Min Woo Lee can begin aiming for Olympic gold after his greatest end as a full-time participant on the PGA Tour propelled him to a career-high rating and inside touching distance of qualification for Paris.
After horrible climate in Florida pressured the Cognizant Basic right into a Monday end, Lee put a surprising error earlier than play was halted on Sunday behind him to shut with a four-under spherical of 67.
It was the identical last spherical rating as winner Austin Eckroat, however he was three photographs forward, leaving the Australian star in a tie for second, amassing a $1.2m payday.
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Regardless of falling brief in his pursuit of a breakthrough PGA Tour win, Lee will soar to world No.31 within the rankings reshuffle, with solely Jason Day (19) forward of him within the Australian pecking order amid solutions the Queenslander received’t be taking over his Olympic spot.
With Cameron Smith dropping to No.50, Lee is now within the field seat to hitch his celebrity sister, Minjee, within the inexperienced and gold.
An added bonus for Lee is entry into the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill this week.
“My supervisor Brent signed me up for that yesterday and I noticed it on the e-mail, and I do know he tried to do it on the low, however I did see it come by means of the e-mail saying that I used to be signed up for it simply in case I do – I believe it was a solo third. I knew that earlier than final night time that I wanted to play like that,” he mentioned.
“Yeah, it’s superb. I used to be excited about it coming down the stretch. Clearly, excited about the win, however yeah, was a extremely proud second as we speak.”
Lee, who was the topic of the ABC’s Australian Story along with his sister on Monday night time, knew he had work to do to reel in Eckroat, and the climate delay and Monday end performed on his thoughts.
“I really feel like with the rain delays, I really feel like that’s almost occurred each week up to now. Clearly, the climate hasn’t been co-operative whereas we’ve performed,” he mentioned.
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“It was hectic but additionally I wanted to only hold my head within the sport. I don’t actually have that many Monday finishes. It was fairly robust to regroup and lock in.
“Final night time I used to be simply on my telephone for a pair hours similar to, what am I doing, I have to get sleep. It felt prefer it was the tip of the event, however we had one other 12 hours of golf to play.”
Lee may but be joined in Paris by Smith, who has singled out enjoying effectively within the three majors earlier than the qualification cut-off to attempt to make a second Olympics.