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Woo! Despite misstep on No. 4, Lee closes 2023 Players Championship strong

juston lewis, florida times-union
·3 min read

Even eight strokes back as he approached the 18th hole, Min Woo Lee flashed a smile and pumped up the crowd. His mistake on No. 4 derailed his day.

After starting two strokes back from eventual champion Scottie Scheffler, his tie for sixth doesn’t exactly illustrate his tournament.

Min Woo Lee reacts after sinking his birdie putt on 17 during final round action of The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, Sunday, March 12, 2023. Scottie Scheffler won out with a final 17 under par, a 5 stroke lead over the next closer competitor. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]
Min Woo Lee reacts after sinking his birdie putt on 17 during final round action of The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, Sunday, March 12, 2023. Scottie Scheffler won out with a final 17 under par, a 5 stroke lead over the next closer competitor. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]

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He started Thursday with cramps, needing a physical therapist to assist him after he strained his right leg on hole 15.

By Sunday’s end, fans were bellowing “Woo!” loudly after every tee shot for the 24-year-old Australian. His teal colored shirt on Sunday potentially endeared even more of the Jacksonville-area fans as he aligned with the color scheme of the hometown Jaguars.

Fans celebrate as Min Woo Lee leaves the green on hole 17 after his birdie on the island hole during final round action of The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, Sunday, March 12, 2023. Scottie Scheffler won out with a final 17 under par, a 5 stroke lead over the next closer competitor. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]
Fans celebrate as Min Woo Lee leaves the green on hole 17 after his birdie on the island hole during final round action of The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, Sunday, March 12, 2023. Scottie Scheffler won out with a final 17 under par, a 5 stroke lead over the next closer competitor. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]

Still, no cheer was louder than the support he received after sinking a birdie at No. 17.

“There's so many people around 16, 17, 18, which is an unbelievable scene” he said after his final round. “It's hard to engage the crowd when you've just made triple bogey and double bogies and you're trying to keep your head up high. But just for a second there you just have to stop and really look at the crowd and you're here for a reason and you've done really well and, yeah, that was probably the most people I've ever seen on one hole, on 17, so it was pretty cool.”

Lee finished his tournament 8-under 280 after shooting 4 over on Sunday. The slide started on the fourth hole where he double-bogeyed and gave Scheffler the breathing room he needed as the pair made their way through the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

Before his double-bogey, he owned a share of the lead as Scheffler bogeyed on the third hole and opened the door for what could’ve been a back-and-forth affair.

Min Woo Lee hits from the bunker of hole 14 during the fourth and final round of The Players golf tournament Sunday, March 12, 2023 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Scottie Scheffler of Dallas won the tournament at 17 under par with Tyrell Hatton at 12 under par as runner-up. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]
Min Woo Lee hits from the bunker of hole 14 during the fourth and final round of The Players golf tournament Sunday, March 12, 2023 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Scottie Scheffler of Dallas won the tournament at 17 under par with Tyrell Hatton at 12 under par as runner-up. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]

“It's one of those things where it's Sunday and you just make a couple bad decisions and it all kind of falls down,” Lee said when asked about what happened at No. 4. “But I hung in there pretty well. I didn't have it all today. It's funny how yesterday I felt like I had the best swing in the world, and then today I just felt like nothing could go right.”

Min Woo Lee hits from the rough on hole 11, which he double bogeyed during the fourth and final round of The Players golf tournament Sunday, March 12, 2023 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Scottie Scheffler of Dallas won the tournament at 17 under par with Tyrell Hatton at 12 under par as runner-up. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]
Min Woo Lee hits from the rough on hole 11, which he double bogeyed during the fourth and final round of The Players golf tournament Sunday, March 12, 2023 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Scottie Scheffler of Dallas won the tournament at 17 under par with Tyrell Hatton at 12 under par as runner-up. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]

Lee recovered on No. 7 with a birdie, but immediately bogeyed on No. 8. He double-bogeyed again on No. 11 and bogeyed on No. 14 as he slid down the leaderboard.

He could’ve slipped completely from the top-10 but shot par, birdie, birdie, on his next three holes. His bogey at the 18th hole dropped him from a tie for fifth to a tie for sixth.

“I'm pretty proud of the result and I think it will take me a long way," Lee said. "It could have been a lot worse. That's for sure.”

Juston Lewis is a sports reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on Twitter at @JustonLewis_.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Players Championship 2023: Min Woo Lee closes strong at TPC, eyes pga bid