THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 12, 2023

Min Woo Lee

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. I know it's pretty soon right after, but on 4 tee you had a share of the lead. What were you thinking at that point, and what's your breakdown now?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, it happened really quick. It's one of those things where it's Sunday and you just make a couple bad decisions and it all kind of falls down.

But I hung in there pretty well. I didn't have it all today. It's funny how yesterday I felt like I had the best swing in the world, and then today I just felt like nothing could go right.

So nice finish and I'm pretty proud of the result and I think it will take me a long way. It could have been a lot worse. That's for sure. It wasn't easy. That's part of it.

Q. Right from the start you seemed to be making a point to engage the crowd. High-fives, fist bumps, etcetera. Was that in an effort to sort of get them on your side, given that it's an American you were going against?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, I think, you know, Scottie's won a lot of tournaments and everyone wants to see an underdog kind of win and play well. It was a bit of both. I think obviously they were favoring Scottie, but I enjoyed the crowd out there. They were very good.

Yeah, it seemed like I was like back home, so it was nice. There's so many people around 16, 17, 18, which is an unbelievable scene. Yeah, it was all fun.

It was hard to, it's hard to engage the crowd when you've just made triple bogey and double bogies and you're trying to keep your head up high. But just for a second there you just have to stop and really look at the crowd and you're here for a reason and you've done really well and, yeah, that was probably the most people I've ever seen on one hole, on 17, so it was pretty cool.

Q. How tough was it to gather your composure after that middle stretch there? And how proud are you of gathering yourself and fighting until the end?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, it's one of those. It's a short hole. It's not really a hole where you make bogey or more. If you make a bogey, whatever. But to make a 7 there, it was pretty gut wrenching after I started really well.

But Scottie played really well and it was just, yeah, it was just a battle from then. I tried to get it back, but I just didn't have my approach game today and that's something I got to work on. But, yeah, again, happy with the week.

Q. How bittersweet was number 17, making birdie, revving the crowd up, but knowing there's some disappointment coming but at the same time having fun?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, 17 was awesome. It's not a hole where you want to go back more and more. But to hit one of the better shots and seeing two guys in front of you hit in the water, I mean, it's tough. You're just nearly trying to hit it to the middle of the green and trying to just keep it on land. It is pretty daunting, but it's an exciting feeling. It's exciting when you get to hole that putt and hit it onto the green. It's pretty cool.

Q. How does this compare to some of the other big moments in your career to this point?

MIN WOO LEE: It's awesome. I mean, to be, I've been in final groups quite a lot lately, and to be on the PGA TOUR in one of the biggest PGA TOUR tournaments, it's awesome. I mean, if I just keep putting myself in those positions, hopefully I can get a Sunday done. But it's another top-10 finish and I'm really proud. Sundays are just tough.

Q. Would you say that driving iron is your favorite club in the bag?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah. There's not many places where I hit more 2 irons than here, which that's why I like this course. Sometimes when driver and 3-wood's not on, it's a 2-iron play. So today I didn't really have it, but, yeah I like that club. It's a favorite.

Q. Desperately close to special temporary membership here. Onward and upward for you?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah. I don't know how close I am, but, yeah, I'm -- I knew in the back of my head that I needed to finish well because it's so, I mean, I could have easily shot 10 over today and to make birdies on 16, 17, that was pretty crazy to do. Kind of -- it looked like the scoreboard changed quite a lot in those last 20, 30 minutes, hour. So to make birdies -- one birdie makes such a big difference. I'm happy to make those two. Yeah, I'm excited. Hopefully I can play well in the next few PGA TOUR tournaments I play in and can play out here.

Q. Play the next one?

MIN WOO LEE: Maybe. I got to talk with my team and obviously I can play next week and, yeah, who knows.