PGA's Min Woo Lee teams with YouTube golf sensations Good Good in American Express pro-am
Wednesday is usually a laid-back day during The American Express week. Some of the PGA Tour pros are playing in a pro-am, while others are practicing on one of the three courses, and there is no television coverage or fans on site.
That's why it was surprising to see three cameramen surrounding Min Woo Lee and his amateur playing partners on the 18th green as they finished their pro-am round Wednesday afternoon at the Stadium Course at PGA West.
But as Lee did some quick social media interviews with his playing partners it became clear what was happening. Lee's amateur foursome were guys from the popular Good Good Golf YouTube Channel that has 1.4 million subscribers and is a celebration of the sport of golf.
Good Good Golf is a group of young guys who have fun playing, traveling around the world and bringing the sport they love to a much younger demographic.
"It was a cool experience for sure. It was nice to play with guys my age and that I can relate to a little more," said Lee, a 25-year-old rising star on the PGA Tour from Perth, Australia by way of South Korea. "I've known of them the last couple of years since they've blown up and reached out to them on social media, and I've always wanted to do a video with them, but there was no time. Today it all worked out."
Lee, who has won four pro events across the European and Asian tours and whose sister is LPGA player Minjee Lee, is a social media star in his own right with 413,000 Instagram followers and 150,000 more fans on TikTok.
He loves what the Good Good squad is doing for the sport.
"They're hitting this age range of like 18 to 30, young people that are starting to get into golf and it's amazing for the sport," Lee said. "It only boosts the game. A lot of people love Good Good, and it's nice to collab with them."
This marks the second time in recent months that Good Good has been in the Coachella Valley. One of their recent videos showed six of their guys facing off against six members of the Coachella Valley Firebirds in a match at The Lights in Indio, the play-under-the-lights night golf course.
Lee said he wasn't sure when the video from Wednesday's pro-am would be up on YouTube. His playing partners on Wednesday were listed as Stephen Castaneda, Garrett Clark, Brad Dalke and Matt Scharff, all part of the Good Good family.
Lee caught the attention of many PGA fans last year when he finished tied for fifth at the U.S. Open and was in the final group on Sunday at The Players Championship with Scottie Scheffler. When he starts play Thursday at The American Express, it will be his 31st PGA event. He will be partnered with Tom Kim for the first three days of the tournament in La Quinta, California.
This marks his first trip to the Southern California desert, and he's been getting a taste of extreme weather lately.
"The weather's unbelievable. It's my first time in America this time of the year, which is weird, I guess. I was in Vancouver last week and I saw snow for the first time, outside the car, so that was pretty cool. Normally, I'm in Australia or Dubai where it's 100 degrees," he said. "This week's going to be fun. I know there's a lot of birdies and the scoring's really low, but you've still got to play really well, and hit your drives well and wedge it close."
Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: American Express: YouTube golfers Good Good play in pro-am with PGA star
