Upon announcing last week that he will be playing alongside superstar sister Minjee Lee at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open from December 1-4, the 24-year-old declared that he could “feel a good end of the year coming” and he backed up his words with a third place finish at the DP World Tour’s Estrella Damm NA Andalucía Masters in Sotogrande, Spain.

Lee led at the halfway mark of the tournament following an opening round 66 and a Friday 67, but a 71 on Saturday left him needing to hunt birdies to push for the title during the last round.

The West Australian, who is also confirmed to also play the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship from November 24-27, appeared to be making the necessary charge early in his round however, with a hat-trick of birdies at the fourth, fifth and sixth holes moving him to 12-under and within striking distance of Spanish leader Adrian Otaegui.

Unfortunately, a wayward drive at the next hole stunted Lee’s  momentum and he was unable to click into gear for the remainder of the afternoon as Otaegu ran away from his rivals to win by six shots at 19-under par.

Lee walked into the clubhouse with a final round 70 after he slipped back to 10-under with another dropped shot, and he finished third for a second consecutive week – at the Open de Espana in Madrid, he went toe-to-toe with former world number one and three-time champion of the Spanish national Open Jon Rahm for all four rounds.

As a result of his impressive Iberian fortnight, Lee has jumped from 73 to 58 in the Official World Golf Rankings in only two weeks, while he has also rose 24 places from his most recent result alone to 38th on the DP World Tour Rankings – the top-50 earn a start in the lucrative DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next month.

At the same event, fellow Australian Maverick Antcliff recorded his best finish in more than a year as he fired home a final round of 69 to end the week in a share of 21st place.

Stephanie Kyriacou, who is also confirmed to play in the ISPS HANDA Australian Open, returned to the Ladies European Tour for the Aramco Team Series – New York and she produced her fifth top-20 finish of the year by coming tied 17th in the individual standings.

New Zealander Steven Alker continued his stellar season on the Champions Tour with his fourth runner-up finish of the year at the SAS Championship in North Carolina. 

Alker is first on the Tour’s money list with three victories and 14 top-10s with three events remaining for the season, while Fortinet Australian PGA champion Jed Morgan was the best of the Australians at the LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah with a tied 12th finish.

Results

DP World Tour

Estrella Damm NA Andalucía Masters – Real Club Valderrama, Sotogrande, Spain

• Winner Adrian Otaeugi 67-66-64-68—265 €510,000
• 3 Min Woo Lee 66-67-71-70—274 €189,000
• T21 Maverick Antcliff 73-68-74-69—284 €32,100
• MC Jason Scrivener 74-72—146
• MC Scott Hend 74-79—153

PGA TOUR

ZOZO Championship – Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, Chiba, Japan

• Winner Keegan Bradley 66-65-66-68—265 $1,980,000
• T29 Cam Davis 70-67-69-69—275 $65,795.72
• T53 Danny Lee (NZ) 68-75-65-71—279 $22,586.67
• T59 Lucas Herbert 74-72-71-63—280 $21,340

Challenge Tour

English Trophy presented by Rocket Yard Sports Marketing – Frilford Heath, Abingdon, England

• Winner Jeremy Freiburghaus 68-65-67-66—266 €42,591.77
• T64 Daniel Hillier (NZ) 69-69-73-73—284 €678.81

Ladies European Tour

Aramco Team Series – New York – Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, New York City, New York

• Winner Lexi Thompson 71-65-69—205 €72,987
• T18 Stephanie Kyriacou 72-73-70—215 €6,990.53
• T36 Whitney Hillier 77-75-67—219 €3,479.05

LIV Golf

LIV Golf Invitational – Jeddah – Royal Greens G&CC, King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia

• Winner Brooks Koepka 62-67-69—198 $4,000,000 * won in a playoff
• T12 Jed Morgan 67-68-68—203 $289,714
• T21 Cameron Smith 68-69-68—205 $172,500
• T35 Marc Leishman 67-73-69—209 $144,000
• T35 Wade Ormsby 70-68-71—209 $144,000
• 45 Matt Jones 74-69-70—213 $126,000

Champions Tour

SAS Championship – Prestonwood CC, Cary, North Carolina

• Winner Fred Couples 68-68-60—196 $315,000
• 2 Steven Alker (NZ) 72-66-64—202 $184,800
• T7 Stuart Appleby 70-69-68—207 $75,600
• T50 Rod Pampling 74-71-71—216 $6,510
• T56 John Senden 70-78-69—217 $4,620
• T66 Robert Allenby 76-71-74—221 $2,520

Legends Tour

Farmfoods European Senior Masters – La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain

• Winner Paul Lawrie 71-66-65—202 * won in a playoff
• T24 Michael Long (NZ) 72-72-69—213
• T46 Michael Campbell (NZ) 72-73-74—219