Minjee Lee overwhelmingly wins US Women’s Open

The tournament takes place on the par71 course in the Pine Needles golf complex with a prize fund of 10 million USD. Lee hit 67-66-67 respectively to set a new total stroke record (200) over three rounds in 76 years of US Women’s Open history, better than the old record by one stroke. With that record, Lee scored -13 and monopolized the first place with a three-stroke advantage over second-placed Harigae, while next opponent Bronte Law was at -7.

In the 4th round, Lee and Harigae in the last group, starting from the 1st hole. Lee wore a banana green shirt, the right chest and left shoulder had the words “WAAC” (Win At All Cost) – “win at all costs”.

With two early birdies, Lee went -15, leading Harigae by five strokes. Then Lee returned to -13 at half-time due to two bogeys. However, the Australian golfer’s advantage became four strokes, thanks to Harigae remaining -9 because of the bogey on the 7th hole. On hole 11, Lee kept par and accidentally widened the gap when Harigae finished bogey.

On the next hole, Lee took a birdie from a 2.7-meter put, and Harigae kept par. At this point, Lee is up -14 leading to six strokes. At hole 15, Harigae got the first birdie in the finish line. It gets her to -9 but the disadvantage stays the same because Lee also birdie. However, the remaining three holes, Lee “reversed” himself when bogey-par-bogey respectively and closed the score at -13.

Harigae, with a three-par streak, couldn’t keep up this mark. She finished second at -9, receiving $ 1,080,000. Before the US Women’s Open 2022, Harigae had gone through 47 major championships and had never entered the top 10 final. The 32-year-old golfer has not been able to win the championship after more than 10 years on the LPGA Tour. Two years ago, Harigae even had to work hard to secure a place as well as pay for the cost of the first-class American women’s golf arena. In the summer of 2020 – the year of the Covid-19 outbreak, Harigae only had about $2,000 left in her account. At that time, the LPGA Tour was closed because of the epidemic.

And Lee holds the championship prize of $ 1.8 million from this year’s US Women’s Open.

“”My country’s women’s golf movement is thriving. I hope this victory will be a model and more motivation for the world in this sport,” Lee said at the award ceremony.

The moment Minjee Lee won the US Women’s Open

With a par (- 71 strokes) in the final round, Lee also set a new peak in overall total (271) in US Women’s Open history. The old benchmark in this statistic is at 272, with two owners including 1996 champion Annika Sorenstam also at the Pine Needles, and Inskter finished first with a -16 on Old Waverly par72 while also holding the championship points record against par. yard in 1999.

Besides the US Women’s Open 2022, Lee is 26 years old, and has the 2021 Evian Championship major and six LPGA Tour championships. Adding Lee, the American Golf Association major recorded three Australian champions, alongside Jan Stephenson and Karrie Webb.

Lee has a 23-year-old brother Min Woo, who owns two DP World Tour Cups (the new name of the European Tour).

Quoc Huy