Golf Australia confirmed on Wednesday that both world No.3 Minjee Lee and fast-rising younger brother Min Woo have entered the first mixed-gender Australian Open, to be played at Victoria GC and Kingston Heath GC on the Melbourne sandbelt from December 1-4.
The men's and women's tournaments will run concurrently with equal prize money of $1.7 million as the Open returns after its two-year, pandemic-enforced hiatus with its most inclusive format.
They join a star-studded line up including world No.2 Cameron Smith, Adam Scott, Hannah Green, Marc Leishman, Steph Kyriacou, seven-times major champion Karrie Webb, Lucas Herbert, Cam Davis, Matt Jones, Geoff Ogilvy, Kiwi Ryan Fox and British Women's Open winner Ashleigh Buhai.
Also headed to the tournament will be a number of of DP World Tour players as part of the co-sanctioning agreement for the men's tournament.
"I'm always happy to play the Australian Open and it's a championship that I'd be honoured to win," Minjee said in a Golf Australia statement.
"Everyone would love to win their national Open, and to have the chance to play alongside Min Woo just adds to the excitement for that week in Melbourne."
While Minjee Lee has won two majors in the past two years, including this year's US Women's Open, 24-year-old Min Woo has won twice on the DP World Tour and pushed home favourite John Rahm at last week's Spanish Open before finishing third behind him.
"I'm really pleased that I can have a crack at the Open which is high on my list of priorities and of course, to try and earn bragging rights over my sister who's making it quite hard for me to keep up," Min Woo said.
"She's had phenomenal success, I'm very proud of her and I'll be so happy to get out on course with her in December."
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