by The best triumph for the highest paid sportswoman in Australia was accompanied by something unusual. For the Usually Private and Impassive Minjee Lee – after winning his third major in the PGA female championship near her second house in Dallas, Texas – tears had a glimpse of her recent pain.
In relation: Australia Minjee Lee wins the third historic major in the female PGA championship
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A race without 19 months victory. A collapse in US Open last year. An adoption of the broom putter, a very public symbol that everything was not correct. But these experiences have been recorded in the past after having pulled a putt by 18 at Frisco. “It’s very different, because I have the impression of having a lot of doubt in recent years,” she said. “I think it just means a little more for me.”
The Western Australian won three shots to win 2.8 million dollars and only became the third Australian golfer to claim three different major championships after Karrie Webb and Jan Stephenson. Even Greg Norman found only major success in a single tournament, The Open Championship, in his two victories.
Lee coach Ritchie Smith said it can be difficult to understand how Lee had reached. “It’s a golden era for female golf course, and it’s still great,” he said. “It’s difficult for me to say, because I am his coach and I am partial. I don’t think she’s just a big golf course, I think she is a great Australian sport.”
The tastes of ASH Barty, Sam Kerr, Lauren Jackson, Ellyse Perry and Stephanie Gilmore have been recognized as the most efficient female athletes in Australia over the past decade, all as a standard carrier in world competitive sports. But while Lee had increased to become the second row golfer in the world by 2019, his profile – at least in Australia – was not at the same level as his peers. Apart from male majors, golf does not have the same cut or wide appeal as the other codes, and when it reaches a wider Australian conscience, it is generally thanks to the achievements of the stars of the PGA such as Adam Scott or the winner of the Championship Open 2022 Cameron Smith. Lee’s soft way and reserved behavior is also lower than a natural advertising adjustment.
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His profile was even challenged by her younger brother Min Woo, now the best classified male golfer in Australia. He has become a legitimate star on the PGA Male Tour in the past two years, with an impetuous social media status reinforced by a flow of celebrities colaabs.
But over 11 years on the LPGA tour, Minjee’s earnings are still overshadowing the price won by her brother and approach 20 million US dollars. Even if the young Lee spends this figure, he will certainly not end his career with something near the list of his achievements. Minjee Lee is only the fifth active player to have won three majors alongside Lydia Ko, Yani Tseng, in Gee Chun and Anna Nordqvist, and only Ko is younger.
The Australian knows that she should have had another too, after having led by three shots in the last round of the US Open last year before she “exploded” – as she described later – to finish ninth. During the many years of Lee as a professional, Smith observed how she manages the defeat with disappointment and more with embarrassment, and the open result of the United States was almost as bad as possible. On the highest scene in sport, Lee was fully exposed.
“To capitulate the way she did it last year, it had a really negative effect on her,” said Smith. “So, to reinvest in really being in a vulnerable position like that, it takes a long time, and that is what people do not understand. She is risky to be vulnerable in front of a whole bunch of people, and I could not be more proud to be honest, because it is a frightening proposal.”
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Lee was questioned by the host at the trophy ceremony if she now wants to adopt the longer putter “a little earlier”. She laughed and said “no”. It was recognition of the importance of his recent adversity.
Rather than simply biomechanical, Smith said that Lee had undergone a psychological change. “She was so kept and stoic for her whole career,” he said. “And now, if you look at her, her interview at the end of the round, there were real emotions, she shed a tear – which is probably the first time she does.”
Smith thinks that the process means that Lee can now be happier in sport. “All of his” being “revolved around being a very good golfer, but when you get out of the way emotionally a little, then suddenly you can be the person you want to be. And I don’t know if you notice it, but she smiles much more now. ”
Lee admits that criticism affected him. “The more I heard, like the media and the others who say things about my putting, I think it happened to me more and more over time.” However, this difficult period is now over. Again winner, Lee said that the triumph of this week – highlighted by a champagne shower on the 18th green delivered by those who know his difficulties – was “my most deserved”.
