HOUSTON – Min Woo Lee tipped in to lead the birdie, then left Scotty Schaeffler and everyone else on Saturday at a 7-under 63, giving him a four-shot lead at the Houston Open as Australia closes with his first PGA Tour victory.
Schaeffler started the third round with a one-shot lead, stuck in neutral at Memorial Park, birdie only birdie on par 5, and missed some putts in 6ft range and fell to five shots at 69.
Lee, the 26-year-old brother of LPGA major champion Minjee Lee, turned the leaderboard bound around the turn into a major separation.
He had eight consecutive one-putt greens, but some of them started quickly with the green, allowing him to putt.
“It’s all clicking, so I feel really good about it,” Lee said.
Lee, who has three European tour titles and one Asian tour title, was 193 under 17 years old. He was four shots than Argentina’s Alejandro Tosti.
Schaeffler was five shots along with Ryan Fox (65) and Ryan Gerald (68). Rory McIlroy was the first to tee off in 10th place with two tees starting, making a slow eagle with 66, and was eight shots behind.
Schaeffler made the tournament’s first bogey on the fourth hole when he pitched too hard over the green. Worse than Bogey, he hadn’t made anything, at least when he had the opportunity to close the gap.
He had a 15-foot Eagle putt in par 5 16th place, so he stopped him from falling. Reachable par 4 On the 17th he weakly exploded from the front bunker, missing a 12-foot birdie chance and a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th had no chance.
“I feel like I stopped a bunch of putts yesterday,” said Schaeffler, who came out of 62.
Davis Thompson spiked early to catch Schaeffler before settling down. After that, Schaeffler, Lee and Taylor Pendris’ tops became tight. And with a birdie burst, Lee had the stage herself.
It began by missing the green in the sixth hole with a wedge, but Lee lived in his nickname by drilling a hole in the chip to go one before Schaeffler. And he quickly continued on, making four birdies with six holes stretches from close to the ace of the ninth hole.
As Lee was unable to take advantage of the range of birdie chance closures at Memorial Park, he extended the lead to six shots until the player chasing him made a bit of ground. He went from 70 feet three times on a par 5, 16th place par, and the 301-yard drive on the 17th was near the grandstand, leaving a touch tip at 15 feet with a two-putt par.
But he was pleased with a long day of work. Lee had to go back early on Saturday and drilled several holes to complete the rainy third round, and he was put in the final group along with Schaeffler and Pendris. He was wiped out by the end of the day.
“I need to go back to bed,” Lee said. “But that might be something I have to do. I might have to do two warm-ups, two physical sessions. And I might be able to shoot seven at all times. No, it was a lot of fun and overall it was very solid.”
Lee is already in the Master since he was in the top 50 in the world at the end of last year. A trip to Augusta National is on a crisis on Sunday for Michael Kim and Ben Griffin.
Kim was tied to 29th place. This should be enough for him to break the top 50. Griffin was tied up to 41st place and did a bit of work on Sunday.