Texas Children's Houston Open Round 3: Min Woo Lee Fires 63 and Pulls Four Clear of the Field

Min Woo Lee started Saturday at dawn with two holes of his second round left to play. He ended it with a four-shot lead at the Texas Children's Houston Open and a strong case that he has never been closer to a first PGA TOUR title.

Lee shot a bogey-free 7-under 63 at Memorial Park to reach 17-under 193. Alejandro Tosti (65) is alone in second at 13 under. Scottie Scheffler, who started the day with a one-shot lead, shot 69 and is five back in a tie for third with Ryan Fox (65) and Ryan Gerard (68).

The Longest Day

Saturday was a marathon for Lee. Caught on the course when darkness fell Friday, Lee came back early, birdied one of his last two holes and parred the other to finish a second-round 64. Then came the wait, and then a third round in the final group alongside Scheffler and Taylor Pendrith, with the field going off in threesomes from both tees to make up time.

"Today was a really long day," Lee said afterward, per the PGA TOUR. "I need to get back into bed."

He will sleep with a cushion, because the third round was something special.

A Chip, a Near Ace and Eight One-Putts

The turn in the tournament came on the sixth. Lee missed the green, then holed the chip for birdie to move one clear of Scheffler. From there the putter took over, with Lee needing just one putt on eight straight greens. On the par-3 ninth, a tee shot stopped inches from going in, the start of four birdies in a six-hole run.

Lee turned in 4-under 31, rolled in a 12-footer on the 10th, stuck an approach to 5 feet on the 12th and birdied the 14th to reach 17 under. At one point the lead stretched to six, per the AP.

The finish was quieter, four straight pars, but it was not passive. On the par-5 16th, Lee three-putted from 70 feet and settled for par. On the short par-4 17th, with water down the right, Lee pulled driver anyway, sent it 301 yards, missed left, pitched over a bunker and two-putted for par.

"I mean, why not?" Lee said of the driver call. "I'm an aggressive player. I trust my game."

Lee led the field in driving distance Saturday at 325 yards on soggy ground, and through 54 holes has 22 birdies against five bogeys, none of them on Saturday.

"Everything's kind of clicking and I just feel really good about it," Lee said, per the AP.

Scheffler Cools Off

A day after matching the course record with 62, Scheffler could not find the same touch. The world No. 1 made his first bogey of the week on the fourth, added another on the 13th and watched a string of makeable putts slide by. The one that summed it up came on the 16th, where a 15-foot eagle attempt stopped short.

"Today I feel like I couldn't get the ball to go in the hole," Scheffler said. "It's a funny game sometimes."

A 69 on a day when the field averaged 68.1 is not a collapse. But it turned a one-shot lead into a five-shot deficit, and Scheffler now needs help from the leader as much as from his own putter.

The Chase Pack

Tosti, who tied for second here a year ago in his Houston debut, is the closest pursuer after a 65. Fox matched that 65 to jump into the mix at 12 under. Gerard, part of Thursday's four-way tie for the lead, stayed in it with a 68.

Pendrith, who started the day one back and played alongside Lee, had a rough Saturday. A 70 dropped Pendrith into a tie for 10th at 10 under alongside Davis Thompson, who shot 64.

Rory McIlroy kept climbing. After nearly missing the cut, McIlroy shot 65, highlighted by a chip-in eagle on the eighth, and sits at 9 under, eight back.

The Weight of Sunday

Lee is 26, the younger brother of LPGA major champion Minjee Lee, and already a winner three times on the DP World Tour and once on the Asian Tour. On the PGA TOUR, the record reads 55 starts and no wins, with a pile of close calls. Lee tied for sixth at THE PLAYERS in 2023 after a final-round 76. Lee finished second twice in 2024, at the Cognizant Classic and the Rocket Classic. And just two weeks ago, Lee shared the 36-hole lead at THE PLAYERS, then closed with 73 to tie for 20th.

Lee says a swing change, worked on for two or three years with the goal to "shallow it out and have less spin," finally clicked after Sawgrass. The iron play, Lee said, "has been amazing."

Lee has the Masters already locked up through the year-end world ranking. Further down the board, Michael Kim (tied for 29th) and Ben Griffin (tied for 41st) still need big Sundays to sneak inside the top 50 and grab invitations to Augusta.

One Round to Go

Four shots is a real lead. It is not a safe one, not at Memorial Park, where a 62 has already been posted this week and the world No. 1 is five back with a point to prove. Lee has the numbers, the form and the length. Sunday will test whether the closing piece is there too.

Catch up on the week in our Round 1 and Round 2 recaps. Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's story on Lee's 63 (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 3 recap, Lee story, leaderboard), AP, Field Level Media. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.