Stephenson. More significantly, Lee, Webb and Stephenson remain the only Australians to have won three different majors. Lee added the Women’s PGA to her 2021 Evian Championship and 2022 US Women’s Open triumphs, leaving only the Chevron Championship and AIG Women’s Open to complete the set.
The 29-year-old started the final round with a four-shot lead, but bogeys on three of the first six holes reduced her cushion to two shots. Showing poise, Lee steadied between the ninth and 15th holes, making three birdies and one bogey while her challengers stalled. She tapped in for par at the 18th for a closing 74, finishing four-under-par for the week.
Afterwards, Lee credited her parents and paid tribute to her brother, Min Woo Lee, whose emotional message from the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship celebrated her return to the winner’s circle. Fellow Aussies Kim, Steph Kyriacou and Hannah Green joined Kiwi Lydia Ko in dousing Lee with champagne greenside, capping a career-defining victory for Australia’s top female golfer.
Golfers in the news
Another Aussie major winner! If June belonged to Minjee Lee, Sydney’s Grace Kim owned the first half of July. The 24-year-old produced one of the most dramatic finishes in major-championship history to capture her breakthrough major at the Evian Championship in France. Three shots behind late in the final round, Kim eagled the par-5 18th hole in regulation to force a playoff with world No.2 Jeeno Thitikul, then pitched in for birdie after a penalty drop on the first playoff hole and drained a 10-foot eagle putt on the second playoff hole to seal the win.
Kim battled a sickness all week in France, but said a photo of 2006 champion Karrie Webb in the Evian Resort clubhouse inspired her to fight through illness. “This is unbelievable,” Kim said. “Even when I was only feeling 80 percent, I gave 100 percent. There was no stopping me this week.”
The victory marked Kim’s second LPGA title and first major, earning her $A1.8 million. She became just the fifth Australian woman to win a major, joining Webb, Lee, Hannah Green and Jan Stephenson. “I thought about it before I made the putt… I’ll get used to [being called a major winner], but I wasn’t sure when it would sink in,” she said.
Steve Allan makes it a pair: Victorian Steve Allan now owns two PGA Tour Champions titles this year after a wire-to-wire victory at the Dick’s Open in New York. Allan had previously captured the Galleri Classic in California in March to end a 22-year winless drought that dated back to his 2002 Australian Open triumph. The first was a tight, one-stroke margin; this time Allan had the luxury of a four-shot cushion after a closing six-under 66 at En-Joie Golf Course. Yet the winner said it was anything but easy.
“It was tough,” 51-year-old Allan insisted. “It was tough even yesterday, hanging in there, and today early on it was a bit rough with the driver. [I was] in the rough a lot and just managed to hang in there. Then on the back nine, [I] made a few putts.”
Amelia Harris proves her class at Torrey Pines: Victorian teenager Amelia Harris showed impressive composure on the world stage when she fell just short of victory at the Junior World Championships at Torrey Pines.
Harris competed as part of an eight-strong Australian junior squad and played superbly all week on the South course, carding rounds of 72, 69 and 69 to finish tied at six-under-par with Japan’s Anna Iwanaga. Two late birdies on holes 16 and 18 helped Harris force a sudden-death playoff, where she narrowly missed out on the title at the first extra hole.
Reflecting on the experience, Harris described it as a great learning opportunity, saying she loved the challenge. The Yarra Yarra member had already finished runner-up at the 2024 Australian Amateur and cemented her standing as one of Australia’s most promising young golfers.
In the boys’ competition, Queenslander Chase Oberle impressed, earning a place in the final group after opening rounds of 71 and 70 at Torrey Pines. The Brisbane Golf Club member made an early charge, but ran into trouble on the final day, carding a four-over 76 to finish in a tie for sixth at one-over for the tournament, three shots behind American winner Dylan Boenning.
As a Cameron Smith Scholarship recipient, Oberle had already begun building valuable international experience and is set to continue his development this month during a training week with the 2022 Open champion.
Lachlan Wood shines at US Adaptive Open: Queenslander Lachlan Wood claimed a silver medal at the US Adaptive Open, held at Woodmont Country Club in Maryland, after three superb rounds in the 60s. Wood posted scores of 68, 69 and 67 to finish 12-under-par and tie for second with Korea’s Simon Lee. Despite his strong play, Wood and Lee finished 12 shots behind England’s Kipp Popert, who made history by winning his third consecutive US Adaptive Open. Wood dominated the Men’s Lower Limb Impairment category, finishing nine strokes clear of American Chad Pfeifer. Wood credited a local club member, a three-time club champion named Andy, who caddied for him during the week. “I got paired up with a three-time club champion, local member Andy, who jumped on the bag and was an absolute weapon,” Wood said. “Definitely helped the way I played this week.”
Photographs by Sam Hodde, Paul Devlin/getty images
