PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 14, 2026

Min Woo Lee

Aronimink Golf Club

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Min Woo Lee is with us now at the 108th PGA Championship. Min Woo, a great start for you today. How would you summarize your opening round?

MIN WOO LEE: Played great. Drove the ball really well. I think every major you have to, but especially this course, the rough is pretty juicy, and you don't want to attack the greens over in the rough just because you can get some fliers or you can get some lies that sit down.

So drove it really well and pretty happy with that side of the game. I thought I played pretty solid all day, didn't get myself in too much trouble. There's tough holes out there, of course, but yeah, played really well.

Q. A few players have mentioned they thought the hole location, the pins were pretty good today. Were you pleasantly surprised?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, there was a couple pins that were on hills and they were tough, but I don't think -- I think we have a lot of wedges in our hands. So you have to put them in pretty tough positions or else it will get, I guess, very scorable.

I think they did a really good job on putting them in tough positions, enough to think about it coming into the greens. Yeah, it's a course where you don't want to leave it in bad positions just because it can bite you in the butt pretty quick. So I think they did a really good job.

Q. A couple guys talking about how tough the rough is out there. Where did you find it the most difficult? Would it be around the green, or was it something from off the tee?

MIN WOO LEE: I would say -- I mean, I wasn't in the rough too much. So it's quite nice to answer that question.

Q. Everybody's in it some.

MIN WOO LEE: Around the greens is kind of tough. I think you've got to get somewhat lucky. You don't want to -- it can be unpredictable. The ones that sit down, you give it a little bit more, and then it just jumps. Then the ones that sit up, you think it's going to come out hard, and it comes out soft.

Obviously it comes down to a lot of feel and practice. You can get some gnarly lies out there, especially around the greens. Again, you just need to miss them in the right spots. If you have enough space, you can roll them off the greens.

It's nice that it doesn't spin too much out of there, it just rolls out. So if you do have room, you can -- as long as you have a landing spot, it's just going to go forward.

Very tough as well with the approach play. You've got to hit it in the right spots, and you've got to aim for 30 feet, 40 feet, and try to two-putt and move on. But that's what you expect at a major.

Q. Would you be surprised if there were too many guys that got better than 3-under? It seems pretty tough.

MIN WOO LEE: I think someone may shoot lower than that. I'm not sure what the wind is now. I don't know if it's going to get stronger. I wouldn't be surprised if someone shoots 4- or 5-under. I think, if you're driving the ball and you're a great iron player and you hole some putts, I think you can do it.

I feel like I hit it really good but missed a couple putts that I could have holed. Obviously we would like to hole all our putts, but I think -- I wouldn't be surprised.

Q. Majors are what everybody's striving to win and looking to peak their games at the four times in the year. Unfortunately, you've had kind of a string of not making the cuts or whatever. How does it feel to put yourself in this position after the first round here today?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, it's great. I think we're all trying to get off to a good start. I think over the last few months I haven't done that.

I think just a little bit of a mindset change, go out there and be aggressive instead of -- you know that saying of you can shoot yourself out of a Thursday, but I think I've nearly taken that too far and played a little bit conservative. I'm hitting the ball really good, so why not go at some pins and make some putts?

It's great to start off well. We're all trying to do that. It's tough, but I think it was kind of the right time to put the foot on the pedal a little bit and hit some shots that needed to be more aggressive than not.