Masters beckons as Lee moves inside World Top-50

Stuck in a Perth hotel since his return to Australia, Min Woo Lee has had plenty of time on his hands as he slowly counts down the days left in quarantine.

The 23-year-old is fresh off an impressive 6th placed finish in the European Tour’s Race To Dubai and now the Western Australian has one more good reason to celebrate following news of his move inside the World Top-50 this week.

Min Woo Lee holds the Scottish Open trophy (Credit: European Tour)

“Woke up to this news…Top 50 Golfer in the world!!!!!! Hard work + Dreams. Couldn’t have done it without my team and supporters. Over the moon,” tweeted Lee.

So what’s so important about the top-50? Well it’s every player’s ticket into all four majors along with World Golf Championship invites and slots on the PGA Tour. If you play your cards right, it can really be a life-changing moment.

Although as Lee points out, he needs to remain inside the top-50 until the end of December to make it official, but he’s already excited about just making it this far.

“It was amazing. I kind of knew that it might have happened this week just because there is a man (or woman) on Twitter that is like a world ranking guru and he told me that I was heading that way so it was very exciting,” Lee told the Australian Golf Show podcast.

“Six months ago I wasn’t even close to looking at the top 50 so the last six months it’s been pretty quick and a lot of good golf in between and this is the result of it.”

Mid-year Lee sat at 240th in the world following his 17th place at the Irish Open before leaping into 61st place a week later following his Scottish Open playoff win over Matt Fitzpatrick and Thomas Detry.

From there the Perth-native has slowly been able to improve his position making almost every cut on the European Tour and running out the season with three top-8′s in a row including a runner-up finish at the Andalucía Masters in October.

“I don’t know what clicked but my swing was awesome you know I had a lot of control with my golf ball and I didn’t really hit that many bad shots. I knew where the ball was going and even if I didn’t, I would still manage to score,” said Lee about his impressive turnaround in form.

“I’m maturing as well. I still get mad…but I don’t let it affect the next shot and I try to just swipe it and hit the next shot.”

With the world firmly at his feet, what’s next for Lee?

“If I stay in (the top-50) I’ll be playing more in America. You’ve obviously got all the majors, the WGCs, which might not all happen, I think in the schedule there’s only one instead of the four or five that were happening – and invitations on the PGA Tour.”

“I think I’ll play more on the PGA Tour (in 2022), if I get the chance to.”

If his sister’s (Minjee Lee) LPGA resume is anything to go by, younger brother Min Woo is destined for similar success on the world’s biggest stage if he wants it enough.