Min Woo Lee – file photo – Bruce Young
Australians enjoy an impressive record at the Players Championship with five of them winning a total of six championships and two having finished runner-up, and, tomorrow, yet another name just might be added to the list.
The second and third rounds were completed on day three of the event at the TPC Sawgrass today with Min Woo Lee in or near the lead for much of round three after a hole out for eagle at his opening hole.
He was tied for the lead playing the last with the game’s current dominant player, Scottie Scheffler, but after driving it close to the water at the last and then missing the green right he took bogey to the birdie of Scheffler’s and as the event heads into tomorrow’s final day the difference between the pair is two.
Another two shots back is Cameron Davis who birdied his final two holes to move within striking distance.
For Lee, however, who has a start in this prestigious event by being (just) inside the top 50 in the world, the opportunity exists tomorrow to secure his status on the PGA Tour and if he were to win he would jump close to 20th in the ranking and even a strong finish tomorrow might well earn him special temporary membership of the PGA Tour.
Lee was first asked about the great start he had when holing out at the first.
“Piped my driver down there. I had, I think, 112 in, something like that. It might have been less; actually, that might have been in yards. I had a 55, a little bit on the downslope, and my caddie Stew and I were in between hitting a 50 and 55, and, luckily, I thinned a nice 55 in there and one-hopped and back-spun in the hole. So, it wasn’t a perfect shot but it looked good on TV. I saw it just before. I won’t say I thinned it; keep it between us (laughing).”
“It was amazing, amazing day,” added Lee. “Just coming on 17 and 18 and hearing the crowd chant, and that’s all I’m asking for. Yeah, just had a lot of fun today. Did a lot of the right things, and hopefully I can do it again tomorrow.
“Tomorrow could be the biggest day of my life, but I’m going to go out there and have fun again. It’s been the motto for the last three months. Not taking it too seriously. I like to have fun and interact with the fans when I can. Unlike others, you know, they’re very serious. So, yeah, I’m just out here enjoying my time, and like I said, I just crept into this tournament and making the most of it and soaking it all in.”
Davis is close enough tomorrow to make an impact on those ahead.
“It was a good round,” said the Seattle based Sydneysider. “I felt like I got just about everything I could have out of that round. This whole day actually, I played, what, 25 holes or so and I felt like I did a really good job of getting the most out of what I had. So, yeah, awesome to get some momentum, awesome to see my name up toward the top of the leaderboard. Yeah, I’m really looking forward to keep pushing tomorrow and keep doing what I’ve been doing and hopefully some more birdies drop.
“This course can suit anyone or no one. I mean, it’s not overly long, it forces you to take some shorter lines off the tees because you can’t cut a lot of corners and because the pins are cut in the way they are, good shots get rewarded, some almost great shots don’t.
“Sometimes it can be very hard to make pars even though you’re feeling like you’re playing well. Sometimes it feels like the birdies won’t stop coming. So I’m glad I had the latter on the back nine today.
“You just have to get out of your way and play the golf course as it presents itself to you as you go around and try not to force anything to happen, just keep on, yeah, kind of cruising. It feels like I’ve been cruising even though I haven’t been hitting it super great off the tee. I’ve kept myself in it.”
Jason Day might be too far from the lead to figure in the finish as far as far as winning is concerned but the former champion of this event continues to play well and finds himself in a share of 14th place and eight shots from the lead.
