The ‘terrible’ shot which denied Min Woo Lee the chance to wrap up the Texas Children’s Houston Open title on Saturday

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With Scottie Scheffler going into the halfway stage of the Texas Children’s Houston Open with the lead, many would have envisaged the world number one using Saturday to extend his lead and get one hand on the trophy.

While Scottie Scheffler seemed to be making putts from everywhere on Friday, the third round was less kind to the Masters champion. Instead, it was Min Woo Lee who stole the show to close in on his first ever PGA Tour victory.

Lee shot a seven under par 63 to take a four shot lead at the Texas Children’s Houston Open. At one stage, the Australian had enjoyed a run of taking just nine putts in nine holes.

However, it could have been even better.

Questions asked of Min Woo Lee despite his commanding lead at the Texas Children’s Houston Open

Lee had made all seven of his birdies before the 15th hole. It appeared entirely possible that he could have flirted with posting a 60 with a par five and a very short par four ahead.

But it seems that some spotted a change in Lee’s mentality for the final handful of holes. Speaking on Golf Channel, Mark Rolfing felt that the 26-year-old missed a fantastic opportunity.

“It’s kind of interesting. He was so aggressive pretty much all day long, just hitting incredible shots, especially his approach shots. Drove the ball all over the place on some of the holes, but doesn’t really matter out there. But I felt like 16 and 17, he played very tentatively,” he said.

“He’s got the big lead all of a sudden now. Here he is at the 16th, this is a terrible putt right here, this kind of wipe to the right, I didn’t like that one at all. So the easiest hole, par five, kind of lets that one get away from him. And then 17 was drivable today, didn’t particularly play this hole really very aggressive. And I felt like this lead could have been six or seven shots, this tournament could have been effectively over had he sort of grabbed it and taken hold of it.”

Min Woo Lee’s outstanding third round stats as Australian looks to secure first PGA Tour victory

Lee has always had the talent to win on the PGA Tour. He was so impressive at times in 2024 as he looked to fight his way into the signature events. He finished inside the top 30 at the three of the four major championships.

But taking that final step has proved tricky. On some of the bigger stages, Lee has almost lost that swagger and composure, including at the Presidents Cup where little seemed to go right for him on the first day before he only featured again in the singles at Royal Montreal.

It is no surprise therefore, that Lee did perform well in all strokes gained categories on Saturday. His worst area was off the tee, and he was still inside the top 25.

But the challenge will now be handling the pressure of being the player everyone else, including Scheffler, is hunting down.

While the chasing pack have no choice but to attack, Lee faces a trickier decision over whether to stick or twist.