Australia’s Minjee Lee claimed her 10th LPGA Tour title at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea following a playoff victory over Alison Lee.
Both Minjee and Alison held the lead at various points throughout the final day’s play at Seowon Hills Country Club, with the American out in front at the turn before her Australian namesake chiselled out a two-shot advantage with just a couple of holes to go.
As Minjee sat helpless in the clubhouse on 16-under, her rival closed to within one courtesy of a birdie on 17 prior to sending the event into extra holes with a superb approach and birdie putt on 18 too.
But after Alison was unable to repeat her heroics in the playoff, Minjee swooped in to take the title via a sublime iron into the green and a clutch winning putt down the hill.
Defending champion - and Korean-born New Zealander - Lydia Ko ended third on 14-under while last week’s LPGA Tour winner, Angel Yin, scooped fourth on 13-under.
A playoff win for @minjeegolf!She earns her 10th Tour win in Korea! 🇰🇷FULL LEADERBOARD ⬇️ https://t.co/kpEybmp0ZIOctober 22, 2023
After mixed results in playoffs at this year’s Founders Cup and Kroger Queen City Championship - Lee won the latter against Charley Hull but lost to Jin Young Ko in the former - the Australian was delighted to call on recent experience to help push her over the line this time.
Lee said: “Well, I think it was my fourth playoff this year, so you know, I'm becoming pretty used to those. Obviously I've known Alison quite a while. I actually played her in the final at the U.S. Girls' Junior, which I kind of thought back to when I was on the tee there. I was like, this kind of feels familiar.
“It's nice to be able to play against somebody that you know and especially with such great talent, and it's always fun to go head-to-head with the best. I mean, I just went out on the tee there and was like let's just hit the fairway and hit a good shot in and hit a good putt. That was pretty much my thought process for the playoff hole, and it was nice to be able to make a birdie there.”
Clutch birdie putt by Alison Lee forced a playoff, but in the end, Minjee Lee was victorious after the 73rd hole 👀Here's how the final moments went down! pic.twitter.com/iVIUVlJ4o4October 22, 2023
Joining Collin Morikawa as weekend winners who were able to celebrate in a country which holds such meaning to their family, heritage-wise, Lee admitted it had always been a dream of hers to land silverware in the Republic of Korea.
She said: “Yeah, out of all the places, Korea was always at the top of my list because my parents are Korean and I have a heritage to Korea. This one is special, and especially having all of my family and extended family and friends coming out to cheer for me today, it was really cool to see them on the sidelines when I was walking down. It was great that I was able to win today.”
Minjee’s success arrived a week after her brother Min Woo - set to feature on the PGA Tour next year - landed the Macau Open on the Asian Tour.
Asked if her sibling’s win added any extra fuel to achieve one of her own, Minjee said: “Yeah, obviously it was great to see Min Woo win. I follow him every single event. I mean, I'd never say it to his face but he plays really well and I'm always really proud of him.
“Sure, it was a little motivation, and I knew I was coming in with pretty good form coming off last week. Yeah, I feel like I've been working up to this one and really building on this win.”
