(Photo: Getty images)
Min Woo Lee toppled major winners Cameron Smith, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods to become the most Googled golfer in Australia in 2023, according to data provided by the search engine to Australian golf summary.
The most popular Australian golf topics in the search engine have been divided into categories: golfer (overall) and golf-related terms (overall). To get a ranking for each, Google listed searches based on its search engine trends data, analyzing “search interest” for topics using a sample of all searches, then indexing the subjects relative to the top element of each list. Google did not provide raw numbers for search volume for 2023.
Perth-born Lee, the younger brother of two-time major winner Minjee Lee, has had a huge year.
The 25-year-old won the Asian Tour’s Macau Open and finished 10th in the DP World Tour rankings after a T-15 at the DP World Tour Championship final in Dubai. It was just before he returned to Australia for the summer of golf. Lee earned a PGA Tour card for 2024, which he earned thanks to a first top-five major finish — a tie for fifth at the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club in June — and a tie for sixth place at the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Lee also finished in the top 10 at the PGA Tour Travelers Championship and the Zozo event in Japan.
Lee’s overseas exploits set up his memorable domestic summer. He won the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland with a spectacular chip-in eagle in the final round at Royal Queensland Golf Club. His third career victory on the DP World Tour took him to 38th in the Official World Golf Ranking before leading the Australian Open for most of the tournament, only to fade with a final round, one in 72, which pushed him back to third place. Lee is now ranked No. 33 in the world and assured of an invitation to the Masters at Augusta National in 2024.
Smith – who was the most searched golfer on Google in Australia in 2022 thanks to his victory in five global events, including the Players Championship and the St Andrews Open – generated 94.7% of search interest compared to Lee this year. This is despite Smith winning two LIV events (London and New Jersey) while finishing T9 at the PGA Championship and fourth at the US Open.
Lee’s profile has skyrocketed thanks to his results, his talent on the course and his presence on social media. He began using the slogan “Let him cook” earlier in 2023. It is believed to be an online gaming phrase used when a player takes extra time to achieve something special.
Rory McIlroy finished third, generating 84 percent of Lee’s search interest, while Tiger Woods dropped to fourth place and LIV star Brooks Koepka, who won the PGA Championship, finished fifth. Lee’s sister, Minjee, placed ninth thanks to her ninth and tenth LPGA Tour victories. The top 10 most Googled golfers in Australia are listed below:
- Min Woo Lee (100.0)
- Cameron Smith (94.7)
- Rory McIlroy (84.0)
- Tiger Woods (78.9)
- Brooks Koepka (50.2)
- Adam Scott (45.5)
- Jon Rahm (42.0)
- Jason Day (41.1)
- Minjee Lee (39.8)
- Sam Bennett (33.0)
Google Trends sports analytics experts also provided data on the most searched golf-related terms. It’s no surprise that “LIV Golf” reigned supreme. It was also the #1 golf term in the United States in 2023. In Australia, LIV received a much warmer reception than in other markets, including the United States, thanks to local heroes Smith, Marc Leishman and Matt Jones who joined the league in 2022 and brought with them their event Down Under. The LIV Adelaide, held in April at The Grange, was arguably the strongest field assembled for a golf tournament in Australia in decades. Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Smith and other LIV stars helped the tournament become LIV’s biggest in its two-year history.
After that, “golf scores”, “US Open golf”, “Australian Open golf” and “Golf Australia” were the top five terms, followed by “LIV Golf Adelaide”, “Live golf scores”, “LIV Golf leaderboard”. “Golf Clubs” and “LIV Golf Scores”. The top 20 are listed below.
AUSTRALIA
- LIVgolf
- Golf Scores
- US Open Golf
- Australian Open Golf
- Golf Australia
- LIV Golf Adelaide
- Live golf scores
- LIV Golf Ranking
- Golf clubs
- LIV Golf Results
- Wembley Golf Course (Perth)
- PGA Tour
- Golf Club
- Golf shoes
- Yarra Bend Golf Course
- Golf Results
- Victoria Park Golf
- Golf balls
- PGA
- Nike golf shoes
