Lee has another stint at home in Australia coming up, defending his BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland and playing the ISPS HANDA Australian Open in Melbourne, but he has some jobs to do first.

The Fall Series of the US Tour has three tournaments remaining from this week, and Lee is trying to improve his status for the 2025 season, having already secured his playing card.

Currently he is ranked 63^rd on the points list and he needs to vault into the bracket between 50^th and 60^th to earn a spot in two signature events, worth $US 20 million, on the tour in 2025 – at Pebble Beach and the Genesis in January-February.

There’s also the matter of the Masters tournament in April and the other majors. Currently he would get into the field for Augusta and the others with his official world ranking of 42^nd, but he needs to be inside the top 50 at year’s end. It is tighter than he would have liked.

Which is why the 26-year-old from Perth is in Japan this week, playing an event in which he finished tied-sixth last year with a closing 65. It was largely on the back of that performance that he earned his PGA Tour card and headed to America.

In a limited field (78 players) and on a course where he has played well before, it is a big opportunity to set himself up and return to Australia for the marquee events and the Christmas break with some security for 2025.

Meanwhile Hannah Green, another Ritchie Smith disciple, has risen back to an equal career-high No. 5 in the women’s world rankings after her third win of the LPGA Tour season, and Green is now after the No. 1 spot as she tees it up in Kuala Lumpur from Thursday.

The LPGA has four more tournaments for 2024 culminating with the tour championship in November and while Green is secure at No. 5 on the points list along with Gabriela Ruffels (25), the likes of Grace Kim (45), Minjee Lee (49) and Steph Kyriacou (52) have work to do to make sure they are playing in that $US 11 million season-ender.

Also in Asia, the DP World Tour has its final event in South Korea before the playoffs begin, while 21 Australasians are in the field for the Asian Tour’s International Series Thailand.

PHOTO: Min Woo Lee still has to secure his place in the majors for 2025. Image: Getty

Tee times

PGA TOUR

Zozo Championship

Accordia Golf, Narashino Country Club, Japan

11.40am Ryan Fox (NZ)

12.24pm Min Woo Lee

Defending champion: Collin Morikawa

Past Aussie winners: nil

Prize money: $US8.5 million

TV times: Live 2pm-6pm Thursday-Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

LPGA Tour

Maybank Championship

Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club

10.48am Gabriela Ruffels*

11.43am Grace Kim*

12.27pm Hannah Green

Defending champion: Celine Boutier

Past Aussie winners: nil

Prize money: $US 3 million

TV times: Live 12.30pm-5.30pm Thursday-Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

DP World Tour

Genesis Championship

Jack Nicklaus Golf Club, Incheon, South Korea

9.10 am Sam Jones (NZ)

9.50 am Daniel Hillier (NZ)*

10.40 am Jason 2crivener*

1.30 pm Haydn Barron*

2 pm Tom Power Horan*

2.20 pm David Micheluzzi

Defending champion: Sang-Hyun Park

Past Aussie winners: nil

Prize money: $US 4 million

TV times: Live 2pm-7pm Thursday-Sunday on Fox Sports 507 and Kayo.

Asian Tour

International Series Thailand

Thai Country Club, Bangkok

10.30 am Harrison Crowe

10.30 am Aaron Wilkin*

10.40 am Andrew Dodt

11 am Sam Brazel

11.10 am Danny Lee (NZ)

11.10 am Wade Ormsby*

11.20 am Kevin Yuan

11.30 am Marcus Fraser

11.50 am Deyen Lawson

12.00 Justin Warren**

12.10 pm Douglas Klein

1.10 pm Todd Sinnott*             

3.30 pm Scott Hend

3.40 pm Kazuma Kobori (NZ)*, Zach Murray*

3.50 pm Ben Campbell (NZ)*

4.10 pm Travis Smyth

4.10 Jack Thompson*

4.20 pm Nick Voke (NZ)

4.30 pm Jed Morgan

4.40 pm Maverick Antcliff*

5 pm Lachlan Barker*

Defending champion: Sang-Hyun Park

Past Aussie winners: nil

Prize money: $US 4 million

TV times: Live 6pm-9pm Thursday-Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR

Hero Women’s Open

DLF Golf and Country Club, New Delhi

Australasian entries: Momoka Kobori (NZ), Kirsten Rudgeley.

Defending champion: Aline Krauter

Past Aussie winners: nil

Prize money: $US 400,000