MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 3, 2023

Min Woo Lee

Quick Quotes

Q. How did you feel with your round today? Give us a review how you went.

MIN WOO LEE: It was awesome. I'm hitting the ball really well and made a few birdies out there, and it was good. Not much went wrong, which was nice, and hopefully I can keep going with that.

Q. How close did 16 come to an ace?

MIN WOO LEE: It was probably a foot and a half, two feet, so it was very close. I thought it was a bit short if anything, but it ended up being closer than I thought, so it was nice.

Q. What was it like playing with the other Aussie guys?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, it was awesome. First time playing with Harrison, and obviously he's been playing really good as an amateur, and Jason is obviously trending and is obviously playing really well, so it's just nice to have fun.

I've been here last year and I kind of know where to go, so it was nice to, I guess, give a few tips to Harrison and just like what they did last year to me. So it was nice.

Q. Is there anything in particular that you shared with Harrison out there on the course?

MIN WOO LEE: Just a few tips and tricks, and I guess it is a tricky course, and you need to know where to miss it and where the fast putts and slow putts are. Even if it's uphill it's going to be faster because of Rae's Creek, so just a few things like that.

Q. Playing with Jason, he's obviously had some swing -- how is his swing looking?

MIN WOO LEE: Awesome. Unbelievable. He swung it awesome when he was No. 1 in the world, but probably even better now obviously with his back. It's very sound. Like I said, he's trending, and he's going to be scary when he gets to his best again.

Q. You were in contention at THE PLAYERS. What have you taken from that week that you're trying to work on here at the Masters?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, I guess I kind of got stuck in the final round type of situation. The first three rounds I was just kind of doing my thing and working on the things I was working on, and then on Sunday you kind of just forget and kind of play in the moment, which is what you kind of have to do, but I forgot what I needed to do. Just things like that.

I've been playing awesome. Other than a couple holes over there at Sawgrass, it was actually really solid golf. Yeah, it seemed like it was just two or three holes out of the whole week that was not great, but that's pretty good when if you do that, that's going to be a pretty solid week, so just keep doing what I'm doing.

Q. What was your experience at 13?

MIN WOO LEE: Oh, it's awesome. I enjoy it because it's just a driver for me now. Last year was a bit awkward where 2-iron was a bit long but 3-wood was perfect, but I didn't really like my 3-wood back then. It's either a 3-wood or a driver, depends how aggressive you want to be.

I hit one a bit right of target today, and I ended up laying up, which you usually do if you don't have the distance. Then I hit a perfect driver draw and I had a 7-iron in. You can make it a lot easier, but obviously you bring in those left trees if you're trying to hit a draw.

It's still a birdieable hole even if you hit the fairway and have a short club in or lay up, so as long as you lay up in the right spot you're chipping it up the green.

Q. Do you see it as being better for the tournament in terms of the risk-reward being greater?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, I think the risk and reward was more when it was shorter obviously because you could actually take off some distance, and like I had 7-iron today. Imagine if I hit an actual draw when it was a shorter tee; you'd have like pitching wedge, 9-iron in.

I think for me, I really like it because obviously I'm a bit longer and if I hit it straight, it's not going into the trees, while before it was a gamble to hit a draw because if you hit it straight, then you're deep in the trees.

It's nice. If you hit a good drive you're still going to maybe go for it, but again, you're an a big slope right to left so you're holding the club nearly halfway up the grip. People don't realize it's 30 yards back, but you're on a hill like this, so it's still a very tough shot.

Q. Last year's tournament you enjoyed the experience but after your experience at THE PLAYERS do you feel like you can be deep into this tournament on Sunday?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, for sure. I think if I just keep the excitement there and like feeling happy about coming out here, of course you are going to be, but I just enjoy the crowd and enjoy the moment. I've worked really hard to get to this stage, and it was a bit nerve-racking a couple weeks ago trying to make the top 50, and depends on who was going to make it or not. Yeah, it's kind of like a new beginning. This is where you want to be as a professional. You want to be a top 50 player and play against the best. I'm just really excited to get going.

Q. Did you feel sorry for Lucas?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, we thought he was good from making the sweet 16 at Match Play, and it obviously sucks to not have one more Aussie in the field, but I know he's going to build and get stronger from that, and I'm sure he'll make it next year.

Q. 10-year anniversary of Adam Scott winning here. How significant was that for Australia?

MIN WOO LEE: That was amazing. I think I was like 15 playing an interstate series, which is like state versus state, and you're with your team, seven of you guys, and we were there stretching before the round. It was like 5:00, 6:00. It's amazing. That's like my first kind of memory of it. It was awesome.

It makes me want to work hard to get to here, and it's funny because I am here now, and it only seemed like three, four years ago, but it was 10 years ago. It was awesome. He's obviously paved the way for us young 'uns to come up and play here, and now that me and Harrison and a lot of the younger guys are here, it's pretty cool.