Golf showman Min Woo Lee pleaded with fans to tone it down before sending the masses back into a frenzy on an electric afternoon at the Australian Open in Sydney.
Lee is firmly on track to complete a golden winning double of Australia’s two flagship summer events after seizing a commanding three-shot halfway lead at the Open with a sublime second-round 64 at The Australian on Friday.
The freshly crowned Australian PGA Championship winner ignited the big gallery following the game’s new superstar when he holed out from a greenside bunker on the par-3 fourth before continuing his birdie blitz with five more plus an eagle in a magical 11-hole stretch.
While he iced his round with a tap-in eagle at the last, after knocking his dazzling mid-iron approach from the pine needles to within a metre, the defining moment of Lee’s round came on the par-4 16th.
About to putt, Lee pulled back, gestured to spectators to shush before coolly resetting and draining a 4-metre putt, prompting a deafening roar from his legion of fans.
He offered a thankyou to the crowd after surging ahead of Scot Connor Syme on a truly cosmopolitan leaderboard.
“It’s the person I am,” Lee said of the colourful exchange.
“I have always been the centre-of-attention kind of person. It’s nice and they’re responsive and they react to whatever I do.
“It’s always what I dreamed of as a little kid. Social media is a massive part of who I am and it’s nice to get that big support.
“I didn’t think that we could beat last week’s crowd (in Brisbane) but we’ve nearly done it before the weekend. It’s unreal and it has been really fun.”
Five different nationalities feature in the top seven on the leaderboard.
At 12 under, Lee looks in control with his three-stroke buffer over Syme, who posted a 70 at The Lakes, and American Patrick Rodgers, who had 70 at The Australian, where the last two rounds will be played.
Chilean star Joaquín Niemann and Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas, who both posted 69s at The Lakes, and veteran Australian Sam Brazel, after a 65 at The Australian, are all eight under.
Australians Jeffrey Guan (66, The Lakes) and Sam Jones (67, The Australian) are among a bunch of players five shots adrift of Lee. who is vowing to keep his foot to the floor over the weekend.
“People know who I am, I’m pretty true to myself and I don’t back out from anything,” he said.
“I’m an aggressive player and I’ve always been that way. I will still be aggressive as much as I can.”
After being in danger of missing the halfway cut, heavyweight home hopes Adam Scott and Cameron Smith both survived the chop and will enter the final two rounds at The Australian at four under.
Smith ruefully threw a ball in the lake after bogeying the penultimate hole in his three-under 68 playing alongside Lee, while Scott carded a 68 at The Lakes.
Smith concedes Lee will take plenty of catching but is not throwing in the towel just yet.
“It’s going to take my best to even get close and maybe even a little bit of help,” he said.
“But there’s still lots of golf left and I feel after how I played today, I can still make a run at least.”
In the women’s event, a trio of international stars are threatening to extend the home title drought to a decade after Minjee Lee and company tumbled down the leaderboard with deflating second rounds.
Korea’s two-time major winner Jiyai Shin nicked the halfway lead from South Africa’s defending champion Ashleigh Buhai with two late birdies in a four-under 68 at The Australian.
Shin will enter the weekend at nine under and two shots clear of Buhai, who had enjoyed the clubhouse lead for more than 4 hours following a morning 70 at The Lakes.
Another Korean, Jenny Shin, is sitting in solo third at six under after a 73 at The Lakes.
Legendary four-time champion Karrie Webb is the only Australian to have won the Open in the past quarter of a century and home hopes this year appear to be resting on three exciting young amateurs.
While surprise teenage overnight co-leader Rachel Lee slipped 10 shots behind with a second-round 79 at The Australian, Queensland pair Justice Bosio and Sarah Hammett, and South Australia’s Caitlin Peirce are well in the mix.
Bosio (69, The Lakes) is fourth at four under, with Hammett and Peirce sharing fifth a shot further back after rounds of 71 and 69 respectively at The Australian.
While not out of it, Steph Kyriacou’s prospects nosedived with a 75 at The Australian that left the Sydney local eight strokes off the pace.
Minjee Lee is back level with the card alongside fellow Australian major winner Hannah Green (73, The Lakes) after shooting the same score as her playing partner Kyriacou.
AAP