WATCH: Min Woo Lee's shank almost lands on spectators at The Players 2025 Day 1

Modified Mar 14, 2025 16:40 GMT

Syndication: Florida Times-Union - Source: Imagn — Min Woo Lee’s shank almost lands on spectators at The Players 2025 Day 1 (Source: Imagn)

Min Woo Lee's wayward shank almost landed on spectators on Day 1 of The Players Championship 2025. The first round concluded on Thursday (March 13), at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

In a clip posted by the PGA Tour on X, Lee's tee shot on the 441-yard par-4 18th put him in an awkward position. Lee could be seen using a 2-iron on the tee shot, however, his ball covered 322 yards and almost landed on spectators in the fan area.

His second shot was a recovery shot, advancing the ball 67 yards but pushing it to the right tree outline, leaving him 110 yards to the hole. His third shot from the rough covered 117 yards and about 22 feet 3 inches from the hole. Lee succesfully sank the 22-foot putt, completing the hole in four shots for a par.

PGA Tour captioned his clip:

"Shank you very much for the par save"

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Min Woo Lee finished the first round with a score of 5-under 67. He was tied for fourth alongside Billy Horschel, Rory McIlroy, Akshay Bhatia and others.

In the post round press conference, he was asked about his par on 18th hole. He said (via ASAP Sports):

"Yeah, I just had a feeling that if I hit a good 2-iron, which I have been all day, I could have a short wedge in. Managed to hit -- produce the worst swing of the day about 40 yards right of where I wanted to hit it. I was just very happy to have a par putt. I literally had no shot."

"I had an opportunity to kind of go over the grandstand, and if it ended up in the grandstand I would get a drop, but that was still a tough shot pitching it back this way. It was nice to have a par putt, and yeah, managed to sneak it in on the right edge. Yeah, it summed up the day. It was a really solid day," he added.

Min Woo Lee has had 53 starts on the PGA Tour and is still looking for his maiden victory. He will look to capitalise on his first round score in the second round on Friday.

A look at Min Woo Lee's performance in 2025

Min Woo Lee has had five starts on the PGA Tour in the 2025 season so far. He has made four cuts and missed one cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He is positioned 55th in the FedEx Cup standings.

He has had three top-20 performances so far this year on the PGA Tour. His best performance came at the Cognizant Classic where he tied for 11th. His other notable performances include a T12 at WM Phoenix Open and a T17 at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Let's take a look at Min Woo Lee's performances in the 2025 season so far: