Catch WA teenage golfing sensation Minjee Lee in the bar of the Royal Fremantle Golf Club where she is something of a “favourite daughter” and she will likely be up for a chat.

Ask the 18-year-old how it feels to clinch the biggest win of her career on the world stage and the same down-to-earth attitude is on show.

“Pretty damn good,” was Lee’s response after taking out the $US1.3 million ($1.6m) Kingsmill Championship in Virginia on Monday.

“I didn’t think that moment would come this year, so I’m stoked to have won,” she said.

Later, the former Corpus Christi College student admitted to _The West Australian _ that the win “still hasn’t really sunk in”.

Watching from 18,000km away in Perth as Lee finished two shots clear of her nearest competitor was her father Soo Nam and 16-year-old brother Min Woo, himself a talented golfer.

“It was just relieving for us and we were proud of her,” Min Woo said.

He joked he had been looking for a car and hoped his sister might pitch in with her $US195,000 in winnings.

Lee’s family were not the only ones glued to the television.

By Royal Fremantle general manager Bruce Mead’s reckoning, “just about everyone” he spoke to at the club where Lee has been a member for eight years tuned in.

“There’s a huge amount of interest at Royal Fremantle,” he said. “Minjee is laid-back and a very unpretentious person: even though she is an outstanding golfer, she’s very at ease with the members of Royal Fremantle and she can come into the bar and chat – they all want to chat with her and see how she’s going.

“She’s nice to everyone, she’s got a great demeanour and the members all love her. She is really down to earth and she doesn’t have a big head. She might after this win – she’s got reason to.”

This week’s win, just nine months after Lee turned professional, guaranteed her a place in the US Open and made her Australia’s second-ranked female golfer. If Lee retains that ranking, she could well represent Australia at next year’s Olympics.

It should also make the search for a major Australian sponsor – something her management company IMG is understood to be pursuing – that much easier.

Lee, who has pocketed about $400,000 in prize money from 11 starts, is already sponsored by South Korean bank Hana Bank and French sportswear company Descente Golf but lacks a major homegrown backer.

The value of those sponsorship deals are confidential but industry sources suggested they were likely about $500,000.

Golf Australia high performance director Brad James said a new era in Australian women’s golf was emerging, led by Lee.

“She’s already No.19 in the world,” he said. “Let’s hope she can be half as good a player as someone like (Australia’s top-ranked female golfer) Karrie Webb is and achieve what Karrie has achieved.” Lee’s coach Ritchie Smith said she could handle the expectations that came with such a win.

“She will downplay the whole situation and she will just move on and start focusing on the next really strong performance,” he said.

Lee is one of just seven players in LPGA history to win before her 19th birthday, which is next week.

She plans to celebrate the win in Washington with mother Clara en route to the Shoprite LPGA Classic in New Jersey.

“I think we’ll do some sightseeing and just chill out for a week,” she said. Like any good sister, she also made clear her younger brother should not be holding his breath when it came to that car.

“I won my prize money. Why should I have to buy him a present,” she said. “I am sure he is getting spoilt at home, anyway.”

I didn’t think that moment would come this year, so I’m stoked.” WA golfer Minjee Lee

via Rising golf star has feet on ground – The West Australian.