‘A great of Australian sport’: how Minjee Lee rose to top in a golden era of women’s golf

Australia’s highest-paid female athlete has undergone both biomechanical and psychological change to recover from a meltdown a year ago

RISE TO THE TOP: Minjee Lee poses with the trophy after winning the KPMG Women's PGA Championship 2025. Pic: Sam Hodde/Getty Images

THE finest triumph for Australia’s highest-paid sportswoman was accompanied by something unusual. For the usually private, impassive Minjee Lee – after winning her third major at the Women’s PGA Championship near her second home in Dallas, Texas – tears were a glimpse into her recent pain.

A 19-month winless run. A collapse at last year’s US Open. An adoption of the broomstick putter, a very public symbol that everything was not right. But those experiences were consigned to the past after sinking a par putt on 18 in Frisco.