'I'm not one to moan about it' PGA Tour star ahead of Rocket Mortgage Classic

Min Woo Lee admits he 'won't moan' about not playing in the $20m Signature Events on the PGA Tour but that he is fully determined to play in more of them in 2025.

The popular Australian played in just one of the eight new Signature Events on the PGA Tour this season. 

Lee, 25, earned special temporary membership of the PGA Tour in 2023 and then secured his full playing rights on the PGA Tour for 2024. 

Despite having played in 12 PGA Tour events, including all three majors so far this season, Lee was only exempt for the one Signature Event at the Arnold Palmer Invitational where he finished T44. 

Lee has played some solid golf, rising to 38th in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) right now, but he has not quite managed to play well enough to earn his playing privileges into some of the most lucrative, limited-field, no-cut PGA Tour events this season. 

He did compete in The Players Championship though, finishing T54 at TPC Sawgrass, and he also finished high up the board at all three majors so far with a T22 at The Masters, T26 at the US PGA and a T21 in his last start at the US Open. 

Speaking ahead of this week's Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club in Michigan, which is not a Signature Event but still has a healthy $9.2m prize purse, and Lee spoke of his desire to mix it more with the big boys on the PGA Tour in 2025. 

When pressed for his thoughts on the PGA Tour's Signature Events, Lee said: 

"I think it's great that the PGA Tour is doing that. I haven't -- I'm not the one to moan about it, but I guess I played every major, which is awesome and amazing. I played into them. To not like play most of the Signature Events, it was kind of hard to take a little bit. Again, I know I've got to play better and make the cutoff line at the end of the year 2 and get to play next year. I think it's great. We all try to play those big events and yeah, obviously it's a new thing and all of us are trying to get into those events."

Lee starts as one of the pre-tournament favourites this week at odds of 25/1.

Tom Kim, who was agonisingly defeated in a playoff by Scottie Scheffler at the Travelers Championship last Sunday, starts as the favourite at 12/1.

Cameron Young, who like Lee is seeking his first PGA Tour title, is next up in the betting at 18/1, fresh off joining the PGA Tour's historic 59 club at TPC River Highlands last Saturday.