West Australian teenager Minjee Lee gave plenty for hometown fans to cheer about on Sunday in the absence of defending champion Karrie Webb at the Australian Ladies Masters.
The 17-year-old threatened to spoil the victory party of American Cheyenne Woods as she made a final-round charge at the Royal Pines course on the Gold Coast.
Lee belied her relative inexperience as she charged to a share of the lead midway through her final round, scoring a hat-trick of birdies late in her front nine to spark hopes of a sensational tournament win.
In the end, Woods found the edge to claim a two-shot win but Lee heads to next week’s Australian Open at the Victoria Golf Club on a high after firmly announcing herself to the golfing world.
“I haven’t really been in this situation before,” Lee said.
“I’m happy with how I played today and, yeah, hopefully there’s many more to come.”
The two-time Australian Amateur champion says she’s in no rush to turn professional as she embarks on a gap year following the completion of high school last year.
Several tournaments including next week’s Australian Open in Victoria are on her radar as is a plan to tackle the US LPGA’s Q-school at the end of the year.
If her calm and confident display in the pressure cooker of the leading group on a Sunday at the Ladies Masters is anything to go by, Lee’s 2014 could be a year to remember.
“I’m playing Vic Open the week after (the Australian Open),” she said.
“Then I’m going to China for the World Ladies Championship and then, after that, hopefully I can go to the States and get some starts on LPGA (events).”