Who is Minjee Lee? 5 things to know about the Australian golfer

Minjee Lee, 27, is currently one of the top stars in women's golf and occupies the fifth spot in the Rolex Rankings. She has eight LPGA Tour wins, with two of them in majors. Prior to that, she had an outstanding career as an amateur.

Born in Perth, Australia, Lee developed as an amateur in her country, although she participated in international events with excellent results.

Since she is going to be a key player on the scene in times to come, there is bound to be more curiosity about her.

So, here are five things to know about this extraordinary player:

#1 Minjee Lee began to shine at a very young age

At the age of 14, she won the prestigious WA Amateur Open tournament and at 16, she won the U.S. Girls Junior.

In the same year (2013), Minjee Lee won the Australian Women's Amateur. As if all of the above were not enough, she returned to the Women's Amateur the following year to win it once again.

Before she turned 18 she was already No.1 in the World Amateur rankings.

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#2 She has represented Australia greatly

In 2012 and 2014 she was called up to represent Australia at the Women's World Amateur Teams Championship. On the first occasion, the 16-year-old Minjee Lee and the Australian team finished third, tied with Finland.

In the 2014 edition, the rising star led the Aussies to the gold medal, after defeating Canada by two strokes.

Lee has also represented Australia at two Olympic Games. At Rio 2016, Lee finished T7, while at Tokyo 2020 (2021) she missed out on the medal discussion, finishing T29.

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#3 Lee won her first LPGA tournament eight months after becoming pro

Lee officially turned professional in September 2014, although she had participated in several LPGA Tour tournaments since 2013. In fact, for the purposes of the circuit, her rookie season is 2015.

Her first LPGA Tour victory came less than eight months after turning pro - winning the 2015 Kingsmill Championship presented by JTBC. That season she struck another blow by being cut in only five of the 29 tournaments played.

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#4 She has won two majors

Lee has won two major tournaments - the 2021 Amundi Evian Championship and the 2022 U.S. Women's Open presented by ProMedica. The first of these victories is well remembered because Minjee Lee staged a spectacular comeback by overcoming a seven-shot deficit to force a playoff, which she eventually won.

The other victories in her LPGA Tour career are the 2016 Lotte Championship and Blue Bay LPGA; the 2018 LPGA Volvik Championship, the 2019 Hugel-Air Premia LA Open, and the Cognizant Founders Cup.

Minjee Lee at the 2023 Mizuho Americas Open (Image via Getty).

#5 Only 19 cuts in 201 LPGA tournaments played

Beyond her victories, Minjee Lee's performance stands out for its stability. It's suffice to say that, out of 201 tournaments played in her LPGA Tour career, she has only been cut 19 times.

In addition to playing on the LPGA Tour, Lee has also played on the Ladies European Tour. There she won two tournaments - the 2018 Oates Victorian Open and the 2020 Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic.

Currently, Lee is participating in the inaugural edition of the Mizuho Americas Open. With the second round still to conclude, she leads the leaderboard tied with American Cheyenne Knight with an overall of -7.