Min Woo Lee admits he did something that was ‘unacceptable’ during the final round at the Houston Open despite winning the tournament

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Min Woo Lee is finally a PGA Tour winner, with the Australian emerging victorious at the Houston Open.

Lee is proud of his ‘unbelievable’ win at the Houston Open, where he edged out Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland.

He finished on 20-under at Memorial Park Golf Course, with the American duo both finishing on 19-under at the latest PGA Tour event.

Lee has been tipped as a Masters long shot, with the first major championship of 2025 returning to Augusta National early next month.

He carded rounds of 66, 64, 63 and 67 in Houston, with Lee only just managing to hold off Scheffler and Woodland.

Min Woo Lee highlights ‘unacceptable’ shot on way to Houston Open win

And that pressure was mentioned in his winning press conference, where the winner was asked if he felt doubt on the back nine, especially on 16, where his drive found a pond on the right.

“You know, I didn’t feel doubt for most of it just because for some reason this week I just wanted to be as mentally strong as I can,” he replied.

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“That’s… now I know that’s what it takes, it is a grind. Not doubt, I think maybe just a little… a little different tee box kind of, you know, shifted my target.

“It’s a pretty similar shot that I was trying to hit on 16 and 8 and I managed to hit that right shot. The last couple days I kind of hit it left, so I wanted to just hit a little fade.

“It was pretty much the exact same feeling, got in front of it, club face open, toe ball right and it’s like 50 yards right, which is unacceptable. That’s something that I’ll work on with my coach.

“But that’s good, I mean, I don’t really hit that shot very often, but now it’s a tendency on that shot. So this was exactly the same downwind and trying to cut it a little bit.”

Min Woo Lee ‘proud’ to hold off Scottie Scheffler for maiden PGA Tour title

Lee bogeyed the 16th in his final round, with his six on the par-five seeing him drop to three-under for the day.

Back-to-back pars kept him on that total, with Scheffler and Woodland finishing strong on the Sunday with rounds of seven and eight-under respectively.

Asked if he checked the leaderboard during that final round charge from his rivals, Lee responded: “Yeah, yeah.

READ MORE: PGA Tour player left ‘upset’ after what Min Woo Lee did during the final round of the Houston Open

“Obviously Scottie’s right in front of me. It was a bit of a backup so we were waiting every hole. Scottie is Scottie.

“He made, I don’t know, four birdies in a row, I think three or four birdies in a row. I think I didn’t really not care, but I didn’t… I just focused on myself for a lot of it until probably 16 when I hit it in the water.

“I kind of wanted to know where I was. I was two shots in front, then I made bogey, he made birdie, then I was only one shot.

“Obviously he’s a great golfer, and I was just looking forward to if he made birdie on the next couple holes.

“I know it’s two tough holes. No. 17 you can play aggressive, but I had a 7-iron in there and that’s not necessarily an easy par, but I hit it in the right spot on both 17 and 18 and yeah, got the job done.

“But yes, I did. That’s why Sundays are so tough, you know people are creeping and you know people are attacking.”

And asked what he has now learned about his capacity for composure in such situations, the new PGA Tour winner said: “You know, that’s… that was probably the one time in the round that I was facing a little trouble and again, so proud of the way I handled myself the last two holes.

“They’re not a snack, they’re not easy. If the tees were up on 17, it’s a much kind of easier hole to make par.

“You know, I think yeah, I don’t know, ‘proud’ is the word throughout this press conference I think. That’s the one thing that I needed to do to get over the hump, yeah.”