Australian Min Jee Lee is closing in on the women's top golf ranking after claiming the Founders Cup by two strokes.
The Perth native knocked down three birdies on the back nine at New Jersey's Upper Montclair Country Club to overcome a nervous final round and hold off American Lexi Thompson.
The world No. 5 finished at 19-under par to claim her seventh LPGA title and return to the winner's circle after last July's breakthrough win at the Evian Championship, women's golf's fifth major.
With five top 15 finishes on the tour this season so far, the 25-year-old was happy with the way she was playing heading into this week's tournament and felt a win was just around the corner.
“I just feel like I‘ve kind of been trending. I’ve been hitting it really, really well this whole season, and I just felt like it was kind of around the corner," Lee said after winning the Founders Cup.
“I kept knocking on the door, and here I am now. I finished with a win this week.”
Lee was the standout in the field earlier in the event, firing with a nine-under second round that included eight birdies.
However, she faced a nervous finish to the event with the final round the only time she shot in the 70s as Thompson did her best to unsettle Lee down the stretch with a share of the lead after 10 holes.
The Aussie came up clutch, however, with birdies on 12, 14 and 18 to see out the lead for victory.
“I wasn’t really that nervous, but obviously I wasn’t striking it as well as I wanted to,” Lee said of her nervous finish.
“But at the end of the day I still got the job done, so I’m happy.”
A clutch birdie on the 72nd hole.@minjeegolf with ice in her veins. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/fK53TmZap5
— LPGA (@LPGA) May 16, 2022
Lee took some time away from her own game to caddy for her brother Min Woo Lee in April's Masters, who was playing for the first time Augusta.
Reflecting on her win at Upper Montclair, she said it was the freshen-up she needed with the women's US Open just around the corner.
“I don’t really get to watch the men or even my brother play that much, so just to be (at Augusta) and to be able to experience the Masters with him, it was really cool,” the Western Australian said.
“I was pretty refreshed after that, and then I also had a week off before playing L.A. so I could do all my practice and do all my prep before those two weeks.
“It was just nice to not have to think about my golf and I was just kind of focused on watching him."
Looming as one of the favourites, Lee will hope to take the momentum of her victory this week into next month's Open in pursuit of a second major title.
“I obviously want to play well at the U.S. Open. That‘s one of my all-time favourite events. I’ll just go in having -- I’m going to play in Vegas. I’ll see how I go there and do a little bit of playing prep, take the momentum into -- the playing momentum into the Open."
The winning putt 🏆@minjeegolf is now a 7x LPGA Tour winner! 👏 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/D2xrsYydKA
— LPGA (@LPGA) May 15, 2022
