Minjee Lee on sibling rivalry, knowing her golf swing and chasing Majors and medals all while being Australia’s “Invisible Champion”. Interviewed by Steve Keipert

 

ALL golfers are making adjustments in 2020. Right now, the leading professional circuits are in hiatus as everyone waits out the COVID-19 coronavirus and its effects. The pandemic hit LPGA Tour events first, giving the sport’s best female exponents an unexpected holiday just as the season was hitting its stride.

Australia’s Minjee Lee, the eighth-ranked golfer in the world and a five-time LPGA winner, opted to spend much of her downtime at home in Perth. Australian Golf Digest caught up with the 23-year-old to discuss what might be ahead in golf for the year – whatever shape it may take.

Australian Golf Digest: Have you set yourself any goals for 2020?
Minjee Lee: Definitely the Majors are a big goal for me. Last year, I tried to set my schedule around the Majors, but I don’t think I performed as well as I would have liked to, so a little bit disappointing in that aspect.

But I think this year will be a little better with the scheduling that I’ve done. That’s a big goal of mine. And obviously the Olympics. I don’t know if it will still be on with the [COVID-19] virus. It is one of my big goals to be on that team.

That was actually my next question: how high are the Olympics on your radar, whether for 2020 or 2021?
I had the privilege of going to the Rio Olympics and I know what that feels like. It’s always such an honour to be able to represent your country, especially in an event like the Olympics. It would be such a great honour for me to go to Japan. Since Rio, it’s been a really big goal of mine and has always been in the back of my head.

It looks fairly cut-and-dried at the moment, that it would be you and Hannah Green representing Australia.
It goes by our world ranking, so as long as I do my best in every event and perform well, that will take care of itself. The Olympics is one thing, but you also have to think about your season separate to it. I’m not going out of my way just to do Olympic prep, but still be me playing as an LPGA professional.

You’ve become one of golf’s most consistent performers. What do you put that down to?
The past few years I’ve become more consistent. I feel like I have a better understanding of my swing, and with that knowledge I feel I can just be a little more consistent with my ball-striking. Obviously my chipping and my putting, I have always been working on to get more consistent. As long as [the action is] repeatable I think I can get pretty good consistency and I think I’ve done a really good job of that.

What is it about your coach Ritchie Smith that makes him so successful?
The way he teaches is always based on the basic fundamentals of golf, and I don’t think you can really go wrong with that. Even if you are doing something complex, the base is always there. I think that’s the best thing about how Ritchie teaches.

What are the practical realities of playing in America with a coach based in Perth?
There is a difficult aspect in communication and the amount of times you can actually see them face-to-face. In the best-case scenario, we see him maybe four or five times [per year] in the States. It hasn’t been too hard because as professionals we’re pretty self-sufficient in terms of our game and our swing, but there’s also videos we can send now. It’s lucky the world is so technologically advanced that now we can do that. There’s FaceTime, there’s so much stuff, so I just send videos and he checks them for us and I get feedback that way.

How proud are you of your brother Min Woo’s achievements to date?
I would never tell him that! He doesn’t want to get too big of a head! But I am super-proud of him. I was there at the Vic Open and was really, really impressed with how he played the last two days, because it was blowing a gale. I was super-impressed with that performance and hopefully he can keep going and keep learning from his experiences. And now that he’s got his full card [on the European Tour], he can do up his schedule and not have to think about when he’s going to get starts at these events and find out what works for him.

Golf-wise and personality-wise, what are the similarities and differences between you two?
I would say he’s much more of an emotional player. He just feels it more, it seems like. But knowing him as my brother, he’s more emotional when he plays. I’m just really calm when I play – that’s how you see me on TV. He’s aggressive in his game, but he’s not aggressive as a person. He’s very friendly and outgoing and I think you can really see that when he’s playing. But we’re both pretty light – we don’t keep it too serious or intense, so I think that’s what’s pretty similar with both of us.

Why is Minjee written as one word and Min Woo as two? Does either name have a significant meaning in Korean?
Actually my name is split up as well, but I just write it together. That’s my preference. Min Woo just looks better separated because M and W look the same and he’s just always written it as separate, and I’ve always written it together. But both of our names are supposed to be separated, Min Jee and Min Woo.

My grandparents gave us the name – they’re both Korean – and each syllable, like Min and Jee and Woo, the symbols mean something different. There is a meaning behind each of the symbols, but I’m not really sure what it is.

Last year, Martin Blake, writing in The Age, described you as the “Invisible Champion of Australia”. It’s the question that sadly has to come up for any female touring professional: what do you think it will take for women’s golf to gain a higher profile?
That’s a hard one because it’s still even a work-in-progress in the US and anywhere in the world. Yes, in Asia it’s so big, but they just have a better interest in golf. It doesn’t matter whether it’s men’s or women’s golf, I think it’s just not one of the national sports in Australia, so it probably doesn’t prompt much interest straight away. I know it’s getting better but maybe Australians still think of it as a retirees’ sport or something to go out there after work and just leisurely play? I’m not really sure. That’s just what I think. Maybe it’s just an older person’s sport.

The Vic Open has rightfully been acclaimed for putting the men’s and women’s competitions together. Do you think the next step might be if, say, the Australian Opens went down the same path and men and women played their national championships at the same time?
That would be really cool, but I’m not really sure how it sits with… I think they would come on board if they talked about it. I think it’s such a great format, it just gets everybody coming out. The question is if you can get that amount of people on two courses in one venue. Obviously you would need to think about logistics like that. It’s not the easiest to run a men’s and women’s event in one go. Think about the Vic Open, it’s very wide, it’s got two courses right on-site and there are just a lot of things that go into it. If there’s a course that suits that, I think it would be a great idea.

Yes, we can say it out loud so easily – “We should do it!” – but at the end of the day, there’s so much planning and just so many tours coming together to actually make it happen. It involves a lot of people and it’s actually a lot harder than what we say.

When superstars collide: Ash Barty and Minjee Lee crossed paths and swapped weapons in Adelaide in January, before all of sport ground to a halt.
Getty Images: Mark Brake, Donald Miralle

 

While Hannah Green won a Major in 2019, you remain Australia’s highest-ranked female golfer. Are you comfortable with the attention and flag-bearing that comes with such a lofty position?
I think I’m getting better. It’s never easy when you’re always in the spotlight of stuff and I think it comes with experience a little bit. I am getting more comfortable with TV and doing interviews and stuff like that, because I’m not really a super-outgoing kind of personality. But I think golf has made me a little more outgoing. It does come with responsibility and one of my big goals is to be a great role model on and off the golf course for the younger generation of golfers coming up. I think I’m doing
good [Laughs].

What’s the biggest misconception people have about women’s golf?
I feel like it’s changed a lot. A lot of the people that I meet now are like, “I only watch women’s golf,” because we’re so relatable. It’s so great to hear. Maybe before they might have said it’s not as fun to watch? I’m not really sure, to be honest.

[Men’s tour] golf is like a fantasy, isn’t it? We’d love to hit it that far but it just looks and feels out of reach. It’s something special that you just want to see it on TV because it’s so cool. We’re more relatable and we hit it maybe a little bit longer but similarly, distance-wise, to the amateur crowd.

Can you empathise with the situation Gabi Ruffels found herself in, having to choose between the ANA Inspiration and Augusta National Women’s Amateur (which both wound up being postponed or cancelled due to coronavirus fears)? What is the best solution for the best female amateurs in the same predicament in the future?
Just change the date. The ANA I think would take priority, just because of the history and when it’s always been, for timing. Maybe they can do the Amateur after the Masters? I feel like they would still draw the same attention. Women don’t get the chance to play Augusta every day, so there’s still got to be the same interest so maybe it just needs a different date for the tournament. That’s the easiest and the best solution, I’d say.

Which way do you think you would have chosen?
If I’d not played either of the two? Probably the ANA.

At which Major do you feel most comfortable?
I don’t know which one I feel most comfortable! I can tell you the US Open is the one that I’ve always wanted to win; the British Open, I love the links golf courses we play; and the ANA is just a fantastic tournament. I like all of the Majors and it’s always challenging and I think a great challenge is always a good one.

There’s not one Major that fits with your game or your mindset better than one of the others?
We always change courses, so it’s not really an easy question to answer. I guess ANA,
we play at the same place over and over. I’d say that one’s the one I am most comfortable with.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen during a pro-am?
I feel like my groups have been always really funny. Not the strangest thing, but one time one of my pro-am partners was super-nervous so I had to hold his hand and tee the ball up for him off the first tee.

What’s the biggest recurring mistake you see in amateur golfers?
Probably the idea of having your head down. Because it’s not really mechanically correct. I just think that’s what you learn the first time and I think it’s the most recurring thing in amateurs.

When was the last time you visited your Wikipedia page?
I don’t know! [Laughs] I don’t think I’ve ever seen it! I’ve been on the Korean [version of] Wikipedia, the equivalent, and I’ve seen my page there.

I like to finish with this one: what’s something we don’t know about you?
I only use No.1 golf balls. I’ve always done that when I’ve played – even when I was little. As far as I remember that’s what I always did. I would save my No.1s when I was an amateur because you always get boxes of 1, 2, 3, 4, right? So I would just save them for game day and play with No.1s.

I’m not that superstitious but I [now] don’t even get other-numbered balls. I ask for all 1s.