Perth siblings Minjee and Min Woo Lee are golf stars on the rise, driven by a friendly rivalry to become the world’s No 1 female and male golfer, respectively.
But they couldn’t be more different in personality and how they approach the game.
Minjee is an introvert by nature, happy to shun the limelight, while the extroverted Min Woo is considered a breath of fresh air in the staid world of golf, with his swashbuckling style and huge social media presence.
Australian Story followed Minjee and Min Woo as they competed in the Women’s and Men’s Australian Open late last year, giving a rare glimpse into the lives of the sibling superstars and the extraordinary pressure that golfers endure at the highest levels of the game.
Subscribe: https://ab.co/3yqPOZ5
This full Australian Story on ABC iview https://bit.ly/453avHb
#AustralianStory #MinWooLee #MinjeeLee
____________________________________________________
Watch more Australian Story documentaries here: https://bit.ly/36ABH2J
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/abcaustralianstory
About Australian Story: The power of the personal. Compelling stories about real people that illuminate, entertain and inspire. New episodes are available every Monday 8pm (AEST).
ABC News In-depth takes you deeper on the big stories, with long-form journalism from Four Corners, Foreign Correspondent, Australian Story, Planet America and more, and explainers from ABC News Video Lab.
Watch more ABC News content ad-free on ABC iview: https://ab.co/2OB7Mk1
For more from ABC News, click here: https://ab.co/2kxYCZY
Like ABC News on Facebook: / abcnews.au
Follow ABC News on Instagram: / abcnews_au
Follow ABC News on X: / abcnews
M Lee is known as one of the very best players in the world of golf she’s been in the top 10 in the women’s rankings for a long time M’s brother mwu is a rising star who’s just cracked the top 50 in the world and he’s a real
Personality they are the star je over string golf at the Moment now M’s the Elder of the peir and she’s certainly got his measure in golf he doesn’t like to think so sometimes we’re very competitive I mean I’m inwardly and he’s outwardly yeah I never want to lose we’ve seen him grow up with his sister almost in her shadow in a way so
I think that competition comes from a really healthy sibling rivalry the Rivalry is bigger for him I think he he likes that it’s a bit of motivation for him and it’s motivation for me too I think they push each other I think that you know without one their performances probably wouldn’t be as
Good they’re highly driven highly demanding of themselves they want to succeed Okay you’re happy to hand your forehead’s like super clear it’s like double pimple I hate that I have that too it’s like you pop it and the P comes out and then there’s another one yeah acne it’s a human problem it’s okay yeah we’re spreading we’re spreading we all
Have it yeah we always say that M and Men We like ying and yang in one hand we have the the scientist almost the crazy scientist she’s so disciplined so demanding willing to explore every Avenue and then on the other hand you have the artist who doesn’t give a rats
About the science they want to play with Flare and and be expressive and just have fun a lot of people would describe me as a squiggly line and my sister was a dead straight line I didn’t really want to practice I really I just wanted to play
With my friends and he’s very talented very skillful um for me it’s more learned meni and menu are very very different uh menu is a complete extrovert well meni is an introvert by Nature they’re two totally different people playing a totally different ways but having as much success as each other amazing Situation the Australian Open is a massive golf tournament for both the men and the women it’s kind of the Holy Grail to their careers so there’s an enormous amount of expectations placed on the top Australian golfers to perform in the Australian Open M Lee has a great chance of winning
This event she’s in good form top five player in the world but no Aussie woman has won the Australian Open since 201 14 the Australian Open has always been the biggest hurdle I’d say um because I think I do put more pressure especially on like myself you know it’s been so
Many years and I haven’t even been close I think Australian in open is the one that she really wants she’s been playing well this last half of the year so it’s definitely not Out Of Reach it’s almost a battle against herself minwu had just won the Australian PGA
Championship in Brisbane and it was his first real major win in Australia so he arrived at the Australian Open as the odds on favorite to win and a lot of pressure and expectations and of course you know the big question was can he do
The dub or can he go back to back I know this week’s as important as last week so I’m feeling pretty good obviously if I can play similar golf um I’ll be up right up there so um I’m looking forward to it it is a very tough sport to master
To choose this sport as a career is crazy to excel at it is incredible and to have two people from the same family is just Extraordinary my parents are from South Korea they got married in South Korea and then they came over to live in Perth like pretty much before I was born mom she was a golf instructor and my dad was was a swimming teacher in Korea and then when he came over here he
Did panel beating when we were little I don’t know if minu and I were that that close we’re probably closer now than just cuz we’re a bit more mature I think we a lot yeah always lot yeah I always annoyed Mii and she always got pissed off at me
So I think I was much more mature for my age especially being the firstborn to a Korean background family I felt like I needed to set the T you yeah like set to be a good role model and just um do kind of do a lot of things right maybe that’s
Why M was in my eyes he was so naughty but um yeah in a way what little kid is meant to be yeah in a way like Mii didn’t react well to things so I as an annoying thing so I loved staring at staring the a little bit I still do that
To my friends and family I still do that our parents played a lot of sport and we were just always around that energy and competitive Vibe I think the competitiveness they were very super competitive we had the desire to win which um was was a big thing Yeah the first time we came to ro for Mano was probably when I was around 8 or 9 years old you going to flick some out was I meant to was I going to hit this one or this one uh that one this one I met her on a
Driving race somewhere and thing I notic about Mii is she’s stuck to task not too high with that upper arm just keep the elbow down yeah so when you talk to her she looked at you in a way that she was taking everything in but she didn’t say
Much and then she goes and does it okay let’s just get some bit bit more structure through those shoulders they’re just looking a little bit okay she hit it great she hit it great but she would work you she’s 12 years old at the time and she’s doing 60 a
Practice week but she’s also exceptionally smart and almost Ducks of a year at school so you know that’s not a normal human I don’t do anything halfway like if I’m going to do something I’ll put my 100% into it so when I came to practice I was serious mom claraa was originally a
Coach coach her from a younger age so she was fairly involved claraa used to come to every lesson that we did up until maybe the age of 15 and then I went to the states for the first time Beni [Applause] Lee the Aussie wins the 64th us girls junior
Championship she was the first ever Australian to win the US girls junior which was a massive deal I really wanted it badly so I just picked up my performance you think there’s going to be a few more these USGA championships in your future definitely yep uh I’m coming I’m coming
And that really put her on the radar not only of Australians but Americans as well and and from there her career really just sort of took off and Blossomed yeah I started when I was about eight years old you know joined here at Ro Freo when I was a kid it was always an old man sport you know wearing tucked in pants and stuff like that menw is a cheeky uh funny competitive little bugger but he’s a RI a Kid minw was talented even when he was little he was always trying to um you you know games with his friend and do all the cool stuff you know like show Off if mimo didn’t train as hard as Mii then people would think well there’s a reason why he isn’t as good when someone’s so good at it in your family you don’t really want to do it I was good but I wasn’t like you know
On her level so it kind of I was in a shadow you know from such a young age it was like Mino is mind’s brother or something like mind’s brother Mino or something like that so I think the more you hear it the more he felt like
That I would say that at the age of 14 there was no way in the world men was going to be a golfer just treat golf as a bit of fun but I think a switch flicked when he was about 15 and he started to take a bit more
Seriously soon enough he started coming down with Mii with me and yeah started to improve both of them improve by being together as mwo started to become an elite teenage Amor he started competing in America and he won the US boys Junior which is really the US Open for kids then this is
Yours it’s down in history that we’re brothers and sisters that went won the same tournament so it’s it feels great and from there minwu’s career just launched no golf event is easy to win in a sport like golf you lose far more often than you win they’re big fields you’re up against
150 OD other golfers in most tournaments and the reality is they’re all trying to win a lot of money and of course there’s your own nerves as well the first on the team from wa M Le I think I just go into the event quite nervous you just really want to
Win for your supporters and also just win for yourself in your home country I am it’s often said like you know the the the most challenging golf course in the world is the 6-in course between your ears uh and and that mental game is really what separates the good players
From the great players back to Mii Le Mii started poorly in her first round at the Australian Open her putting was letting her down just never quite had the assertiveness required to roll smoothly she appeared hesitant at times making mistakes she wouldn’t otherwise make that’s what everyone did yesterday
Missed it to the right and the pressure was certainly building across those first couple of rounds she had a day like that nothing went in today m at the end of the first two days Mii was tied for 12 seven shots behind the lead it’s very tough to come from that
Far back after two days of golf especially against a very competitive field on the te we have from wa please welcome minu Lee on the first day of the Australian Open minu teed off just before his sister and he got off to a stronger
Start you kind of want to go out with a good mentality and feel like you don’t have too much expectation feel like that’s when you play good at the end of the day one shot at a time got to play as good as I can the crowd’s there for me
Awesome minwoo is really exciting he plays the game in a swashbuckling way minwoo from The Bu and it makes him really incredible to watch oh heck this what a shot what a player what a showman we saw minwoo try this incredible shot out of the pine straw
And hooked it over and around the water and onto the green and close the flag you are kidding me Min lead catch him if you can minwoo leads the field by three shots going into the weekend he’s placed really well he’s in superb form at all facets of his game so the
Pressure is on here now to hold that lead into Sunday I turn pro end of 2014 first four years felt like a blur cuz it just went by so quickly it was just like go go go joined the American tour and later mve to America and over the next seven years
She won frequently but hadn’t cracked that major championship yet the majors are gold Grand Slams if you like to use tennis par ANS and the winners of those events are generally the best of the best and the most Celebrated that’s always a tough situation to be in when when you’ve won quite a few times and then you’re deemed to be the best player not to have won a major uh it’s a tough tag to have there were articles like just regular people talking about it I was like it’s just
Like too much the Evan championship in France it’s one of the most sort of sought after Maes um you know sort of behind the women’s British Open and the US Women’s Open Evan was kind of unexpected like that year I wasn’t really having a great um first half of the
Year Mii wound up in a playoff with Le Jong-un and playoffs happen when players are tied after 72 holes they’re a really intense battle because it’s coming down to those last couple of players to try and win the title short putt from m Le to take the
Lead she’s never been this close to a major championship title the Aussie rules n Lee is finally a major Champion it just felt like it was a long time coming and it was more like I was happy but it was like relief as well just impressive golf today
It was massive like she wanted to be a major winner and she hadn’t been and winning Ean was a monkey off the back we saw her a year later in 2022 become the first Australian player since the great car web to win the US Women’s
Open when I was little that’s the one I always watched and the one I always wanted to win after she won I called and I got all emotional because I was just so proud of what she had done she just said like they were jumping out of their chairs
When I won so um it was pretty it was nice it was very nice the US Open high was so high like it went for a long time and it was actually kind of hard to reset my goals I know after the US Open she did
Struggle I just had maybe a year or so that I kind of wasn’t quite there so I was hearing from other players and caddies that you know you know I was asking what’s going on with Mii it was just like nothing was coming together and I couldn’t string together like four good
Rounds there’s something about golf you can’t control should be just a little off the right here for m there’s a lot of pressure when you’re in front of thousands of people playing and you know they expect you to hold it just sliding another one by you want
To be so good that you try so hard and you can’t do it and then you you’re so harsh on yourself in 2022 at the St open she missed you know 12 putts I think inside 3T she lost the toour because of her ping for sure I think everyone was anxious about
At that point yeah I think she was very anxious she knew that it could go south a well it already gone South and but it could go further south so we got to talk about it a little bit the struggles I think more just the expectations you think every single week
That you play is life and death and you have to be at your best every week and if you’re not it’s a failure um and so so um it’s tiring to live like that can you h a couple of puts first just make sure you got your speed right just to
Touch the dot no I want it to touch the metal bar behind the hole we certainly looked at every reason why the putting was being fixated on and then just put in a really strong training effort oh that was bad too it was never like oh I’m going to quit like I would
Never quit in anything I just kind of try to drive it out with more hard work so um I just put in a lot of hours jez that’s got better hasn’t it yeah like when the when I first started even like middle last year yeah she’s
Stuck to plan and she believed in what she was doing and she got the result well she’s 90% of the way just getting the result you know I turned Pro just before Co so I got to experience that lonely part cuz we couldn’t interact and be with other people as
Much yeah it wasn’t easy I kind of had to rely on social media from for some interaction and you know a lot of text messaging a lot of you know interacting with fans and Spectators so he gets better the more pressure is on when Co hit he went and
Played European to and no one was actually there at the events he was terrible I didn’t win for 2 years and um felt like I was doing all the right things but uh yeah a lot of losing in golf as soon as the crowds came back he
Came back and uh he’s starting to be the golfer that he he’s destined to be the irrepressible Min W Le St Swagger shot making and our outright leader at 12 under he is the man with the hot hand at the moment getting a chasing out though feeding up to the flag in for
Eagle men wo sensational and now he’s you know he’s moved up maybe 20 spots in the world rankings this year he’s had a couple of wins and he’s become competitive at the highest Levels I want to be the world number one golfer I think it’s definitely possible I definitely have the game and if I get more consistent and better and work on the right things tester here for his part which he makes mmu is a mark of his dream I think
You saw the crowds in a show respond to him his energy is is is it’s fun he’s cooking and he’s got the Thunder clamp going as well meu created this catchphrase let him cook it first appeared on his social media channels and basically what it means is be
Patient let him cook and something special will happen he’s got them up and about are you not entertained look at mimu Leo but he TAPS in for a win to remember Min W I like to call M will Le part of the post Tik Tok generation it’s really
Willing to interact with social media interact with the fans and post videos that give fans a back door and funny window into the world of professional golf because for so long it it has been so Serious M’s personality is very different to her brother she’s introverted she doesn’t chase the spotlight as much she doesn’t push herself on social media in the same sort of way she’s one of the greatest golfers ever in the history of Australia and and she’s not on the back pages maybe as
Often as she should be yeah she definitely deserves to be spoken about in the same conversation as a lot of the top female athletes and and she kind of gets left out of out of that conversation a little Bit I think she feels snub but she also recognizes that I don’t really go to my way to make an effort either so I get it would you like more support yeah absolutely I would want to do a bit more social media and things like that but it’s also a work in
Progress It’s like yeah it’s it’s hard like when you’re not that kind of person Yeah all the best final day of the Australian Open it was really windy so I was like oh I I might have a Chance at the start of the final day Mii was seven shots behind the leader which is a significant deficit to make up but she has one from there before this for birdie at the first that one in the middle don’t be surprised if she makes a run
Today M Lee here at the second down down the hill the far three backto back birdies Mii started very strongly in her final round hole by hole she closes the gap on the leader and we’re thinking okay here we go the winds are getting stronger here by the minute M Lee for
Birdie hello tracking tracking and in she continued to fight in those final holes and close the gap and she was still a chance right to the very end I’d love to put a heart rate monitor on players coming down the stretch surely they are nervous here’s M Le tring VI High by one
Unless she holds This so in the end Mii makes up all that ground to lose by one shot and M Lee run up [Applause] Here yeah overall I think I you know I did it I I had a good final day you know I still gave it my best shot like I always do I hope to win it one day and um that would be awesome just a 4r for minu Lee straight down a strengthening
Breeze here at number three had trouble here yesterday the Sunday morning of the Australian Open minw was was probably really feeling the pressure of he was all over the news he was in the lead all eyes were on him this one just out to the right as well this needs to
Carry it was like couldn’t sleep I was very like amped up because you know you in the lead and you think it could come easy but you know it’s even harder minwu faltered early he missed a few parts he otherwise should have made minw Lee going in the wrong direction on
Sunday and his frustrations are growing the conditions on Sunday were really tough and he just got sort of chased down by the pack Min woo with the driver minwoo had to nail that final hole to be a chance to stay in but hits his t- shot into the
Trees will come up at least one short here and he eventually finished third yeah Aussie open left a little sour taste in my mouth I thought I should have won that tournament too but um yeah it didn’t go my way I think you learn a lot of things
When you have a tougher time than learning things when you have a great time especially in golf like you fail a lot more times than you succeed or you win thank you than I very resilient I’m very patient you know golf teaches you to do that can I have a photo it’s a
Tough sport it’s not easy just don’t take it partially and little winds along the way I’ll be moving to America this year I’ve always wanted to do it as a little kid and um play on the American tour and um play against the best so uh it’ll be
Fun we have to acknowledge that they are not normal kids they go to work every day not knowing they’re going to get a paycheck so you know they both thrive in uncertain situations they are unsure every day of their life and what an amazing way to live and I think our end
Goal is to become you know the best player in the world so we are ongoing yeah are we are getting there and I’ve gotten close and um but I think I she’ll get she’ll get oh not you you think you can you will you’re just hopefully soon matter of time Yeah
