Golf showman Min Woo Lee pleaded with fans to tone it down before sending the masses back into a frenzy on an electric afternoon at the Australian Open in Sydney.
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Lee is firmly on track to complete a golden winning double of Australia's two flagship summer events after seizing a commanding three-shot halfway lead at the Open with a sublime second-round 64 at The Australian on Friday.
The freshly crowned Australian PGA Championship winner ignited the big gallery when he holed out from a greenside bunker on the par-3 fourth before continuing his blitz with five more birdies and an incredible eagle in a magical 11-hole stretch.
While he iced his round with a tap-in eagle at the last, after knocking his dazzling nine-iron approach from the pine needles to within a metre, the defining moment of Lee's round came on the par-4 16th.
About to putt, Lee pulled back, gestured to spectators to shush before coolly resetting and draining a a 12-footer, prompting a deafening roar from his legion of fans.
He offered a thank you to the crowd after surging ahead of Scot Connor Syme on a cosmopolitan leaderboard.
"It's the person I am," Lee said of the colourful exchange.
"I have always been the centre-of-attention kind of person. It's nice and they're responsive and they react to whatever I do.
"It's always what I dreamed of as a little kid. Social media is a massive part of who I am and it's nice to get that big support.
"I didn't think that we could beat last week's crowd (in Brisbane) but we've nearly done it before the weekend. It's unreal and it has been really fun."
Lee said he watched a replay of his eagle three at the last, when he boldly drew his nine-iron approach out over the water that guards the green to within centimetres of the cup.
"It spun left towards the hole and nearly actually went in, so really happy with that finish," he said.
"It's always nice to make an eagle whenever. But on the last hole, it's even nicer."
Five different nationalities feature in the top six on the leaderboard.
At 12 under, Lee looks in control with his three-stroke buffer over Syme, who posted a 70 at The Lakes, and American Patrick Rodgers, who had 70 at The Australian, where the last two rounds will be played.
Chilean star Joaquin Niemann and Venezuela's Jhonattan Vegas, who both posted 69s at The Lakes, and Australian Sam Brazel, after a 65 at The Australian, are all eight under.
Australians Jeffrey Guan (66, The Lakes) and Sam Jones (67, The Australian) are among a bunch of players five shots adrift of Lee, who is vowing to keep his foot to the floor over the weekend.
"People know who I am, I'm pretty true to myself and I don't back out from anything," he said.
"I'm an aggressive player and I've always been that way. I will still be aggressive as much as I can."
After being in danger of missing the halfway cut, heavyweight home hopes Adam Scott and Cameron Smith both survived the chop and will enter the final two rounds at The Australian at four under.
Smith ruefully threw a ball in the lake after bogeying the penultimate hole in his three-under 68 playing alongside Lee, while Scott carded a 68 at The Lakes.
Smith concedes Lee - who is bidding to become the first player to win the Australian PGA and Open in the same year since Greg Chalmers in 2011 - will take plenty of stopping.
"It's going to take my best to even get close and maybe even a little bit of help," he said.
"But there's still lots of golf left and after how I played today I can still make a run at least."
Australian Associated Press
