One of the most electric players on the PGA Tour danced his way into the winner’s circle at the 2025 Houston Open. Min Woo Lee did just enough at Memorial Park Golf Course to claim his first career PGA Tour victory over Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland, finishing the tournament at 20 under to secure a one-stroke victory.
Lee’s triumph makes him the fifth first-time winner on the PGA Tour this season as the Australian joins Thomas Detry, Brian Campbell, Joe Highsmith and fellow countryman Karl Vilips. The victory in Houston may be Lee’s first on the PGA Tour, but it’s his fifth worldwide as a professional and first since the 2023 Australian PGA Championship.
To the victor goes the spoils. Lee has now locked up a berth to the rest of the 2025 signature events while vaulting to No. 16 in the FedEx Cup standings. Already having qualified for the four major championships, Lee can add a new stop on his calendar next year at the Sentry should he wish.
The 26-year-old fired a career-best 64 on Friday to move into contention before outdoing himself Saturday alongside Scheffler. Lee left the Texan in his dust thanks to a stellar 63 on Moving Day, rocketing past only the top player in the game but the rest of the field.
Lee began the final round with a four-stroke lead over Alejandro Tosti. He eased into his round with an early birdie on the par-5 3rd to extend his lead to as many as five. Despite hitting only one fairway on the front nine and needing to take relief for an unplayable lie on No. 8, Lee raced into the second nine 2 under on his round and with the tournament well in his control.
Back-to-back birdies on Nos. 12-13 seemed to do enough to fend off challenges from Rory McIlroy and Scheffler, but the latter did not go down without a fight. Scheffler got the putter rolling in the middle of his back nine and connected for four straight birdies on Nos. 13-16.
Right as Scheffler was surging, Lee sunk his tee shot on the par-5 16th. Hitting his tee ball off the map and into the water hazard lining the right side of the hole, the right hander did well to walk off the green with his first bogey of the weekend; however, in doing so, he saw he lead trimmed to a single stroke.
Scheffler saw a chance to tie slip by on the accessible par-4 17th as he was unable to convert a 20-foot look. Another par arrived on the par-4 finisher after he missed the green from the middle of the fairway, pulling him even with Woodland in the clubhouse at 19 under.
Standing on the tee at 20 under, Lee’s sporadic driver appeared again as he missed the fairway left and subsequently shot the green long. Lagging his third from 70 feet to inside a foot, Lee let out a roar and pumped up the crowd as he knew he secured his par and his first career PGA Tour title. Grade: A+
Here are the grades for the rest of the notable names on the leaderboard at the 2025 Houston Open.
T2. Scottie Scheffler, Gary Woodland (-19): The last time Scheffler placed runner up in Houston, he finished ahead of the rest in his next start at the Masters. While plenty has changed in the year since, the world No. 1 is gearing up for a big defense at Augusta National, and he looked plenty more like the man who donned the green jacket a season ago this week in Houston. Scheffler tied the course record on Friday, gobbled up greens in regulation, led the field in proximity to the hole, drove the ball well and put together his best putting performance since 2021. He made 61 of 63 putts inside 10 feet on the week — the best mark of his career.
Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, came roaring home Sunday with a course-record-tying 62 to notch his best finish since undergoing brain surgery in September 2023. After playing his first 14 holes in 4 under, Woodland rolled in a 10 footer on No. 15 for birdie and a 35 footer on No. 16 for eagle. He stuffed his final approach to tap-in distance and was greeted with a standing ovation from the Houston faithful as he made the walk up to the last green. He jumps nearly 50 spots in the FedEx Cup standings to No. 46. Grades: A
T5. Rory McIlroy (-15): In his first start at Memorial Park, McIlroy experienced the full gambit when combined with the weather. Sneaking his way into the weekend, McIlroy made the most of the second half of this tournament with rounds of 65 and 64 to climb inside the top five. He lamented Saturday evening that he wanted to drive the ball better, and he did just that on Sunday after turning the loft down on the big stick during a post-round range session. He goes for the career grand slam for the 11th time in a couple weeks at Augusta National where first-round scoring has been a bugaboo with only one sub-70 round in the last 10 years.
“Still feel like I’ve got some stuff to work on,” McIlroy said. “Still don’t think like my game is absolutely 100% under the control I would want, but it’s nice to have a week to work on some things. I’ve got my coach, Michael Bannon, coming in tomorrow, so we’ll be working at home and making sure game feels good going into the Masters.” Grade: A-
T5. Wyndham Clark (-15): Clark’s first top-10 finish of the season could not have come at a better time. Returning from a neck injury that took him out of The Players Championship, the former U.S. Open champion made the cut on the number and put together his most well-rounded performance of the year as he surged up the leaderboard over the weekend. Clark ranked second in greens in regulation and inside the top five in terms of driving distance. There are some areas he will need to clean up, but that combination has proven to be a successful one at Augusta National.
“We found out a lot of good things; this was great, you know, Masters and kind of start of the major season prep,” Clark said. “I tried three different balls this week, so I was doing a lot of not necessarily tinkering but we’re trying to find a ball that’s better into the wind and better in the rough. I feel like, the last two days, the ball used was better for me, and the scores show it.” Grade: A-
T27. Jason Day (-9): The former world No. 1 teed it up for the first time since the Arnold Palmer Invitational and was met with some rust. Amid a season where his iron play has matched that of his 2015 season, Day was unable to dial in his scoring clubs. The Australian’s short game came to his aid, but without the influx of birdie opportunities that his peers faced, Day was left in the dust. In all, it was a solid final tune-up for the Masters where he will be looking for his first top 20 finish since 2019. Grade: C
T51. Rickie Fowler (-5): The six-time PGA Tour winner was in need of a high finish to secure a Masters invitation, but he was unable to get it done. Fowler will now need to win next week’s Texas Open to nab the final spot in the field for the year’s first major championship. If he plays like he did this week ,he will have a tough time doing just that. Fowler did not shoot a single round over par at Memorial Park but did no better than 2 under across the four days. His ball striking continues to be sporadic, and even more concerning, his short game continues to let him down. Grade: D
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