Min Woo Lee's fast-growing social media presence is helping his golf

Min Woo Lee’s fast-growing presence on social media has grown his on-course following and improved his scoring.

Min Woo Lee is currently inside the top five heading to the weekend of The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool, but don’t be fooled into thinking that means he takes himself too seriously.

The 24-year-old Australian has a fast-growing presence on TikTok and Instagram that is underpinned by its sense of fun, and it’s something that is quickly translating into impressive results on the biggest stage.

If golf has a breakout social media star of the year, Min Woo Lee is it.

The big-hitting World Number 47 is growing his fan base online and on the golf course with a catch phrase that he uses in captions, is shouted back to him on tee boxes, and floods his comments sections thanks to his dedicated fans.

“Let him cook” is the saying you’ll see if you click anywhere on his profile – something that took off after he posted it on TikTok - and in Min Woo’s own words, it simply means let him do his thing.

That’s definitely what he’s doing on his accounts, posting to his 210k followers on Instagram and 144.7k followers on TikTok. It’s clear he’s a professional golfer sharing the moments of his career on these platforms, but it comes with an added and unforced sense of entertainment. Expect stylistic filming, added clips or memes, great music, and plenty of good captions.

The two-time DP World Tour winner said he’s enjoying creating and increasing his fan base, feeding off the energy which has seen his profile rise at events with more supporters coming to see him in action.

The two things seemingly go hand-in-hand for Lee: The more fun he’s having with the fans, the better the results on the golf course.

And it has shown in his results this season already. A tie for fifth in the U.S. Open, a tie for second at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, and a tie for sixth in THE PLAYERS Championship are the top highlights of his season – and with crowds shouting his name at Hoylake he opened up with a 71 and a 68 to head into the weekend of the final Major of the year in a tie for fourth.

“It’s been amazing, the last few months, last six months have been amazing,” said Lee after his second round at Royal Liverpool.

“Definitely made me play a bit better. Everywhere there's a crowd, I have been playing pretty good.

“It's all fun and games. I'm trying to play good and also have fun with the crowd. It's definitely nice. After every shot someone is cheering me on and trying to get me going after I make a bogey or so, so it definitely helps.

“The video is two of the guys out on the PGA TOUR, they help me out with content. They have the ideas, and it's all credit to them. I'm just making a caption and posting it, and I guess swinging the club.

“It's quite nice to have someone with a bit of vision and have a bit of humour, as well, when I make a video, so it's cool. Just some fun social media presence. A lot of other golfers are just golf, golf, golf, and I like to have fun.

Asked if he thinks it’s important in his role as a professional golfer, Lee replied “I think so.

“I think for me, because I like the attention and I like to feed off the crowd. I think it's definitely -- at the end of the day, if you play well, you're going to have crowds, so you might as well have them on your side. I've always been pretty active on social media, so it's quite nice to play well and get a following, too.

“Hopefully I don't get cancelled anytime soon, but I'm just trying to have fun and have the crowd going with me. I'm just trying to put a smile on their face and also hit good shots. When I get too serious I don't play well, so just go out there and have fun.”

This is the second Major in a row where Lee has been inside the top ten after 36 holes. While that T5 finish might have been his first Major top ten at the U.S. Open, Lee has a fairly impressive record in the biggest events. Last year he finished tied 14th at the Masters, tied 27th at the U.S. Open and tied 21st at The Open, and also finished tied 18th at the US PGA Championship in May this year.

It's clear that he’s becoming comfortable on the Major stage, which Lee said he thinks is due to how he manages to focus in on the four biggest weeks of the week. The increasing number of supporters doesn’t hurt either.

“I'm trying to figure that out myself. I don't know. I guess I lock in a bit more and I just enjoy the challenge. That's definitely what it is.

“I think I play good on pretty tough courses, and it's just that par putt or that momentum shot. I love doing that and just keep moving forward. On easier courses if you make a bogey you're going two steps back, so it's nice when there's not too many birdies and you can just grind it out.”

He now has another chance to go for his first Major title, but he has a big task ahead if wants to do that, currently sitting seven shots behind leader Brian Harman.

However, with the weather forecasting more wind, Lee is excited but trying not to get ahead of himself as he looks towards the weekend.

“Hopefully,” he replied to a question about whether this might be the week he puts it all together.

“Like I've been doing, not getting ahead of myself and just keep playing. It's going to be tough for the weekend. It is getting drier. Those last few holes you can definitely see. Yeah, it'll be a good challenge.

“I'm not going to change the way I do anything. I just go out there and play and just keep my head straight and hopefully hit some good shots.

“I've been playing good golf, so might as well keep smiling and try to do my best.”