With a total makeover, LPGA star Minjee Lee is making it big in Los Angeles
With a total makeover, LPGA star Minjee Lee is making it big in Los Angeles
Los Angeles is a town that's seen its share of total makeovers through the years. LPGA star Minjee Lee is just taking L.A. to an extreme.
Over the course of the last few months, Lee has now changed her:
Putter
Caddie
Wedges
Driver
Results
Lee put a new long putter in the bag for her debut at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and rolled to a career-best 10-under 62 in the closing round. And the Odyssey Square 2 Square No. 7 has shown no signs of slowing up, as is evidenced by Lee's 65 on Friday during the second round of the 2025 JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro at El Caballero Country Club.
The 28-year-old Australian holed a number of lengthy putts, looking mighty comfortable with a piece of equipment that's still new to her arsenal.
With the performance, Lee jumped to the top of the leaderboard when she finished with a two-day score of 12 under. When asked what she's been working on most, Lee, who already has a second-place finish this season at the Blue Bay LPGA, said it's been a little bit of everything.
"Obviously, my putting because I've changed to the long putter since the beginning of the year. But a bit more on like my long game, my driver, and just the accuracy, I guess," she said. "I'm always constantly working on my same patterns to get a little bit better every day. I might not be at 100 percent, but if I can get it to 85 to 90, I'm pretty much good on the course. Just really working on a few of my patterns and just trying to get that little bit better every day."
The 10-time LPGA winner noted after her round that she's also switched to the Opus wedges, meaning she has all Callaway clubs in her bag. Lee is also seeing solid results with the new Elite driver.
Even with all the changes, she's felt right at home with her gear, as much as she has with the Southern California mood.
"I think at Wilshire it really reminded me of the Melbourne Sand Belt kind of vibe, but out here it's different. I'm not really sure," she said. "I like L.A. and I like the West Coast, so it just reminds me a little bit more of home for some reason. Maybe that's why. A little bit of home."
Minjee could surpass 2024 earnings with a win
Although there's plenty of work still to be done, Lee could surpass her entire 2024 earnings with a victory this week. Through her first five events, Lee has already netted $414,700 and the winner this week takes home $562,500. Lee earned $881,900 in 21 starts in 2024.
"I feel like I've been improving week in, week out. I think I've been getting better every time I've been playing. I think having a little bit longer stretch of events I can get some momentum," she said. "I'm really looking forward to obviously the end of this week and then the three that I'm playing coming up.
"Hopefully, I can play well and get some momentum leading up to the U.S. Open and all the other majors."
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