MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2022

Min Woo Lee

Quick Quotes

Q. Tough day out there today. How did you play?

MIN WOO LEE: It was a little scrappy, but it was a grind at the end. I'm hopefully hoping that I make the weekend and looking good right now. Pat on the back, I did finish well.

Q. Run me through 15, 16, and 17.

MIN WOO LEE: So 15 was a blur. It was windy. There was 25 K gusts in my face. I thought I'd hit a little sand wedge, then the wind stopped last second and ended up pulling it and nearly went in the water on 16. So wasn't that good of a shot. Then made an unbelievable up-and-down there. Chipping around this course was so tough, so I thought I'd give this one a little go just because the grass was a bit sticky, then holed like a five, six-footer, which was awesome. Then made a nice birdie on 16.

17 was -- I mean, I hit it a little right, and then I chipped it -- I literally topped my second shot. I was trying to get at the front of the green, and I topped it like 50 yards and had a 70-meter pitch shot and hit it to 4-1/2 feet and holed the putt.

18, hit one of my best drives of the day and hit an average shot into the green and nearly holed the putt.

Regarding the cut, I didn't realize -- I thought there was a ten-shot rule cut thing still. So like before 15, I was like, oh, I'm actually not too bad. I've still got a few shots to give. Now that I know it was just top 50 and cut, like I've got to give myself a pat on the back because that was a really good finish. But it was pretty funny.

Q. That is truly funny. What's it feel like to make the cut at your very first Masters tournament?

MIN WOO LEE: It's unbelievable. It was just a grind out there. It's a really tough track. Obviously with the wind, the back nine is just tough. I gave my mom a hug, and it's really -- and dad a hug, and it's really, really nice, I guess. You work hard to get to this point. Just made it into the top 50 at the end of the year to get into the tournament.

Getting into the tournament's a good achievement, but to actually play well, it's another step. So I knew I had to keep my head down. I'm glad some of my best golf has come now.

Q. Do you have any plans for the weekend?

MIN WOO LEE: I'm just going to have fun. It's obviously going to be tough. I'm not sure what the weather is going to be like the next couple of days, but I'm excited to play. Well, hopefully by the day's end, I'll play.

Q. You just mentioned about your family are all gathered together here. Is there kind of a family festival?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, it's an amazing feeling. Obviously I didn't -- my dad runs a cafe back home, and he left on Monday to get here. I didn't want to just play two days for him. So it was for the family and for my team, I guess. It was a lot of grinding out there, so I'm happy.

Q. For the final question, do you think this tournament could be your kind of very strong motivation for your future career?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, for sure. There's a lot of people, and you want to put a show on for them. You always want to peak at the majors, I guess, like all the other players say. This is my second major, and it was one of my goals to make cuts and finish high in majors.

So good first step, and hopefully I play well on the weekend.