Minjee Lee was two-over and going, as they say, like a busted. There was a double-bogey. A three-putt. But while other golfers might have believed their game was going poorly, Lee only believed. Then she flicked the switch.
We didn't catch up with her until until the 1st hole at The Lakes - her tenth - by which time the two-time Major champion was two-over the card and at risk of Doing a Cameron Smith in Queensland, and exiting stage left.
But somewhere between 18th green and 1st tee Lee appeared to channel whatever 'stuff' that's in the champions, the stuff that makes them believe that those bogies and doubles aren't 'them'.
That it's simply a matter of switching on that inner thing that makes them so very good. And, watching her turn two-over into three-under and a share of fifth, three shots from the lead of the Women's Australian Open, it appeared that it really was that simple.
And it was really cool to watch.
She birdied one. She birdied three. She drove into the fairway trap on five and faced with a sucker pin right hit a pure mid-iron, pin-high to 20 feet.
Her curling putt looked better and better the closer it got to the hole. By the time it dropped in it seemed fait accompli. Hey, it was Minjee Lee.
Unlike brother Min Woo, who celebrated a chip-in at Royal Queensland with a half-squatting, potentially pants-tearing rebel yell, Minjee simply smiled with the fans, agreeing with them, almost apologetically, that yes, the putt was perfectly-weighted for that left-right parabola.
Then she plucked the ball from the cup and held it up and smiled modestly. Oh, thankyou. But this? This is just what I do. Little old me.
On the uphill par-4 sixth she wafted - no other word for it - a 9-iron pin-high, perhaps 15 feet, like she were putting a baby to bed. It was effortless. Almost ... soft. And, again, the putt was pure. And, again, there was a ball raised to the fans, thanking them but making it clear: we're in this together, peeps.
Onto the uphill par-3 seventh and a hiccup: her tee shot landed on the low side of a swale the size of a sleeping minke whale. Her putt up the hill was too firm. The six-footer back down slid by.
And it was here, through a range finder, that I looked into the eyes of Minjee Lee as she handed putter to her caddy and strode off the green. And there was nothing going on but the rent. There was nothing there or in her greater carriage that said anything but: I am really good at golf.
She didn't look disappointed. She didn't look unhappy. She didn't, as legions of Wednesday stableford golfers might, believe that the world had fallen in because she'd three-putted seven.
Instead she just looked ... cool. Determined. Shoulders back. Co-ordinated walk. Inner belief strong that she, Minjee Lee, despite another three-putt, remained really, really, really good at golf.
And this par-5 eighth hole was about to find that out.
She bombed driver. She hit 3-wood to the back of the green. She chipped when we all would have putted, trusting the grooves of the 54-deg wedge. She lipped out to gasps from the gallery. She tapped in for a brilliant birdie four. She had just owned eight.
There followed two meek raises of the golf ball, and one modest smile. No holes punched in the sky, no rebel yells, no demands to let me cook, damn you, won't you let me cook.
Instead she just walked off the green, believing. She walked off cool.
When she hit the back section of the par-3 ninth and stroked in another beautifully weighted curling putt, she acknowledged a gallery that had seen Cam Smith (-1) come through and would see Cam Davis (-9). They wouldn't see better golf.
Would've been nice to talk to her about it. But, as may have been mentioned, Lee is a touch on the modest, if not shy side. It would follow that she doesn't enjoy blowing her own trumpet to 'the press' and talking of her eight birdies, including six coming in.
Rather she preferred to engage directly with attendant fans, many of them young girls, by signing autographs and appearing in selfies.
When we noticed her later outside the players' lounge she was having a chat with family, including Min Woo. As they walked off to the carpark she rubbed her little brother's neck as if to say: Keep it up little fellah. One day, if you keep working hard enough, maybe you too can be as cool as me.
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