Twelve years ago, Lydia Ko edged Minjee Lee in the 2012 Australian Amateur semifinals. A few months later, Lee returned the favor, routing Ko 6&4 at the U.S. Girls’ Junior. They were two teenage phenoms—No. 1 and No. 2 in the world—chasing the same dreams, walking the same fairways, often vying for the same titles. The stage appeared to be set for lifelong rivalry. But even as they kept running into each other, the story took a different shape, unfolding its latest chapter at Fields Ranch East this Sunday.

Ko wasn’t lifting the trophy. She wasn’t even in contention. Her week ended with a tied-12th finish at 5-over (75-73-74-71, $170,561). It was another near miss in her chase for the career Grand Slam—she still needs both the KPMG Women’s PGA and the U.S. Women’s Open. Meanwhile, Lee had arrived in Texas with more pressure than momentum. Her last LPGA win came in 2023. She’d heard the doubts—some whispered, some printed—and she admitted after the win: “I think it got to me more and more over time.”

Despite it all, she ended a brutal 20-month title drought to win the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. But it wasn’t the trophy or the $1.8 million payday that seemed to move her most—it was who stayed to celebrate it all with her.

Minjee Lee posted a string of celebratory stories to Instagram—champagne, hugs, laughter. Ko was in all of them. In one frame, Lee was being doused with champagne, the caption reading: “Who made this so much sweeter”. In another, she walked alongside Wie-Ling Hsu, Hannah Green, and, of course, Ko, who was holding a bottle of champagne. “Thank you, my friends,” she wrote. The final post showed Lee embracing a fellow competitor with one word: “Memorable.”

This wasn’t a perfunctory presence. Ko had stayed—not just to congratulate a fellow pro, but to stand beside someone whose career arc had always mirrored her own. It wasn’t lost on Lee. “It was just so nice that everybody came to celebrate with me. It’s those moments,” she shared. “Lydia was there. I mean, those moments are the most special.” That line—quiet, maybe even throwaway—wasn’t.

They’ve walked this road together since their early teens—Ko, the prodigy who rose to World No. 1 before turning 18; Lee, the steady storm who won the U.S. Girls’ Junior and Evian Championship before her 27th birthday. Their careers have intersected more times than fans can count: from amateur battles to major Sundays, to that 2022 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles, where both were in contention.

But on this Sunday, it wasn’t about contention. It was about presence. Ko, already a Hall of Famer with an Olympic gold in her back pocket, chose not to disappear into the locker room. She stayed. Poured the champagne. And in doing so, reminded the sport what quiet triumph really looks like.

“You’re paying for the jet next time”: Minjee Lee’s $1.8M win gets roasted mid-air by golf’s elite

Shortly after clinching her third major title, Minjee Lee received a FaceTime call from her brother, Min Woo Lee, who was aboard what appeared to be Adam Scott’s $39 million Gulfstream G550 jet. Collin Morikawa and Scott were with him, and the trio offered a quick congratulations. “Collin says you’re paying for the jet next time. Good job. Proud of you,” Min Woo joked, referencing her $1.8 million winner’s check—the largest in LPGA Tour history.

Min Woo first got a ride on Scott’s jet in 2023 after a top-five finish at the U.S. Open earned him a spot in the Travelers Championship. “It’s on my vision board now,” he told The Loop at the time, describing Augusta National blankets, a stocked interior, and a couch perfect for naps. Since then, he’s made multiple tournament trips with Morikawa and Scott, including the one where they called Minjee after her win.

The moment was shared by the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on Instagram, showing Lee grinning on the other end of the call, just hours after lifting the trophy. And while Lee’s win in the brutal Texas conditions was a display of steely mental toughness, these moments showed something else: that even in a sport often painted as isolated and high-stakes, there’s still room for camaraderie and joy.