Really for a month yeah. For a month i was that was sitting in a room half this size. And yeah you get hurt you get hotel food. And it's terrible and you know you've got uber eats every day and you know it's we yeah come on tonight because you have had a professional tour win already yes yes was it the perth open well it was everything it was a victorian open um at 13th beach it was pretty cool it was uh actually pretty windy like yesterday it was like 40 50 k's. And it was pretty cool um to get my first win in australia. And before you know covert hit so i was excited to you know it was exciting to play in front of crowds. And especially vic open there's uh no ropes yeah like all the the crowd can actually like walk right behind you. And literally like they can be a few meters away from you. So it's pretty cool how big sorry how how big is that to get your first win on tour sounds an obvious question. But that must change your mindset i mean to get on the european tour in the first place if you obviously know you you're a good good level of golfer. But to actually get a win over the line at such a young age that must fill you with confidence yeah it's um it's amazing especially doing in australia. But winning i don't know it's pretty tough like uh my caddy at the time you know we we talked and i didn't have any three parts i didn't miss any parts inside like four feet um and especially those screens they were you know it was. So windy and to not have a three part and you know you usually have you know one or two maybe and if i had those one or two i would have been in a playoff so you know i hit it i thought i hit it amazing i thought you know i didn't i didn't make any i don't think i made a double um. And yeah pretty much to get that first win it was pretty special you know you got to play really good that week you know winning doesn't come often. So you got to play you know pretty much perfect um throughout the whole week and you know it was really really cool to do that. And you know you yeah you get that satisfaction you can play against you know a lot of the pros out there. And um hopefully you can do it consistently. But yeah it's pretty tough to win out there. But yeah it's nice to get a bit of security as well. For the year and next.
Year and a half so it was it's cool it's awesome. And then.
Your sister mindy lee had a victory as well was it last year was it in dubai yeah in dubai. And do i i don't even know what you're talking about she wins every year. So i don't know what tournament but um how many wins has she got under a belt uh i want to say like seven or eight maybe um she went she won every year on the lpga i think. For the first maybe six years and then.
She had a she didn't win i think last year. Or two years ago but um how many years older is she she's two years older. So she's 24. she's only 25 this at the end of this month so uh yeah she's a couple years older than me yeah wow is it competitive growing up uh yes. And no you know she i was always competitive. And she was like do her own thing. And i would go and practice with her but she would go piss off you're so annoying so you know literally that happens every time you know still to this day i mean a bit better today.
But you know i'll get annoying on that side and you know the annoying brother typical brother is it just the two of you yeah just the two of us yeah that's crazy. And have you had matches do you have do you have much yeah back home now it's at the moment like on the record it's she won the first one. And then.
I won the second one so we need a rematch but i mean we haven't we don't really see each other. And when we do see each other it's only. For a week or so so it's we try to get away from golf as much as we can hang out yeah hang out. And go to the cafe yeah exactly exactly help out yeah we don't really see each other much in perth actually we see each other more you know when i'm in america i'll go see her. Or she'll come see me um yeah she came out to crowns a couple years ago when we played in swiss yeah. And um yeah it was pretty cool you know we got to hang out. And pop my collar up sorry um yeah yeah it's it's pretty cool you know. So when you play you're in a match do you play same tea same seas. So the first time we didn't play the same tease and then.
My coach was like play on the same tees because you know my sister it's pretty close when she plays with the ladies. And i play off the men's because obviously i hit it further than her yeah um. But then.
When we play on the same teams i just thrash because i'm so much longer than her and she gets annoying at me and the you hit it so fast [Laughter] is there any part of her game that's better than yours oh i probably say everything now she's she's very she's very good ball striker um she's a machine like we just call her the machine she just hits it dead straight every time hits every fairway you know yeah the ladies golf it's very it's not it's a good it's a great boring golf you know this this this yes um. And my sister when she when she putts really good she wins tournaments usually because she her ball striking's always up to power but um above par but uh i mean we would go pretty close in most things uh i'll probably beat her in putting yeah um. But yeah it's pretty i mean yeah i would say it's pretty close that's that's did it feel like it almost with the family obviously your mum being a girl professional the coach now your sister being. So into it did it just kind of spur you on did it did it almost was your was your pathway almost set out to some degree a little bit. So it's funny so i started loving golf and then.
Like my sister practiced a lot every day after go after school um and i would go follow her but i would you know kind of be in a shadow so i didn't really i didn't really enjoy it when i got to like 12 13 so i stopped for a year um i did swimming pretty passionately i you know went before school after school. And was in a squad uh. And my sister was also a really good swimmer she could have either chose swimming. Or golf because she was. So good in reality and and then.
Yeah i did basketball soccer taekwondo i did a lot of sports. And i like you know a fast action sport and then.
I i got picked to play a tournament uh in sydney uh just a junior tournament and you know first time flying by myself and oh well with a team and you know that was. So so amazing i really liked you know meeting new people from america canada everywhere europe they all came over so that got me started um started again so i came back and thought you know give golf another go and then.
I stopped probably sports when i was 15 except golf. And kind of pursued that yeah. So what was your lowest handicap as an amateur what did you get down to plus five i think yeah wow it was that's pretty good yeah it's not too bad yeah i mean does is that like the benchmark almost do you think do you think plus five because we've had a couple of pros now yeah. And we've had a young lad who kind of tried to play on tour european tour james robinson and he um really good i think he i can't remember i think he was four. Or five james he played the open had a year on uh european time but i think the the general consensus is like plus five is where you need to yeah i mean if you if i shoot five under. For the rest of my life i'm gonna be cautious close to number one if you're 20 under every time exactly you win mostly exactly so it's i don't think it's a accurate representation obviously the higher the better. But it's not tough like you're not on a tall golf course i suppose what i've learned it's not about how low you can go it's how you can cope on the golf course you know professional life is complete different to amateur life yeah not many amateurs know that you know i'm here by myself. For a week so like yeah you have to be able to learn to look after yourself yeah exactly. And you know kind of be independent in that mindset isn't it completely yeah exactly. So it's kind of it's i mean yeah it's it's not i won't say it's the best life. But you know it's you've got to work hard to you know we want to be you know the rory mcroys or them you know we want to take care of a family you know live in mansions we've got a yeah. But people will always look at the pj tour. And like oh i want to be like him but you got to get through cue school you've got to get through all that and you know there's weeks out there that you just hang out by yourself so um i mean you can be with a friend. Or your girlfriend or whatever you know cove it's tough even tougher right now so um yeah it's pretty much how you cope cope not i know you can play five one day at your home course. And yeah around around the world. But yeah you gotta learn how to play professionally. And you know you get money and all that so and different golf courses yeah exactly every week different hotel rooms ever all the time you know the travel it's things that people don't you know appreciate sometimes you're a long way from home yeah like perth australia is a long way i remember when i went i went to australia. For a few weeks um back in 2015 i think it was. And i felt so far away from home i wasn't there for three weeks and i was with my wife. And we had a little baby at the time i almost really felt like homesick and i suppose it's the same for you like if you're based in perth that's where you live that's where you grew up as soon as you then.
Start traveling to europe or go into america it must be quite challenging because it's like it's not super close anymore is it obviously technology helps. But yeah technology is pretty much your best friend you know this is your best friend yeah. But i know it's sad but it's i mean it's kind of the truth. But yeah it's well we as from australia i've learned to you know live kind of away from home. For a long time you know when i leave my mom and dad they don't cry you know they you know they say good luck and you know we talk on the phone and that but it's not yeah it's not like end of the world kind of thing you know we're going to be back. And it's you know our job to play well and then.
Come back so it is a bit tough with covert you know we got a quarantine. And a hotel for two weeks and i've done that twice now and really so for a month yeah. For a month i was that was sitting in a room half this size. And yeah you get hurt you get hotel food. And it's terrible and you know you get uber eats every day and you know it's we gotta get out of our own pocket it's three thousand dollars for that for the two weeks and then.
Goodness and then.
You gotta pay for you know food that you're not gonna eat the hotel food because it's horrendous and then.
It's super expensive exactly so yeah it's uh it's a bit tough. But um yeah i mean you learn to be away from home from a young age if you're a golfer i think. And you know you can make it as as you know friendly you know there's a lot of people that want to pursue pro golf. So you want to you can hang out with your friend. And do q school with them. And do all that. And i think it's really important to have that because some people can't you know take being by themselves you know it's tough. So um.
