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Min Woo Lee's return to defend his Australian PGA Championship has sparked memories of an exhilarating victory he thinks triggered a "very cool movement".

Golf's self-made chef Min Woo Lee is "smelling the flowers" in his return to the Brisbane venue where he truly started to cook.

The emerging Australian will defend his Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland from Thursday.

A year ago he stole the show after hometown favourite Cameron Smith missed the cut, whipping crowds into a frenzy with a superb short game and charisma to match.

The confidence was there to see when Lee attended a Post Malone concert one night during the tournament.

And on the course his legend grew, Lee's "Let Him Cook" social media motto reaching new heights when he donned a chef's hat thrown to him on the green of the tournament's penultimate hole.

"I guess it was bold, but I wouldn't have done it if I (only) had a one-shot lead," he said of the viral moment on Tuesday.

"I had a few shots lead, so I guess I was pretty comfortable and pretty confident.

"It was amazing ... that was the first week the chef hats started coming out and I've seen it all pretty much all year round (on the PGA Tour) nearly at every tournament.

"It's a very cool movement."

Lee went on to play at the Olympics and President's Cup and will return to Brisbane a fan favourite, particularly with children, thanks to his social media presence.

"I'm just trying to make the game cooler and fun," he said.

"It can be boring at times where it's just kind of a gentleman's sport, but I'm trying to make it as fun as possible.

"There's a lot of kids that look up to me and that's one of the things that drives me to play good golf."

Three-time winner Cameron Smith, PGA Tour event winner Cam Davis, NSW Open champion Lucas Herbert and former world No.1 Jason Day will be among those keen to keep Lee from his first title in 12 months.

Lee thinks he's playing well enough to contend again, the world No.48 lamenting "a few close calls" and some bad luck thwarting him in the US this year.

And he has welcomed the pressure that comes with the tag of defending champion.

"You can either put the pressure on you, or you can smell the flowers and enjoy what you did last year," he said.

"I don't mind when there's a bit of pressure on me; I do tend to play better just because I don't want to stuff up and I don't want to get too lazy and to just go out there and play good or just play golf.

"So I'm going to go out there and hopefully give a show to the crowds."