A good golf brain? It takes one to know one.

Last week, Minjee Lee surpassed fellow Aussie and mentor Karrie Webb as the top ranked golfer in Australia after 20 years. The key to Lee’s success her mentor says is her keen mind when it comes to the game of golf.

“Minjee has a very good golf brain, so she asks a lot of intelligent questions and is also someone who learns by watching others,” Webb told LPGA.com via email.

The power of observation has propelled Lee to 16^th in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, currently two spots ahead of Webb. The two initially met through Golf Australia when Lee was around 12 years old and was already a well known up and coming talent in junior golf. That success has bled into Lee’s rookie season on the LPGA Tour, winning the Kingsmill Championship earlier this year.

“I'm not surprised to see Minjee playing well in her rookie season,” said Webb. “She was the number one amateur in the world before she turned pro. She has loads of talent and is a very confident young woman.”

That talent earned Lee the Karrie Webb Scholarship in 2013 and 2014 and the opportunity to attend the U.S. Women’s Open as Webb’s guest, spending the week learning from the Hall of Famer.

“A lot of times she learns stuff from me during practice rounds by simply just observing,” Webb said.

While holding the top spot in Australia for 20 years has been a great accomplishment for Webb, she says it wasn’t a motivation for her career and hopes her protégé has the same approach.

“As far as the rankings go, honestly my goals have never been to be the best player from Australia,” said Webb. “I think if that was a part of my goals starting out 20 years ago, I would have been limiting myself. I hope Minjee feels the same. I have only ever judged myself on how I have been performing and I believe there's still plenty in the tank for me.”

Webb has four top-11 finishes this season including a tie for seventh at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She’s in the hunt for her third U.S. Women’s Open title this week at Lancaster Country Club, grouped with Suzann Pettersen and Shanshan Feng during the first two rounds. The group tees off at 8:13am Thursday.

Minjee Lee Passes Karrie Webb as Top Ranked Female Golfer in Australia

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