Min Woo Lee is looking to defend his Houston Open title this week, and he’s in a great position to do so.
The Australian, in search of his second PGA Tour win, is four shots off the leading Gary Woodland heading into the weekend at nine-under par. He shot a phenomenal second round 63 to thrust himself into contention.
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But despite his Friday performance, which featured a clean scorecard with five birdies and an eagle, Lee has a complaint about the golf course which he has blamed for a couple of wayward shots.
Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images
Min Woo Lee’s complaint about the fairways at Memorial Park
Lee said after his opening round that he was pulling shots with his irons. When asked about this after his second round on Friday, Lee blamed the length of the grass on the fairways.
He said, “I probably only pulled one or two today, and yesterday I felt like I pulled 90 percent of my shots. And they all felt like good swings, which was a bit strange so I thought there was something up there.
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“Yeah, just thought the fairway was — there’s a little bit more growth on it than the range and balls were I guess teed up a tiny bit, and for a drawer, you want the ball to start right but mine was starting a lot straighter than I wanted to.
“Yeah, just something to keep in the back of my head. Yeah, today was a bit better.”
It seems that no matter what the issue was, he’s on top of it now and ready to challenge the top of the leaderboard once again at this event.
Min Woo Lee targets one area for improvement at the Houston Open
“Dr Chipinski” is usually clinical around the greens, but that hasn’t been the case so far this week in Houston. Statistically, he’s played well around the greens, but Lee said he’s still looking to hone in on his chipping.
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He said, “I would say my chipping wasn’t actually that good yesterday so I did a bit of chipping yesterday. The lies are kind of awkward. The ball seems like it’s sitting up, but there’s a little bit of grain and a little bit of thatchiness into the grass.
“You can see like a few guys, when they — even such a simple chip, you think it’s pretty easy but it comes out with no spin and it rolls out. Maybe same as chipping, I did clean it up a little bit today, but yeah, if that can be tidy and my approach play can be solid, I think it will be fine.”
Lee gained 1.93 strokes around the green during his second round, which is much improved from Thursday, when he actually lost 0.35 strokes.
Clearly, it took some time for him to become accustomed to the conditions, but his poor play with his wedges was unlikely to continue with his elite feel around the greens.
