Min Woo Lee Escapes Sister’s Shadow With Scottish Open Win
Europe might have been usually zeroed in on football on Sunday,
but folks that weren’t tuned into golf ignored an interesting pre-Open Championship teaser,
where 22-12 months-antique Australian Min Woo Lee received a three-guy playoff on the Scottish Open over Thomas Detry and Matt Fitzpatrick.
Until nowadays, Lee becomes perhaps better referred to as the brother of new international No. 1 girls’ golfer (currently No. 14) Minjee Lee, but with a 2d professional European tour victory, he now will become one to observe at subsequent week’s Open Championship at Royal St. George’s in England.
And this became no longer your traditional ECU excursion outing. 5 of the top 10 within the legitimate global golf rating were reachable at the Renaissance membership in Scotland, hoping to get a little momentum because the ultimate major of the PGA tour season commences subsequent Thursday.
Lee got here into the final round three strokes out of the lead,
hoping to as a minimum prepare the sort of round that could make that Open Championship the first major start of his younger profession. He did even better, shooting a 7-beneath 64 to complete regulation tied with Detry and Fitzpatrick.
PGA tour fans have been likely questioning “no longer once more” because the ultimate weeks inside the U.S. Have led to a mixed 13 holes of playoff golfing,
but Lee wished simply one more hollow to say the victory.
It was the 0.33 straight yr that the Scottish Open wished greater holes.
Scoring was low on Sunday on the Renaissance, and the handiest player inside the subject to score decrease than Lee become ECU Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter, who shot an 8-below 63 on the very last day to set the clubhouse low score for the leaders to hit. Lee’s handiest beat it via one, capturing his 7 beneath just someday after a 6-underneath sixty-five, and on a very crowded leaderboard, he placed himself out the front overdue, with both Detry and Fitzpatrick wanting to complete birdie-par-par to sign up for him in extra holes.
The more time before the playoff was of most gain to Lee, who clinched the title after sinking a nine-foot birdie putt at the best playoff hole.
Similarly to starting the very last round 3 strokes at the back of each global No. 100 Detry and global No. 23 Fitzpatrick, Lee additionally needed to parent out a manner to get past international No. 1 Jon Rahm, who become making his expert golf debut as a chief champion, having gained the U.S. Open last month.
In his remaining begin earlier, he had amassed a six-stroke lead through 54 holes at the Memorial, earlier than being compelled to withdraw with a wonderful COVID-19 take a look at. Rahm played his final 17 holes bogey-loose, however, it changed into not sufficient to complete out the front. At 16-underneath, the 26-12 months-vintage Spaniard completed in solo-7th.
Finishing just a stroke out of the playoff became Poulter, in addition to American Ryan Palmer, and red-warm Australian Lucas Herbert, who received ultimate week’s Dubai duty-unfastened Irish Open.
HOW MIN WOO LEE received THE SCOTTISH OPEN
Lee introduced his presence to the tough discipline while he birdied six consecutive holes on the front nine (Nos. Three-eight). He performed his very last ten holes at a bogey-unfastened 1-beneath to preserve himself out front and inside the mix.
Lee’s 65-64 weekend become a development on his opening of 68-69, which had him three strokes at the back of on the 36-hole mark.
Lee rebounded from a triple-bogey 7 at the par-4 eleventh hole on Thursday and carded just one bogey over the complete weekend. His preceding victory on the European excursion came in February of 2020 on the ISPS Handa Vic Open, an event closely attended by using fellow Aussies. This win, though, absolutely positioned him on the map as it’s one of the ECU excursion’s most elite titles.
WHAT IT approach FOR MIN WOO LEE
It actually gives a little momentum for Lee. He got here into the week ranked 240th inside the OWGR. From last October till February’s AT&T Pebble seaside pro-Am – his PGA excursion debut, Lee had missed six consecutive cuts.
Even because then, he had now not been exactly tearing it up, however, he had made five of six cuts, with 3 of these consequences being within the top 30. His fine was simply an ultimate week, where he finished T17 at the Dubai responsibility-loose Irish Open, his fine result considering that a T11 on the ISPS Handa united kingdom Championship closing August.
Lee will now not be many of the betting favorites at next week’s Open Championship, the final major of the 2021 PGA tour season, but he as a minimum got himself on the map, an area he clearly became no longer earlier than.
Different SUNDAY STARS
Poulter’s sixty-three matched the low round for the week in Scotland and again had his name inside the conversation at a key event. He has observed his way onto the first page of the leaderboard at several PGA excursion activities as of past due, giving hope that the forty five-year-vintage Englishman can ultimately nab that first career most important championship.
Poulter has finished in the pinnacle 10 of eight majors in his profession, but none because he became T6 on the 2015 Masters.
A sixty-five turned into a promising Sunday rating for international No. 3 Justin Thomas, who finished tied for eighth at 15-beneath par. The former PGA Championship winner has been in a stoop considering that winning THE player’s Championship in March, with this being his first pinnacle 10 in 9 begins given that.
Matching the 65 of Thomas became England’s Richard Bland, a forty eight-12 months-vintage who set a document ultimate month whilst he has become the oldest participant to hold at least a share of the 36-hole lead at the U.S. Open.
Bland has additionally recorded a win, a T3, and a T4 in his final 4 worldwide begins. At Renaissance, Bland became capable to complete T15.
SUNDAY’S STUMBLES
A number of the Scottish contingency in the Scottish Open subject, Richie Ramsay finished excellent, as his 12-under for the week became precise for a percentage of the fifteenth, however he moderately underwhelming on the very last day of the event, capturing a pedestrian 2-below sixty-nine to drop to T8.
The 38-12 months-antique three-time ECU tour winner opened his lower back nine with a couple of bogeys to effectively take himself out of the mixture.
Lee Westwood, the 48-year-antique Brit,
is desperately in want of a first-rate victory as his window seems to be closing fast.
Lamentably for him,
Sunday was not a first-rate day, as a 1-over 72 dropped him 27 spots into a proportion of thirty-fifth area.
The person who finished runner-up in a pair of again-to-lower back PGA excursion activities earlier this yr went 71-72 over the weekend and likely is not feeling his first-class going into the Open Championship, in which he has competed in the pinnacle 10 six times without a win.
Sunday turned into a disaster for France’s Victor Perez,
who had just one birdie in a 4-over 75
that plummeted him fifty-one spots down the final leaderboard from T8 to T59.
The other 3 gamers to shoot a field-worst 75 on Sunday completed inside the ultimate 3 positions on the leaderboard.
QUOTABLE
“I flushed it all weekend and flushed it all today.
and I simply had to kind of life for the time being. I hit quite a few photographs on command nowadays
and the day before this, and you recognize, I just chilled out after the fire even as I was waiting.
“You knew they made par at the 18th hollow of regulation, after which went and there and did my issue. It was first-rate.
“I mean, it just felt excellent. I did sense nervous, however more confident if something.”
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