Min Woo Lee credits "weird" situation for fast start at PGA Tour's season finale

Min Woo Lee believes his playing partner's early withdrawal at the Tour Championship played a part in his fast start at the PGA Tour's season finale.

The 28-year-old was playing the first round of the $40m event at East Lake alongside America's J.J. Spaun but the former U.S. Open champion had to withdraw after six holes with a shoulder injury. 

That left Lee playing all by himself and the Australian played the remaining 12 holes in 6-under to card an opening 62, two clear of Chris Gotterup, Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa. 

Masters champion Rory McIlroy is six shots behind Lee, while world number one and pre-tournament favourite Scottie Scheffler trails by three after birdieing his final two holes to card a 65.

"It was a little bit weird," said Lee of Spaun's withdrawal. "I hope J.J.'s okay, first of all. It's pretty sad to see. 

"You get all the way out here, and you can't play, and that just sucks for the whole team and obviously yourself.

"It was a little strange at first, just like looking for a playing partner and you're just there by yourself. 

"It was more just maintaining speeds and not rushing because I would just catch the group in front and wait. 

"So I had to just slow down a little bit. It worked out."

Lee captured his fist PGA Tour title in 2025 at the Texas Children's Houston Open but stepping into the winner's circle this week and collecting the $10m top prize would undeniably represent the biggest victory of his career.

Results over the past two weeks have been disappointing, with Lee finishing tied for 47th in the 50-man field at the BMW Championship and 55th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

But he was determined to begin this week with a good attitude. 

"It was probably the saddest I've been on the golf course, which is not good," he said. 

"We're really lucky to be out here and play some good golf to get into the playoffs. It just felt so hard.

"It just got to a point where I was looking at what's in the bags of everyone else and trying to find out what to do and ended up changing shafts before the week, on the Tuesday. 

"Even my team was very hesitant about it, but the results were really good when I did practice with it, and it was nice to hit shots that I saw out there, and it was really good.

"That was probably the biggest part of the good scoring. 

"Didn't miss it in wrong spots, missed them in the right spots, and holed some putts."