Min Woo Lee hailed his superstar sister's fight and resilience after the dual-gender Australian Open's two headline acts stayed in the mix to complete an extraordinary golfing double.
Fresh off his Australian PGA Championship triumph, Min Woo produced a five-under-par 66 start to his Open tilt before Minjee, playing in the group behind on Thursday, carded a spirited three-under 70 to be tied for third in the women's event.
While Min Woo's opening round was bogey-free, although not entirely trouble-free, Minjee had to rally after slipping from two under to two over seemingly in the blink of an eye.
After teeing off on the 10th at The Lakes, the world No.5 looked shaky after a enduring a three-putt bogey on the 15th, then another dropped shot at the next and a dreaded double at No.18.
But the dual major championship winner roared back to life with six birdies on her inward nine to suddenly find herself back in a better position than her brother.
"I mean, yeah, that's what you'd expect from champions," Min Woo said.
"Rounds can go south pretty quickly. There's a lot of momentum in this game.
"So it is what it is and, yeah, I'm proud of her to bounce back. You can't win it on Thursday, but you can lose it.
"So I'm sure her score's somewhere up there and she'll probably shoot a low one tomorrow."
While Minjee was only trailing surprise clubhouse leader, 16-year-old amateur and Monday qualifier Rachel Lee by two shots, Min Woo found himself four back of men's pacesetter, 2017 Open champion Cam Davis.
"I felt like I left a couple out there at the end there," he said.
"But bogey-free, solid. I was actually a little anxious about this course. I only played nine holes and walked the other nine so I didn't have the best prep.
"But, yeah, I'm pretty happy with my score. I feel like my golf is right there and if I have a bad swing, which I did a few times today, my up-and-down game, my chipping-putting game saved me.
"So it felt pretty solid out there."
Minjee and Min Woo have twice won tournaments within a fortnight of each other, including last month, but no siblings have ever reigned on the same day - let alone at the same event.
