Min Woo Lee remains the man to catch at Royal Queensland GC after extending his lead to three shots after 54 holes at the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship.
The Australian continued to set the pace and then pulled away from the pack during the third round at Royal Queensland GC, carding seven birdies and two bogeys on his way to a second consecutive round of 66.
“I again played pretty solid,” Lee said following his round.
“A couple of mistakes but that happens. But overall, pretty happy with the way I went today.
Starting fast for the third day in a row, Lee's first approach shot of the day bounced next to the pin and he rolled it in for an opening birdie, which was a feat he then repeated with another superb wedge shot into the par-four third to go two under through three.
His only real mistakes in an otherwise impressive round came at both of the front-nine par threes. He dropped his first shot at the fourth, but quickly bounced back with lengthy birdie putts at five and seven before handing another one back to the course at the eighth.
Displaying excellent control with his wedge game, Lee ran one in low after pulling his tee shot left at the driveable par-four 12th to set up birdie number five, then just missed an eagle chance at the 15th before flighting one in to inside ten feet a hole later, which he walked in to move three ahead.
For a second day that part of his game helped him to great par saves over the final two holes, particularly delighting home crowds at the par-three party hole 17th with an up and down that was followed by a thunderclap gesture to the fans.
"I expected myself to play pretty well," Lee reflected on his day.
"I’ve been hitting the ball so well all year and the results have been there. I just feel like it was just a couple of moments that I stuffed up, like on 8 today, I pulled an iron where I can look back and just hit a 7-iron and draw it off the right side and not be in the trees on the left. Stuff like that, I think everything’s been pretty up to par with how I think I’m going and how I have been going. Yeah, that’s pretty much it. It’s just those little moments.
"I hit a 4-iron there {at the 15th]. We were in between hitting hybrid onto the green, because it was soft or 4-iron and I decided to just hit a low draw because I was pretty confident with the 4-iron. I thought I pulled it just a little bit but the way I’m swinging it right now, the draws aren’t really drawing, they’re just little draws. So it came out perfect and it rolled up and had like a 10-footer. I thought it would be a bit straighter than what it was and just missed it."
Currently 45th on the Official World Golf Ranking, Lee has already had a successful year on the course but admits that there is still one goal he hasn't managed to achieve: Victory on the DP World Tour.
Having broken through for his first professional win at the 2020 ISPS Handa Vic Open, Lee achieved more success a year later with a memorable Rolex Series victory at the 2021 Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club.
Since then, he has so far been unable to convert strong results into victories on the DP World Tour, but does head into tomorrow with confidence thanks to his third professional victory at the Macao Open on the Asian Tour last month.
With sights set on ending the year with a title, Lee says his plan is to stay aggressive over the final 18 holes.
"At the end of last week the season technically ended but the year hasn’t ended and I wanted a win on the DP World Tour, so it was in the back of my mind and I wanted to win. So yeah, it will be amazing. Any win’s awesome. I have the potential to win but I’ve only had three wins, so it’s not like it comes off. Any time you win it’s an amazing feeling.
"I mean yeah, again, tomorrow’s just another day and hopefully I can keep going. I can just control what I can do and if someone goes out there and shoots low, hopefully I’ve finished the day happy with the way I played.
"It’s a course where you can shoot low, so you’re going to be aggressive no matter what. There’s probably a couple of holes where you don’t need to hit driver where I did the last three days. It just all depends. It’s obviously score dependent but I’m here because I played aggressive and I played the way that the game plan has been. So, hopefully I can just do the same."
Three shots behind Lee on 14 under par is Rikuya Hoshino, who birdied six of his final eight holes to cap off a back-nine 29 and tie Scotsman Connor Syme for a round of the day seven under par 64 to surge through the leaderboard on moving day.
Adding to rounds of 67 and 68, the six-time Japan Tour winner's first outing in Australia has him firmly in contention to contend for a first DP World Tour title.
“My iron shots were the best, I hit them very close and I had a lot of chances," he said.
"It’s my first time in Australia, so I’m enjoying it. The atmosphere on the 17th hole is great, it’s the most exciting I’ve ever been a part of.
“I want to win on the DP World Tour, I expect a big result. I might be nervous, but I’ll try to sleep well.”
One shot behind him is Australian Curtis Luck on 13 under par, with Adam Scott two further back on 11 under. Syme, who shot a front nine of 30, enters the final round seven behind on 10 under with Lucas Herbert.
