Min Woo Lee's golf coach Ritchie Smith reflects on tutoring Australia's man of the moment
Min Woo Lee is attracting attention for his golfing prowess and his big personality. (AAP: Dan Himbrechts)
Min Woo Lee has shot into the public eye following his brilliant win at the Australia PGA Championship a week ago and his now-iconic chef's hat celebration and Viking clap engagement with the crowd in Brisbane.
He is on track to win a second consecutive title in Australia, sitting atop the leaderboard at the Australian Open in Sydney, where big crowds have followed him from hole to hole.
His coach is not surprised by the celebrity that has landed on the shoulders of the 25-year-old.
"The Min Woo I know is exactly the one that you see on the TV," Ritchie Smith, who coaches Lee at Royal Fremantle Golf Club, told ABC Grandstand.
"I think he's really just being authentic to the person that he is.
"I'm really happy that he's actually being himself and he actually gets a real buzz from that sort of thing.
"That's the sort of person that he is. He's trying to engage and he's trying to bring people through the gates and he's trying to have fun while he's doing it, and I think it's working.
"I think people really love him."
Ritchie Smith says the Min Woo Lee he knows is exactly like the one seen on television. (AAP/PGA of Australia)
'He's painful sometimes'
Smith started coaching Lee when he was 14, and recalls the teenager being his own character from the beginning.
"He's fun, he's exciting. He's painful sometimes as well, in that he doesn't train the way that I like him to train," he said.
"He was always the kid that was at the other end of the driving range away from me, trying to play shots around trees and compete with his mates."
Lee's rise has been a long time coming. He won the US Junior Amateur title in 2016 before turning professional three years later.
Ritchie says it is an exciting time in Min Woo Lee's career. (AAP: Dan Himbrechts)
But he's taken his game to another level in 2023, finishing fifth at the US Open before producing his most recent form.
Lee will play on the US PGA Tour in 2024, which brings both opportunities and challenges.
"It's an exciting time. There'll be some challenges because, obviously, it's a bigger stage, but I think he's capable," Smith said.
"I see opportunity, to be honest."