[Photo: getty images]
Players Championship co-leader Min Woo Lee plans to continue benching his biggest weapon in the driver and wield his nuclear 2-iron around the tricky TPC Sawgrass with strong winds forecasted to batter the field in the closing rounds.
The Western Australian is one of the longest drivers on the PGA Tour given his ball speeds, when hitting the driver, regularly tip overn 190 miles per hour (305 kilometres). But after two strategic rounds at the famed Pete Dye-designed course in Ponte Vedra Florida, Lee has eschewed the driver for half of the tee shots, in favour of a 2-iron he uses to hit his beloved “stinger” low shot.
“Well, if your 2-iron goes 300 yards it’s pretty good,” co-leader Lee said after shooting a 66 in the morning wave of the second round to climb to 11-under-par alongside Akshay Bhatia. JJ Spaun (68) was one shot back while Rory McIlroy (68) and Collin Morikawa (65) were a shot further back at nine-under.
“I just love the [2-iron],” Lee added. “I can step up on the tee and hit a little draw and if it just gets past, it gets past some hills and bounces off hills, it goes a long way. It can nearly go as far as 3-wood or a driver sometimes [because] it rolls 50, 60 yards sometimes.”
Flighting his tee shots underneath the wind and hitting fairways will be crucial with gusts forecasted to reach 30 km/h on Saturday and Sunday’s closing rounds.
The legendary course architect Dye – who designed the Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass – was renowned for making golfers second guess every shot, and demand they work the ball in different directions. That brand of golf has always resonated with Lee, a creative shot shaper, ever since he won the 2016 US Junior Amateur at a Dye course (Honors Course) in Tennessee.
At TPC Sawgrass, Lee has been happy to show restraint and plot his way around the narrow, tree and bunker-laden fairways. Water also lurks everywhere. And it’s worked. The 26-year-old Lee has hit 21 of 28 fairways. “For sure,” Lee said when asked if he was enjoying resisting the temptation to use driver more often. “It’s just a variety of shots here. I love how I can step up and hit that 2-iron, but there’s holes where you can hit driver and bomb it down there. So it’s cool.”
Lee’s statistics through two rounds at TPC Sawgrass. Picture: PGA Tour
After appearing in an episode of Netflix’s Full Swing series with his two-time major winner sister, LPGA star Minjee Lee, Lee has noticed a ton of support – and his trademark chef hats – from the TPC Sawgrass galleries this week. It helps that Lee was in the final group with Scottie Scheffler in 2023 when the American won the first of two consecutive Players titles.
“Yeah, I felt a lot of support, even early in the morning at 8am the whole tee box in the morning was full, and I think it’s it has a special feeling,” he said. “You want to play well for yourself, but play well for others too.”
Lee was the shining light for a five-strong Australian contingent at golf’s unofficial fifth major, with former champion Adam Scott likely to miss the 36-hole cut after rounds of 74 and 72 left him at two-over. Last week’s Puerto Rico Open winner, Mandurah native Karl Vilips, was also likely to head home early when he was six-over after a 78. Sydney product Cam Davis was set to tee off in the afternoon wave at four-over par after a first round of 76.
TV COVERAGE: THE PLAYERS Championship is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.
*All times AEST.
Round 1: Thursday 10:30pm-10am (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)
Round 2: Friday 10:30pm-10am (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)
Round 3: Saturday 10:30pm-10am (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)
Final Round: Sunday 10:30pm-9am (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)
