Min Woo Lee has explained how a “freak” injury suffered in bed meant he couldn’t bend to read his putts during his Australian PGA Championship title defence.

A popular, dominant winner last year, Lee was on the cut line in the abbreviated, three-round event after bogeys on his final two holes on Saturday.

But he responded with a five-under 66 on Sunday to finish seven-under for the tournament, before revealing his ailment.

“I hurt my knee at the beginning of the week, so I couldn’t bend down and I still don’t have the confidence to bend down,” he said.

“That’s a reason I was a little flat for the first few days.

“It was just a freak accident. I literally just turned in bed and something popped.

“It’s getting a lot better but to read putts, I couldn’t bend down so I was half kneeling.

“When something happens you just don’t have the full trust in it yet, but I’m slowly getting to that.

“I can still swing a club at whatever miles per hour but I can’t bend down, which is really astonishing. It’s a good injury I guess.”

Lee shot out of the blocks on Thursday with five early birdies before struggling in the rain-hit tournament.

But confident his knee niggle will subside, he was able to take some positives out of Sunday’s performance that included just one blemish among six birdies.

“To find something ? is good stuff going into next week,” Lee said as he looked ahead to the Australian Open, which starts on Thursday at the Kingston Heath and Victoria golf clubs.

“Not much is wrong with my game. I just need to keep my head up high, and keep playing good golf.”