“You can get dragged into it, and it can hurt your feelings, but I try not to let that affect me as much.” Min Woo Lee, who has faced constant criticism of his performance, has found a way to deal with it. But Viktor Hovland, recently made the news for his personal approach, a little too harsh some would say. The golfer has had a mixed season until now.

After ending his 18-month winless streak with the 2025 Valspar Championship title, Viktor Hovland explained that he is,  “hard on myself, yeah, but that’s also why I’m good. If I wasn’t hard on myself, I probably wouldn’t be out here.”

While Hovland was busy breaking a personal drought, Min Woo Lee too displayed a great feat. Out of his six appearances, he has four top-20 finishes. Even in the recent press conference, he shared how satisfied he is with the ongoing performance flow. Out of the 22 rounds he has played at the events, only 6 had sub-par scores. The rest were decent low scores – confidence boosters. His lowest score in 2025 is 65, which is great.

Apart from his performance, he was also asked about Viktor Hovland, who has been a harsh critic of himself. Speaking for this, Woo Lee shared how, despite the situation, he keeps his chin up and moves on with learning. He said, “Obviously, he’s a pretty harsh critic on himself. It’s just a sport where you get beat down so many times, and I haven’t been in contention too much, and when you’re there, you just want to win or obviously play well.”

The Australian professional shared how his contention has been lower. After joining the PGA Tour in 2024, Woo Lee has played 55 events, but he could only achieve two runner-ups and three top-5 finishes. But with his optimistic approach, it shares the glorious path of the future. Min Woo Lee further added, “But yeah, don’t beat yourself up and kind of just move on. You’ve got to learn from it, I think that was the big takeaway.” The result of learnings can be seen with the performance Min Woo Lee has achieved and even how Viktor Hovland has found himself with the trophy of the Valspar Championship after missing the cut at the PLAYERS Championship. With such wise words from experience, the golfer is aiming to match the level of his idol.

Min Woo Lee trying to keep up with his idol

Starting the second year as a PGA Tour professional, the golfer has been close to the victory but could not clinch it. However, away from all the criticism and negativity, Min Woo Lee and his wife, Gracie Drennan, have shared about the golfer’s idol and to whose standards he wishes to live up to.

Featured in an episode of Full Swing, season 3, Drennan shared that Woo Lee looks up to his sister. She said, “Minjee has accomplished so much, and Min really looks up to her for that success as well.” Similarly, Woo Lee also shared, “I think that’s good to try to live up to her standards, but I’m not quite there yet. So hopefully in the future, I can.” Min Jee Lee, who turned professional in 2014, has 13 career victories, including two major victories under her name. While, Woo Lee, who joined in professionally after five years in 2019, has 4.

Min Woo and Minjee Lee made history as golf’s record-breaking sibling power duo! Minjee kicked things off by winning the 2012 U.S. Girls’ Junior, and four years later, Min Woo followed it up with a 2016 U.S. Junior Amateur victory. They became the first brother-sister pair to claim USGA junior titles—proving championship golf runs in the family! Now, with consistent performance and an optimistic approach, the golfer could start getting on his breakout year. What do you think about it? Will he win a PGA Tour title any time soon? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.