SOUTHERN PINES, NC — In every major championship there is a winning moment, but that doesn’t mean there’s always one. spectacular moment.

For Minjee Lee, who claimed her second career major title with relative ease at the US Women’s Open on Sunday, that proved to be the case as the 26-year-old Australian’s winning moment came over 24 hours earlier. Indeed, it happened on Saturday afternoon, when a four-game birdie streak at numbers 9-12 at Pine Needles, plus two bogeys from Mina Harigae, turned a tight seeding into a potential rout. By then, Lee was 13 under and held a four-shot lead over Harigae.

As Sunday’s final round drew to a close, the No. 4 player in the world was still 13 under with a four-shot lead over Harigae. And her total of 271 had set the all-time 72-hole record for the longest continuously played championship in women’s golf.

Of course, no one knew at the time that the swing in the middle of the third round would be decisive; there was so much golf left to play, which is why the winning moment is always identified in hindsight. And yet, on a dry and windy Sunday in Southern Pines, the course bared its teeth for the first time, and the peloton’s scoring average was more than two strokes higher than it was the day before. This reality has more or less eliminated the chance of anyone going out and catching the now eight-time LPGA champion.

Only Lee herself, dressed in a bright green shirt with the letters WAAC on the front – “Win At All Costs”, both a South Korean clothing company and a fitting mantra – could provide a tight finish, and the only she could do that was by falling into a late spiral similar to the events of a year ago when Lexi Thompson lost a five-stroke lead with eight holes to play.

It wasn’t happening. In fact, collapse never seemed remotely possible. At his Saturday evening press conference, there was no talk of caution or caution. “I’m just going to try to birdie as many as I can,” Lee said, telegraphing his intention to stay aggressive despite the huge lead.

True to her word, she came out early in her final championship round with two consecutive birdies – the first a tap-in after narrowly missing an eagle putt and the second a bomb from nearly 40 feet away. It was the official signal on the field; there would be no warning at the top of the leaderboard.

Whether you think the championship was truly over by then, or it came as late as the 12th hole, when she birdied eight feet to extend her lead to six shots, Lee doesn’t looked almost nervous only on a hit or two. on the front nine. And in those few moments, she made sure bogey was the worst score she could do. Excellent eight-foot par saves on the ninth and 11th holes, followed by a par 12-footer for the 13th and a back-and-forth from the sand on the 14th only contributed to the feeling of inevitability. .

The only drama was whether she could tie or break another US Open scoring record over par (16 under), and when she hit a massive 3-wood on the green 271 yards over par -5 15, it seemed palpable. She birdied it, but a bogey on the 16th and a Scheffler-at-Augusta-National-esque three-putt on the 18th green meant she’d have to ‘settle’ for the reward that received so much attention. than any scenario all week. : a gain of 1.8 million dollars for the first place of a purse of 10 million dollars.

“Even with a three shot lead, I never felt comfortable today,” Lee said afterward, after fooling everyone into watching all afternoon. “I felt like I still needed to play well. I still needed to hold on. That’s pretty much what I did. Starting aggressively, I think that was the right call and then after that I had a pretty big lead so I could just play my game to finish.”

For her troubles, Lee won the biggest single tournament prize in women’s golf history. (Later this year, the winner of the LPGA’s CME Tour championship will top that figure, with a top prize of $2 million.)

That massive purse the USGA handed out this week — after adding a title sponsor to ProMedica to nearly double the previous year’s $5.5 million pot — also opened up a new possibility. For the first time in the history of women’s golf, the second place would also win a million dollars…but only if there was a solo second.

Harigae, in the last group with Lee, started the day at 10 under and faced severe nerves on the front nine. Despite the jitters, the 32-year-old companion who had just $2,000 in her bank account as recently as the summer of 2020, beat pair after pair, losing only one blow in turn. Another bogey on the 11th tied her at three for second place with Lydia Ko and Hye-jin Choi at eight under, and for a moment it looked like she would lose her million dollar salary. But Ko faded, bogeying on three of her last four holes, while Choi called a birdie on 16 with a bogey on the last to drop to seven under.

When Harigae flipped 100 yards at the par-5 15th for a birdie, she only had to golf to secure second place, and she did. “It was probably one of the best laps where I was really nervous. But I think I handled it pretty well in that situation. I’m proud of myself,” she said. “I belong up there.”

When it came to capturing Lee, however, Harigae had only fleeting glimpses. “Kind of pockets here and there,” she says. “Obviously she got off to a really hot start. Maybe that bogey on that par-3, maybe that opened the door for me a bit, but she was just super solid there.”

(She and her caddy and fiancé, Travis Keiter, are serious Jordan sneaker collectors, and Keiter wore red Barcelona high-tops on Sunday. When asked if being Harigae’s fiancé meant a cut higher or lower than the normal, he said, “Hopefully it’s a higher cut this week.”)

Other scenarios also unfolded on Sunday. In her first tournament after a long break after undergoing surgery for blood clots in her arm, Nelly Korda finished tied for eighth at two under.

“The first week, you have rust, don’t you? she said of her performance. “You don’t really expect much from your game. You don’t know where your game is at. Knowing that I can play a very tough golf course in a major tournament and even be in contention is definitely a positive. .”

Ingrid Lindblad, the LSU All-American via Sweden who made waves after a Thursday 65 while partnered with her childhood hero Annika Sorenstam, finished as a weak amateur at one under after a tough final of 76. Her total of 283 was tied for the second-lowest 72-hole score for an amateur in US Women’s Open history.

“Everyone is cheering you on,” Linblad said of his favorite experience of the week. “Maybe not if you’re related to Minjee Lee who’s up front, but everyone’s cheering you on. And people here have been amazing, like they’re shouting, ‘go Tigers’ and ‘go Ingrid’ and like, “great job this week” and all. It was really fun.”

Lee, who was born in the city of Perth, Western Australia, is one of three Australian women to win a major tournament since the turn of the century, along with Hannah Green (KPMG Women’s PGA 2019) and one of her childhood heroes, Karrie Webb (an eight-stroke winner at Pine Needles in the 2001 US Women’s Open as one of seven major titles). She is also the third Australian to win a US Women’s Open, Jan Stephenson being the first to return in 1983.

Lee hopes this will spur growth in his home country. “I think it will be huge for all the little girls and even boys and kids watching,” said Lee, whose brother, Min Woo, is a DP World Tour winner. “I know there has been a very big boom in [Western Australia]. The girls have been a lot more interested in acting, so hopefully they watch me on TV and I can be a good role model for them and they start to get more involved.”

In her post-round press conference, she flashed a bright and engaging smile, but was otherwise as serene as when she held a three-stroke lead on Saturday night, and as calm as she looked – but not felt – on the course on Sunday. As far as competitive models go, Minjee Lee is about as good as she gets in women’s golf, and if her brilliance under pressure is any indication, there’s plenty more winning moments to come.