Minjee Lee is one step closer to fulfilling her Hall of Fame ambitions thanks to a career-defining decision that she didn’t want to make.
The Royal Fremantle ace overcame a shaky front nine to claim her third Major title at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on Sunday, a win that puts her within reach of the career Grand Slam.
While the LPGA now conducts five Majors each year, a player need win just four of them to be considered a Grand Slam winner.
Having added the Women’s PGA Championship to her Amundi Evian Championship win in 2021 and US Women’s Open victory a year later, Lee is now aiming to become just the eighth woman to achieve the Grand Slam.
It could come soon as August with victory at the AIG Women’s Open in Wales, while the Chevron Championship is the other Major missing from her resume.
At 29 years of age, and with new-found confidence on the greens, Lee’s career ambitions now seem more achievable than ever.
“That is my ultimate goal,” said Lee when asked her Grand Slam aspirations.
“I really want to be in the Hall of Fame. That’s why I started golf. That’s why I wanted to be on the LPGA Tour, to win a bunch of tournaments and try to get into it.
“Seeing Lydia (Ko) do it [in 2024], I think I would really like to get there. We’ll see how we go after this week.”
Broomstick sweeps Lee to glory
When Lee claimed the first of now 11 LPGA Tour career wins to date a week before her 19th birthday in 2015, Hall of Fame status appeared a fait accompli. But as the years of her career passed without a Major title, pressure continued to build.
It took an unlikely charge from seven strokes back to break through in a playoff at Evian four years ago before Lee put the golf world on notice with a commanding victory at the 2022 US Women’s Open.
But a back nine collapse at the US Women’s Open 12 months ago exposed a flaw that Lee admitted became worse the more people talked about it: her putting.
Ultimately, it led long-time coach Ritchie Smith to raise the prospect of switching to a broomstick putter.
“Do I have to?” was Lee’s immediate reaction, yet with some gentle cajoling she began to practice with it.
Her first public display of putting with the broomstick came at the pro-am ahead of the Webex Players Series Perth she hosted with brother Min Woo Lee in January.
She grew sufficiently confident with it to start the LPGA season with it in the bag – and has seen the switch swiftly pay off.
Last year on the LPGA Tour Lee ranked 135th in average putts per round. This year she is 35th and ranked first in ‘Strokes Gained: Putting’ at the Women’s PGA Championship to complete what may be the most fulfilling win of her career.
Minjee Lee started using a broomstick putter at Webex Players Series Perth in January
“I feel like I had a lot of doubt the past few years, I guess with my long game, but more with my putting,” she conceded.
“I think the more I heard media and other people saying things about my putting, I think it got to me more and more over time.
“The US Open [victory] is my absolute favourite but in terms of my most deserved, I think this one is the one.”
Words: Tony Webeck
Images: Darren Carroll/PGA of America/Australian Golf Media
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