PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 19, 2023

Min Woo Lee

Oak Hill Country Club

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Min Woo Lee joins us on the second day of the 105th PGA Championship. 3-under 67 for you today. How did it go for you?

MIN WOO LEE: It's been a while since I was actually really, really proud of myself and the way I handled myself. It was a grind out there. There was a lot of par saves that I needed to do just to keep the momentum up, and I did that, and it was really fun. Very gritty out there, which is something that I feel like I've been lacking a little bit. It's kind of nice to just do that, especially at a major championship.

THE MODERATOR: Another one from me real quick. Looks like you birdied four of five holes there on holes 1 through 5. Take us through that stretch.

MIN WOO LEE: On 1, holed like a 15-, 20-footer from the left rough, hit it out to the green and holed a nice putt. Then, I hit a 4-iron and a wedge to about five feet, holed that. Made a really nice putt on 3 on the par 3. It was, like, a 12-, 13-, 14-footer. That was a really good momentum save.

I hit a really nice second shot on the par-5 around the trees. It was just on some trampled grass. It was on the left side of the fairway in the rough, and I had to hit this low draw, which was awesome, to the front of the green and made a nice up-and-down.

5 I holed I don't know how many foot it was. It was 60, 70 feet. It was crazy. Our whole group made a birdie, which was nice, and got the crowd going.

Good bogey on 6 hole. Holed, like, a 10-footer on 6 after hitting it over the green into the water. Then 7 holed a putt from just off the green, the front of the green, which was maybe 15, 16 feet.

So a lot of holed putts footage of today, so that was nice.

THE MODERATOR: Go ahead.

Q. It's the story of two days. Yesterday was a slow start, and then I wonder what made you come so strong today, what mindset, and what you told yourself?

MIN WOO LEE: I mean, I needed something to switch because I feel like I've just been playing a little sluggish over the last few weeks a few tournaments. I don't know what clicked, but I think I just got over it, and I just didn't like missing cuts and just wanted to play really good today.

I'm really proud of the way I went. I think just very focused on what I needed to do. A lot of doubt has kind of come into my game. I've been switching clubs and switching balls and hitting too much spin and stuff like that. Yeah, it was nice to just -- at the end of the day, if you put a good swing on it, hopefully the shot goes nicely. I think that was the mindset today.

Q. It looks like the majors is kind of the place where you find that right place. It happened at St Andrews; it's happening here this week. Why is that?

MIN WOO LEE: I don't know, I think I just like playing in front of a lot of people and being in front of a crowd, I just -- something about a tough course and making that par save is really handy, especially at this course. I think that just kind of clicks in and gets me going.

I don't know, something about the crowds and how tough it plays.

Q. A lot of people are saying that this is probably the toughest golf course they've played in a long time. Does it feel like that to you, and what do you expect for the rest of the week?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, I definitely think it's one of the tougher ones. I shot 3-under, and it's probably one of the lowest rounds of the day. That says something, and I putted amazing, putted -- pretty much holed a lot of putts, every putt I really looked at.

I think it's going to rain over the weekend, and it might make it a little softer. The conditions did get a bit softer, too, so it was quite nice, and you can attack the pins, but it's tough. It's nice to play when it was a bit wet.