Min Woo Lee fired a final-round 68 to claim victory at the 2023 Australian PGA Championship.
Highlighted by a chip-in eagle on the ninth hole, Lee finished the tournament on 20 under, three clear of Rikuya Hoshino (68), who posted 17 under.
“That was probably the best atmosphere shot I’ve ever hit … one of the best shots of my life,” said Lee, 25. “I probably haven’t screamed louder than that ever.
“That was definitely the turning point and I felt really good about it.”
On the 18th tee, the 25-year-old Aussie donned a chef’s hat in a nod to his ‘Let Him Cook’ motto and clapped along with the home crowd before drilling his final tee shot down the middle of the fairway. He would find a greenside bunker and close with a bogey to finish two short of the tournament record of 22-under.
The win at Brisbane’s Royal Queensland was the fourth of Lee’s career.
“It’s No.1 for sure. Scottish (Open) was big, Vic Open’s big but right now this is the top in front of Australia, my family,” he said referencing his previous main triumphs.
“It was special. I’ve been waiting for so long to play really well in Australia. I knew it was coming, it was just a ‘when’ question.”
Marc Leishman carded a Sunday round of 7-under 64 to jump into third place on 16 under, one better than Curtis Luck (69).
Highlighted by an ace on the fourth hole, Joaquin Niemann (67) finished solo fifth on 13 under, one ahead of Adam Scott (70) who posted rounds of 71 and 70 on the weekend to fall out of contention, continuing his nearly four-year win drought.
Defending champion Cameron Smith opened with rounds of 73 and 78 and missed the cut. He will tee it up this week in Sydney for the Australian Open.
Associated Press contributed to this recap.
