The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass is known for some tense golf, but Min Woo Lee had something stranger to share. Before the event even began, the PGA Tour pro shared a bizarre story of his newly bought mini doodle puppy named Aussie, which left everyone in splits.

“I was calling to him [Akshay Bhatia] about the week, and he’s like, ‘How’s the dog?’ Amazing. Gracie calls me and goes, ‘There’s something wrong.’ His name’s Aussie, and he’s in his playpen, and he’s not really moving,” Min Woo Lee said during a fireside chat with NBC analyst Brad Faxon.

“And fast forward an hour and a half, we go to the vet, and the vet goes, ‘Do you smoke weed?’ And I was like, ‘What are you talking about? No.’ And he found like a bit of THC in the backyard. So he was just, he was high on the ground,” said Lee, which sent everyone laughing and stunned. But that wasn’t the final punch.

“To be honest, we loved him, cuddly and not bitey. So we might have to give him a bit more,” he added, as everyone laughed out loud again. “But no, Aussie’s wonderful. It’s like a new responsibility.”

Lee and his girlfriend, Gracie Drennan, added a new member to their family a couple of weeks before the Players Championship 2026. He announced it with an Instagram post captioned, “A new chef is in the house, Aussie 🇦🇺🐶.”

It was a carousel post featuring the two and their dog. Many from the golf world, including Hannah Green, Amanda Balionis, Su Oh, and many others, commented on the post. They even inspired other professionals like Nico Echavarria, the 2026 Cognizant Classic winner, to get a similar Bernedoodle.

The incident occurred at a rental in Florida, where Lee is staying for the Players Championship. He also discussed the incident with Akshay Bhatia. The Australian professional called him after his win at the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

As the interaction spread on social media, fans couldn’t help but comment on the weed angle.

Fans flood social media with jokes after Min Woo Lee’s puppy story goes viral

The humorous story quickly traveled across social media. Fans wasted no time turning the moment into a stream of jokes and memes.

“Where is the fire?” one user joked. He was referencing the confused state Lee described when his puppy appeared unusually calm and unresponsive. The comment leaned into the absurdity of the situation.

Many others focused on the Viktor Hovland meme and Snoop Dogg references. One user simply shared the meme in the comments. The meme features Hovland saying, “Stay off the weed-duh!” The meme refers to an incident from 2019. During a media press conference at the 2019 John Deere Classic, a media representative told him that he was the betting favorite at the event.

The Norwegian professional laughed it off. He then told oddsmakers to “stay off the weed.” Another user reflected on this meme and wrote, “Hovland warned about this. Should have called the puppy Snoop.” The Snoop reference in this comment is to Snoop Dogg. The rapper’s public persona is heavily associated with marijuana culture. He owns and promotes many hemp-derived marijuana products since it became legal in many of the US states after the 2018 Farm Bill.

A similar sentiment appeared in another short reaction, simply saying “Snoop dog.” This comment again connected the story to the famous rapper whose name has become shorthand in internet jokes about marijuana.

While many focused on the relevant personalities, one particular fan was focused on THC. “Found THC???” the X user wrote.

The comments showed a mix of disbelief, humor, and pop culture references. They quickly turned Min Woo Lee’s lighthearted anecdote into a meme-worthy moment among golf fans. It added an unexpected dose of comedy ahead of the Players Championship, played from March 12 to March 15, 2026.