Min Woo Lee turned professional so that he could start banking cheques; walking away empty handed from his maiden tournament in Abu Dhabi has motivated him to never want to feel the pain of a missed cut again.

Missed cuts are a fact of life for every professional golfer but Lee admitted that he was stung by sitting around his hotel room on the Saturday rather than playing the third round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

Rounds of 72-73 meant that Lee missed progressing past the halfway point on debut by four shots and has spent the past week in Dubai sharpening the areas of his game that need to be better at the elite level.

As he prepares for his second European Tour start having received an invitation to play the Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club this week, he says that more than anything he needs to relax and enjoy his golf without the added pressure of playing for money.

“It’s your career now, it’s your job, so it means a lot more than amateur tournaments,” Lee said from Dubai.

“I obviously tried my hardest in every amateur tournament that I played but in professional golf if you miss the cut it’s on you.

“I put that pressure on myself last week but now I know to do the same thing that I did as an amateur, just have fun and play golf. That will help to calm my nerves this week.

“The first tournament was a big learning curve. It wasn’t good that I missed the cut but it was good to experience what a missed cut feels like. Now I know that I’ve got to work harder.

“It didn’t feel good sitting in my hotel on the Saturday thinking that I had lost money in a way in my first tournament because of the expensive flights and expensive hotel.

“It definitely gave me good perspective for this week and any tournament coming up.”

Despite success as an amateur and exposure to professional events since he was just 15 years of age, Lee admitted that it was a different feeling to play his first tournament as a professional.

“It was nerve-wracking. The first six holes were pretty nervy,” the 20-year-old admitted.

“You just feel things that you don’t feel on the range or the comfort you had before the start of the tournament.

“That was a nice experience and I got to learn a little bit about the professional golf scene.

“I obviously didn’t play that good. I was in the rough a lot that’s for sure. That crept into my long game and I was hitting a lot of my irons and wedges really hard.

“I didn’t play great but it wasn’t terrible so there was a lot to take out of it.

“I’ve been working hard since to try and play good in Saudi Arabia.”

Along with Lee there are six Australians in the field for the Saudi International along with four of the top five players in the world in Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Dubai Desert Classic winner Bryson DeChambeau.

Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Ernie Els and Ian Poulter are also confirmed for the star-studded inaugural tournament where PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner Jake McLeod will make his debut as a member of the European Tour.

Other Aussies in the field this week are Wade Ormsby, Sam Brazel and Scott Hend along with New Zealand’s Rayn Fox.