Minjee Lee (born 27 May 1996) is an Australian

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

from

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. She became the number one ranked amateur golfer in February 2014 after winning the Oates Victorian Open, remaining number one until turning professional in September 2014. On 25 July 2021, Lee won her first major championship, the Amundi Evian Championship. On 5 June 2022, she won her second major championship, the

U.S. Women's Open The U.S. Women's Open is one of 15 national golf championships conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), is the oldest of the LPGA Tour's five major championships, which includes the Chevron Championship, Women's PGA Championship, ...

Amateur career

In 2010, Lee became the youngest winner of the WA Amateur Open while still a year 9 student at

Methodist Ladies' College, Perth Methodist Ladies' College, Perth (MLC Perth), is an independent, Uniting Church, day and boarding school for girls, in Claremont, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Founded by the Methodist Church of Australia in 1907, MLC is ...

. At the start of 2012, she was moved from MLC to Corpus Christi College, to be closer to Royal Fremantle Golf Club. She left Corpus Christi in 2013. Lee was the winner of the 2012

U.S. Girls' Junior The U.S. Girls' Junior is one of the fifteen U.S. national golf championships organized by the United States Golf Association. It is open to amateur girls who are under 19 on the last day of the competition and have a USGA handicap index of 9.4 o ...

. She won the Australian Women's Amateur in 2013 and successfully defended the title in 2014. Lee became the number one ranked amateur golfer on 26 February 2014 after winning the Oates Victorian Open on the

ALPG Tour The WPGA Tour of Australasia, formerly known as the ALPG Tour, is a professional golf tour for women which is based in Australia. WPGA stands for Women's Professional Golfers' Association. The tour was founded as the Ladies Professional Golf Assoc ...

. She remained the number one ranked amateur golfer until she turned professional in September 2014 after leading the Australia team that won the

Espirito Santo Trophy The Espirito Santo Trophy (World Women's Amateur Team Championships) is a biennial world amateur team golf championship for women organised by the International Golf Federation. The inaugural event was held in 1964. It was instituted by the Fren ...

Professional career

2015

On 18 May 2015, Lee gained her first

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

victory at the

Kingsmill Championship The Pure Silk Championship was a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour, played in Williamsburg, Virginia. The 72-hole tournament was held on the par-71 River Course at Kingsmill Resort, set at in 2013 LPGA Tour, 2013. Previo ...

2016

In 2016, she won the

Lotte Championship The Lotte Championship is a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour. It debuted in April 2012 at the Ko Olina Golf Club in Kapolei, Hawaii. The title sponsor of the tournament is Lotte, an industrial conglomerate based in South K ...

in April, and the

Blue Bay LPGA The Blue Bay LPGA is a women's professional golf tournament in China on the LPGA Tour. It debuted in October 2014 at Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course on Hainan Island Hainan is an island province and the southernmost province of China. It co ...

in October. Lee represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the women's golf competition at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, finishing in a tie for 7th.

2018

In April 2018, she lost the

LPGA Mediheal Championship The LPGA Mediheal Championship is a women's professional golf tournament in California on the LPGA Tour. A new event in 2018, it was held at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, an adjacent suburb south of San Francisco. The course hosted the S ...

in a playoff to

Lydia Ko Dame Lydia Ko (born 24 April 1997) is a New Zealand professional golfer, member of the LPGA Hall of Fame, and the reigning Olympic champion. She first reached number one in the Women's World Golf Rankings on 2 February 2015 at of age, makin ...

, then on 27 May 2018, won the LPGA Volvik Championship. Lee finished 2018 ranked second on the money list with $1,551,032 in earnings, finishing second in scoring average with 69.75 shots per round. She also became the first woman to win the Greg Norman Medal for being the best Australian professional golfer on the world stage.

2019

On 28 April 2019, Lee won the Hugel-Air Premia LA Open, her fifth LPGA Tour victory. By late the following month, she had risen to number two in the

Women's World Golf Rankings The Women's World Golf Rankings, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Rolex Rankings, were introduced in February 2006. They are sanctioned by 12 women's golf tours and the organisations behind them: Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPG ...

, but in her home country she still had such a low profile that she was described by ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' as the "Invisible Champion of Australia".

2021

On 25 July 2021, Lee won her first major championship, the Amundi Evian Championship, by coming from seven strokes behind in the final round and defeating Lee Jeong-eun on the first playoff hole. Lee qualified for the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

and competed in the women's competition. She scored −4 across the four rounds and finished 29th, out of medal contention.

2022

She won her seventh LPGA Tour event, the Cognizant Founders Cup, on 15 May 2022, beating

Lexi Thompson Alexis Noel Thompson (born February 10, 1995) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. At age 12 in 2007 U.S. Women's Open, 2007, she was the youngest golfer ever to qualify to play in the U.S. Women's Open, since broken b ...

by two strokes, 269 (19-under-par) to Thompson's 271. Her final round of 70 was the only one she did not have in the 60s. The start of the final round was delayed by an hour because of fog. She was ranked fifth in the world before her win, just behind fourth-ranked

Atthaya Thitikul Atthaya Thitikul (, , ; born 20 February 2003), also Jeeno Thitikul, is a Thai professional golfer who plays on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour. Until 2023, she was the youngest golfer ever to win a professional golf tournam ...

who finished the final round with a 63, good for a tie for eighth place at 13-under-par. Her eighth LPGA Tour win, the

on 5 June 2022, earned her the largest payday to date in women's golf history, $1.8 million of the $10 million total purse. Lee won by four strokes over Mina Harigae, who received $1,080,000. This was the first occasion in a women's golf tournament where there were two prizes in excess of $1 million. Lee set a new record of 271, and led Harigae by three strokes after 54 holes. On 15 November, she won the season-long Aon Risk Reward Challenge and $1,000,000 for the

2022 LPGA Tour The 2022 LPGA Tour was the 73rd edition of the LPGA Tour, a series of professional golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world. The season began at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, in Lake Buena Vista, Flor ...

season. This challenge selects one hole in every participating event and designates it as the Aon Risk Reward hole for that week. The challenge rewards the player who has the best two scores from every participating event that a player competes in throughout the season, measured by the lowest average score to par on these holes.

Personal life

Lee's parents, Soonam and Clara Lee, were both from

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, and emigrated to Australia in the early 1990s. Lee's younger brother,

Min Woo Lee Min Woo Lee (born 27 July 1998) is an Australian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the European Tour. He won the 2020 ISPS Handa Vic Open, the 2021 Abrdn Scottish Open and the 2023 Fortinet Australian PGA Championship on the Eur ...

, won the 2016 U.S. Junior Amateur, making them the first brother/sister pair to win the

USGA The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

's junior championships.

Amateur wins

*2010 Western Australia Women's Amateur *2011 Handa Junior Masters, Western Australia Women's Amateur, Singapore Ladies Amateur, Srixon International Junior Classic, Tasmanian Stroke Play Championship *2012

, Tasmanian Stroke Play Championship *2013 Australian Women's Amateur, Western Australia Women's Amateur, Rene Erichsen Salver, Australian Girls' Amateur, Dunes Medal *2014 Australian Women's Amateur

Professional wins (13)

LPGA Tour wins (10)

LPGA Tour playoff record (3–3)

Ladies European Tour wins (2)

Co-sanctioned by the

. LET playoff record (1–0)

ALPG Tour wins (2)

Lee won the 2014 Oates Vic Open as an amateur.
Co-sanctioned by the

Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. Most of the players on the tour are European, with members from more than 40 countries internationally. Despite its name, the tour also has tournaments in A ...

Major championships

Wins (2)

Results timeline

''Results not in chronological order before 2019 or in 2020.'' LA = low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
"T" = tied

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 20 (2019 British – 2023 British) *Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (three times)

LPGA Tour career summary

^{^} Official as of 11 May 2025

World ranking

Position in

at the end of each calendar year. ^ As of 5 May 2025

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing Australia):

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

(winners) * Astor Trophy (representing Australia): 2011 * Queen Sirikit Cup (representing Australia): 2013 (winners) Professional *

International Crown The Hanwha LifePlus International Crown is a biennial women's professional team golf tournament on the LPGA Tour. Eight national teams of four players each (32 players in total) participate in the match play event. Beginning in 2025, the field ...

(representing Australia):

(as an amateur),

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Minjee Australian female golfers LPGA Tour golfers Winners of LPGA major golf championships Olympic golfers for Australia Golfers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Golfers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Golfers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Australian people of Korean descent Golfers from Perth, Western Australia Sportswomen from Western Australia 1996 births Living people 21st-century Australian sportswomen

Amateur career

Professional career

2015

2016

2018

2019

2021

2022

Personal life

Amateur wins

Professional wins (13)

LPGA Tour wins (10)

Ladies European Tour wins (2)

ALPG Tour wins (2)

Major championships

Wins (2)

Results timeline

Summary

LPGA Tour career summary

World ranking

Team appearances

See also

References

External links