Min Woo Lee took some time out as a spectator at Mandurah last weekend but his rest time was short; the rising Australian star is back in the cauldron on Thursday as he tees it up in the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship in Japan.

Lee has another stint at home in Australia coming up, defending his BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland and playing the ISPS HANDA Australian Open in Melbourne, but he has some jobs to do first.

The Fall Series of the US Tour has three tournaments remaining from this week, and Lee is trying to improve his status for the 2025 season, having already secured his playing card.

Currently he is ranked 63rd on the points list and he needs to vault into the bracket between 50th and 60th to earn a spot in two signature events, worth $US 20 million, on the tour in 2025 – at Pebble Beach and the Genesis in January-February.

There’s also the matter of the Masters tournament in April and the other majors in 2025. Currently he would get into those fields with his official world ranking of 42nd, but he needs to be inside the top 50 at year’s end. It is tighter than he would have liked.

Which is why the 26-year-old from Perth is in Japan this week, playing an event in which he finished tied-sixth last year with a closing 65. It was largely on the back of that performance that he earned his PGA Tour card and headed to America.

In a limited field (78 players) and on a course where he has played well before, it is a big opportunity to set himself up and return to Australia for the marquee events and the Christmas break with some security for 2025.

Meanwhile Hannah Green, another Ritchie Smith disciple, has risen back to an equal career-high No. 5 in the women’s world rankings after her third win of the LPGA Tour season, and Green is now after the No. 1 spot as she tees it up in Kuala Lumpur from Thursday.

The LPGA has four more tournaments for 2024 culminating with the tour championship in November and while Green is secure at No. 5 on the points list along with Gabriela Ruffels (25), the likes of Grace Kim (45), Minjee Lee (49) and Steph Kyriacou (52) have work to do to make sure they are playing in that $US 11 million season-ender.

Also in Asia, the DP World Tour has its final event in South Korea before the playoffs begin, while 21 Australasians are in the field for the Asian Tour’s International Series Thailand.

Tee times

PGA TOUR Zozo Championship Accordia Golf, Narashino Country Club, Japan 11.40am Ryan Fox (NZ) 12.24pm Min Woo Lee Defending champion: Collin Morikawa Past Aussie winners: nil Prize money: $US8.5 million TV times: Live 2pm-6pm Thursday-Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

LPGA Tour Maybank Championship Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club 10.48am Gabriela Ruffels* 11.43am Grace Kim* 12.27pm Hannah Green Defending champion: Celine Boutier Past Aussie winners: nil Prize money: $US 3 million TV times: Live 12.30pm-5.30pm Thursday-Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

DP World Tour Genesis Championship Jack Nicklaus Golf Club, Incheon, South Korea 9.10 am Sam Jones (NZ) 9.50 am Daniel Hillier (NZ)* 10.40 am Jason 2crivener* 1.30 pm Haydn Barron* 2 pm Tom Power Horan* 2.20 pm David Micheluzzi Defending champion: Sang-Hyun Park Past Aussie winners: nil Prize money: $US 4 million TV times: Live 2pm-7pm Thursday-Sunday on Fox Sports 507 and Kayo.

Asian Tour International Series Thailand Thai Country Club, Bangkok 10.30 am Harrison Crowe 10.30 am Aaron Wilkin* 10.40 am Andrew Dodt 11 am Sam Brazel 11.10 am Danny Lee (NZ) 11.10 am Wade Ormsby* 11.20 am Kevin Yuan 11.30 am Marcus Fraser 11.50 am Deyen Lawson 12.00 Justin Warren** 12.10 pm Douglas Klein 1.10 pm Todd Sinnott* 3.30 pm Scott Hend 3.40 pm Kazuma Kobori (NZ)*, Zach Murray* 3.50 pm Ben Campbell (NZ)* 4.10 pm Travis Smyth 4.10 Jack Thompson* 4.20 pm Nick Voke (NZ) 4.30 pm Jed Morgan 4.40 pm Maverick Antcliff* 5 pm Lachlan Barker* Defending champion: Sang-Hyun Park Past Aussie winners: nil Prize money: $US 4 million TV times: Live 6pm-9pm Thursday-Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

Ladies European Tour Hero Women’s Open DLF Golf and Country Club, New Delhi Australasian entries: Momoka Kobori (NZ), Kirsten Rudgeley. Defending champion: Aline Krauter Past Aussie winners: nil Prize money: $US 400,000