He felt the weight of a nation at the Paris Olympics and French star Victor Perez has urged Australian fans to be patient with the ascension of defending BMW Australian PGA champion Min Woo Lee.

Lee returns to Royal Queensland Golf Club this week ranked No.46 in the Official World Golf Ranking but without a win in the past 12 months.

Lee’s three-shot win at RQ last year was one of the most electrifying displays from an Aussie on home soil since Adam Scott’s masterful summer in 2013, the ‘Let him cook’ calling card bringing its own sense of expectation among fans.

Given his experience playing with Lee first on the DP World Tour and the past two years on the PGA TOUR, Perez believes it is only a matter of time before the 26-year-old solidifies his place as one of the world’s best.

“He has got incredible length, which obviously plays a massive strength in his game,” said Perez, who returns to the Australian PGA for the first time since 2018 ranked No.74 in the world.

“He’s got really good hands around the greens so he is kind of the total package.

“Sometimes people have really high expectations and I always want their guy to break through and get on the front of the scene and stuff like that, but it’s not like the guys he’s playing against aren’t good either.

“Sometimes a bit of patience goes a long way when it comes to breaking through.

“I don’t think he needs to particularly do anything different than what he’s currently doing and obviously experience is only going to add to his package.”

Few players will appreciate what Perez himself experienced at Le Golf National in August.

With enormous and patriotic galleries flanking the fairways, Perez had the honour of hitting the first tee shot of the men’s Olympic golf competition.

Four days later he had the French faithful frothing at the prospect of an Olympic medal, shooting 29 on the back nine to fall an agonisingly one shot shy of a medal playoff.

“It was an incredible experience. I don’t think the players, and me included, expected quite the turnout that it was,” said Perez.

“It was great for golf in general to give people hope and a chance. Obviously, I was making a run on the back nine and feeling like it was worth watching and following the French guy; it was obviously really biased towards me.

“It was really, really fun and just a great experience besides the fourth-place finish.”

The 32-year-old will spend the majority of 2025 on the PGA TOUR for the second consecutive year, the lure of a Ryder Cup debut looming large in the distance.

While reluctant to project that far forward, Perez admits that banking some DP World Tour points in Australia the next two weeks could be crucial in reaching his ultimate goal.

“I’ve been doing this enough now to know that it’s not something you can get in January, February, March, and even in April, May, June,” said Perez, who spent 10 days in Sydney with his Australian wife’s family and a week in Melbourne prior to arriving in Brisbane on Sunday.

“You’ve just got to keep playing and then kind of just see where the chips fall.

“It’s obviously going to be a big talking point, but having been in that loop twice already, I know what you’re supposed to do; I just haven’t been able to do it the last couple of times.

“This would be kind of a start of DP World, an opportunity to get some points on the board early when some of the guys are resting.

“There’s plenty of things coming that good performances are going to bring along so there’s lot to play for sure.”

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