Admitting “that’s just golf” as he tried to explain the 14-shot swing, Lee later posted “My best round ever!!!” on Twitter as he turned an almost certain missed cut into a tie for 34th with one round left to play at Wentworth Club.

Locked in for a return to the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland in November, Lee is now six-under at the fourth Rolex Series event of 2022 – reduced to 54 holes after Friday’s play was cancelled following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday.

Lee’s first round included a nine at the par-5 17th, while Saturday saw him post two eagles on his way to that sizzling 10-under 62, which will not be recognised as an equal course record due to preferred lies being in play.

“That’s just golf,” he said. “I had a pretty tough year this year other than the Majors. I wish I had played a little better in the regular Tour events and Thursday looked like it was going to be another missed cut.

“Everything decided to go in the hole and it was just one of those days.

“I feel like it’s just a couple of breaks here and there. Today I started off good and holed a 40-footer and your round is golden from there. I feel like it’s one or two things, you get a bad bounce and you’re in the rough instead of the fairway. Golf’s tough out of the rough.”

Lee posted seven birdies, two eagles – including holing his second from 192 yards at the par-4 15th – and just the one bogey at the 17th, and there was no doubt about the highlight.

“It’s got to be 15,” he said. “There was a lot of shots out there that were pretty incredible. I hit a lot of good shots and obviously that one just highlighted the rest.

“I hit a good drive on 18 and nearly made the putt. That would have been nice, three eagles in a round. It was crazy. Pity about 17 but that’s how golf goes. Happy with where I am and hopefully I can do one more tomorrow.”

Everyone involved in the championship observed a two-minute silence on Saturday morning and, speaking about events since the Queen passed on Thursday, Lee said: “It was just a shock. I mean, it doesn’t happen often, and to the golfing community as well, we had to stop, a bit of mourning there. It was a shock.

“I finished and I got the news and it’s not really what you want to hear. We went down to Buckingham Palace with a few of the boys yesterday and paid our respects.

“We are back and playing golf and hopefully we can just keep smiles on our faces and play good golf.”

Fellow West Australian Jason Scrivener remains the best-placed Aussie at Wentworth, closing out his round of three-under 69 with an eagle at 18 to sit in a share of 11th, three shots back of leaders Viktor Hovland (68) and Soren Kjeldsen (64).

Sydney’s Sarah Kemp remains inside the top five at the LPGA Tour’s Kroger Queen City Championship despite a disappointing finish to her third round.

Fourteen-under and just two shots off the lead, Kemp dropped shots at both of her final two holes to sit four shots back with one round left to play.