Alison Lee soars in Saudi, eclipsing namesake Minjee

Alison Lee has earned a record-breaking triumph in Saudi Arabia on the Ladies European Tour, leaving her sixth-placed Aussie namesake Minjee Lee in the shade.

MINJEE LEE.
MINJEE LEE. Picture: Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images

A week after being beaten by her Australian namesake in a playoff for the BMW Ladies Championship, Alison Lee has gained sweet - and dazzling - revenge over Minjee Lee in a lucrative Saudi Arabian tournament.

Perth's Minjee Lee enjoyed another top-10 finish to continue her recent excellent run at the Aramco Team Series event in Riyadh on Sunday but she was still among a group of floundering pursuers as the American Lee completed a record-breaking display to beat the field by eight strokes.

The Los Angeles player Lee, who had opened in extraordinary fashion with two straight 11-under par rounds of 61, finished with a final-round 65 to break the 54-hole scoring record on the Ladies European Tour (LET).

Her seven-birdie round meant she had recorded 29 birdies and not a single dropped shot on the way to her remarkable triumph in the three-round event.

She demolished the previous 54-hole scoring record set by Scotland's Kylie Henry by five shots in the 2014 Ladies German Open.

And if her putt at the last had not lipped out, she would also have beaten the 72-hole record set by France's Gwladys Nocera at the 2008 Gothenburg Masters.

Having become only the second player after Italy's Diana Luna to win an LET tournament without dropping a shot, she finished eight ahead of Spain's Carlota Ciganda on 21-under and 11 clear of England's Charley Hull on 18 under.

World No.4 Minjee Lee ended up 13 shots adrift on 16 under after a final-round five-under 67 to finish in a tie for sixth.

It was a very different story to the previous week when Minjee had defeated her namesake in a South Korean playoff but the American reckoned the experience had helped spur her on to find a whole new level in the Saudi desert.

"It's surreal to think I played that well," she said. "Coming off a really good week (in South Korea) gave me a lot of confidence coming into this week."

Ciganda had briefly narrowed the gap to three shots in the final round before Lee found another gear to pull away.

"I'm really happy with the composure I was able to keep throughout the round," said Lee.

"I didn't want to embarrass myself losing a six shot lead coming into today! It's nice to be able to able to play that freely."