Playing out of the penultimate threesome, World No. 124 Whee Kim painted a bogey-free, 5-under-par 32-34=66 in the third round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic for a 54-hole total of 16-under 197, up one place to solo 2nd, four in arrears of overnight leader Matt Kuchar, who shot 65.
The 26-year-old is eyeing his first PGA TOUR title in 112 events and if he crosses the goal line, will better three runner-up finishes, most recently a T2 at the 2018 RBC Canadian Open. After kicking off with 68-63, he began in a seven-way T3 and hit 11 (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation. The South Korean, who lives in Dallas, carded five birdies at holes 5, 7-9 and 15, posting 1.643 putts per GIR. He’ll play out of the final threesome in R4, one week after playing out of the final threesome in R3 at the Shriners, where he was T2 at the midpoint but fell out of contention with a 6-over 77.