Dane Heverin – Golf Australia
Fresh off her record-breaking triumph at the US Women’s Open, Minjee Lee has her sights on more major titles and an Australian Open victory to complete the holy trinity of Australian amateur and professional golf.
The world number three is yet to formally commit to the return of the national open at Victoria and Kingston Heath Golf Club’s this December, but Australian golf fans will be buoyed by how highly Lee regards possibly lifting the Patricia Bridges Bowl.
“There is no greater honour than winning your national open. I won the Aussie Junior and the Aussie Am, and the Aussie Open would top it off. Hopefully I can make it, but we’ll see how it fits into my schedule,” the 26-year-old said.
Lee debuted at the national tournament as a 14-year-old amateur in 2011 and has only missed one edition since, 2012. Her best result was a tie for third in 2017 and that title is clearly the missing piece in her career puzzle.
She is now in a highly exclusive club with Karrie Webb, Peter Thomson, Jan Stephenson, Greg Norman and David Graham as Australians to win multiple major championships, but she is the only member of that group without an Australian Open crown.
It also adds an intriguing layer to her push for the world number one mantle. Korean Jin Young Ko (world no.1), American Nelly Korda (world no.2), Lee and New Zealander Lydia Ko (world no.4) are the current big four of women’s golf, and yet again the West Australian is the only one not to have won the Australian Open.
The Australian public are wary of only seeing our brightest sporting stars for a short amount of time following the retirement of two-time tennis grand slam champion Ash Barty, but Lee will be putting on a show for years to come.
“I’m not sure in terms of how long I want to play yet. Obviously, you just take it day-by-day and maybe one day I’ll wake up and not want to play and be like Ash Barty. But I don’t see myself retiring anytime soon,” she said.
“I have a lot of things I still want to accomplish and things I want to do in golf.”
In addition to winning the Australian Open someday, a career slam is top of the list of those things she wants to complete in golf.
“I definitely want to win the other three majors,” Lee, who won the Evian Championship last year, said.
“I’m not sure when that is going to be but hopefully, I can make it happen soon. We have three left in our season so hopefully I can have a good run there.”
There is little time to rest for Lee as she chases that dream at the next women’s major – the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship which compatriot Hannah Green won in 2019 – which tees off in a little more than two weeks on June 23.
