MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 13, 2025

Min Woo Lee

Quick Quotes

Q. Min, tough tournament but a great way to finish there at the end.

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, it was actually a funny story, I didn't chip in all week and on 17 I hit it in the front bunker and I said to my caddie, I'm either going to chip this in or I'm going to miss the last green on purpose and chip in.

I didn't try to miss it on purpose, but it was in the right bunker. It was funny. I asked him -- I normally don't, but I asked him, hey, what's the line? What's the break? And he just laughed, and JT said, knock it in, and it went in; and it was nice for JT to hole it on top.

Very fun way to finish. It was obviously a tough way to end the weekend and the week. But a bit of maturing and learning and then hopefully we'll get it next year.

Q. You won on the PGA TOUR two weeks ago. How much of a step-up is this tournament?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, best players in the world here, small field, and it's -- I think the thing is, it's got to be one of the most mentally challenging courses.

I had a chat with my caddie Bo walking up 18, and I just asked him if it's more of a mental or a technical battle here. Obviously you need to be on with your game, but I think the mental has to be right up there.

I think the best top players mentally are going to be at the top of the leaderboard, which I think they are. That leaderboard up there is very -- has a lot of major champion winners and guys who have played well over the past whatever years.

A lot of learning to do. I'm really early in the stages of hopefully my career at Augusta, so I can't wait for whatever the next few years have in store.

Q. How do you work on that mental side of things?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, I think it's a lot of learning. For me, I haven't really been in that much contention over the Sunday or Saturday. I love being there. I love being the frontrunner and trying to keep pushing and keep making birdies.

But it is tough because it's a major, and you don't get to experience it that much. Hopefully you just keep learning from these experiences. Obviously there's the one percenters that are automatically really good on the weekend or get themselves in contention a lot.

But I'm still learning. I feel like I'm still young and I still have years ahead of me, and all I can do is learn. Hopefully I can feed off this.

I mean, there's a lot of disappointments in golf, but you've got to look at it as a lot of positives, too. Just don't beat yourself up and hopefully the next years are good.

Q. In weeks like this how much do you watch Rory and how he handles himself?

MIN WOO LEE: You know, I think winning in Houston, I had this, I guess, comfortability of not letting too much get into my head. I think Rory talked about this yesterday where he's in his own bubble. He can't do anything, he can't control anything and he's just in his bubble, doing one shot at a time, process, and I think that's what I learned from -- Jason told me about it, and I think you learn from that when you're in contention.

Because at THE PLAYERS you get ahead of yourself and you hit average shots and you beat yourself up a little bit, but at the end of the day you've just got to get from A to B. All the other stuff is great, supporters and fans, but you have to hit that one to two with the process that you stick to. You kind of have to stick to it.

I watch a lot of the Masters. When I'm at home after the round I would watch them finish. And obviously Bryson finished with a great finish on the last, and I think it's going to be a great battle between the two, and we'll see how it goes.

Q. (On his plans the next few weeks.)

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, I'll play next week and then I'll definitely take a nice two weeks off. I haven't taken two weeks off since the beginning of the year. Mentally I'm probably not as fresh as I probably should have been, but I'd rather a win than be fresh.

It was nice to obviously get the win. PGA TOUR winner now, and I think I'll have a nice celebration when I have two weeks off.

Q. You said Rory (indiscernible) can you expand on that?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, he doesn't owe me anything, but he's been a really nice guy. I played a couple practice rounds with him. Not on the level as Jason. I see him most tournaments and I play practice rounds. But just if I have lunch he would sit next to me, and I'll be shocked, like why are you sitting next to me.

But he's kind of that bloke. He's a really nice guy, and I think he gets a lot of bad media coverage. He's played wonderful over the last 10, 20 years, and I think what he's done has been -- is very underrated.

Yes, he's -- I guess his expectations and everyone else's expectation is to win everything, win tournaments when he's up there, but it's so tough. To be there for the last 10 years, No. 1, No. 2, top three in the world, you've just got to clap your hands to that.

The longevity and also just the consistency is unbelievable. I think it would just be nice to get him over the line, get a green jacket, and I think it would be very exciting.

I'm hoping that he gets it done.

Q. You mentioned Jason Day being a mentor. He's sort of demonstrated the mental side of the game --

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, I think just a little nugget that he -- a lot of people believe in me to be a really great player, but when you kind of hear it a couple times from someone that's been there, it really gets into you. If you don't want to put in an extra couple minutes or extra hour of golf, you tell yourself, hey, this is what he's talking about.

Sometimes when you're tired, you've just got to -- obviously you've got to listen to your body and mind, but just giving that little extra ounce I think is going to push me forward, and obviously it's been showing. A lot of consistent golf over the last six months, a year.

Really cool to have him as a friend and a mentor, and hopefully he finishes well and finishes top 5, top 10.

Q. (On Karrie Webb.)

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, Karrie has obviously been a great role model to mostly ladies I'd say, but it was great to have someone that's won so many tournaments, majors, and yeah, I think what -- even Jason was asking that many questions. We were having dinner every night, and it was just nonstop learning, really.

It is very cool. I wish -- I hope I can get back into that situation, Olympics, and have that kind of team dinner and team aspect, and I'll ask her more questions. But she's been very good, and very lucky to have her as an Australian and a role model.