Tom

Kim

The young Korean was making the 44th start of his career and attempting to defend his first PGA Tour title as he had to skip the Wyndham Championship in August, due to injury. He tossed together four sub-69 rounds this week at TPC Summerlin to get the job done, edging out Adam Hadwin by one shot on the final leaderboard. There are plenty of ways this will go into the record books but one of the most notable accolades is that he’s now the youngest player since Tiger Woods (1997) to win three times on the PGA Tour. With this win, Kim jumps to No. 11 in the OWGR.

Kim sprained his ankle at The Open but fought through the pain to record a runner-up finish. His medical team told him to rest which is why he skipped last week’s Wyndham Championship despite being the defending champion. Speaking on his schedule since The Open, “It’s been a lot of rehab, man. It’s been boring. I’m not going to lie to you.” Kim walked off the course today ranked 4th in strokes gained approach and 4th in strokes gained putting. If the ankle is still bothering him, he’s doing a good job of disguising it.

Kim lost 6.7 strokes putting last week at Waialae Country Club but didn’t let that linger as he had a quick turnaround at PGA WEST. He ended the week at the AmEx ranked T27 in fairways hit and T5 in GIR. The highlight of his week was a Friday 62 at the Nicklaus Tournament Course. Kim now has four finishes of T11 or better this season and inches up from 3rd to 2nd in the early FedExCup race. He’s not in the field for next week’s Farmers Insurance Open.

Playing the Nicklaus Tournament Course, Kim made eight birdies and one eagle for his third round of 62 or better on Tour. He shot the same number in the third round of this season’s Shriners Children’s Open, which he won. He shot 61 in the final round of last season’s Wyndham Championship, which he won. He’s currently at 13 under par, five shots back of leader Davis Thompson. Kim hit 14/14 fairways, 15/18 greens in regulation, and got up and down 3/3 times when he missed the putting surface on Friday. He also needed only 25 putts.

Kim opened his day with a bogey, missing from just outside of five feet. It was his sixth square of the week but he didn’t swallow another one as he erased the blemish with a six-pack of birdies before his day was done. Steady around-the-green play got the job done as he landed just 13 GIR today. He smothered 33 GIR over his first two rounds but just 26 over the final two days. This will be the fourth top 5 of his young PGA TOUR and the 20-year-old will now hop islands to ready for the Sony Open where he’ll likely be one of the betting favorites to start the week.

The popular 20-year-old got the job done in a variety of ways today. Highlights included a 116-yard eagle hole out at the par-5 sixth, and 28-footer for birdie at the 10th, and a 5'6" eagle splash at the par-5 15th. The hole-out from the fairway certainly helped his striking stats and he walked off the course ranked 2nd in strokes gained approach (+2.027). Kim is making his first trip to Hawaii but having no trouble figuring out the Plantation Course at Kapalua. This is the third time in his young TOUR career that he’s been inside of the top 5 after the first round. One of those was the Shriners last fall which he went on to win after sitting at T4 thru 18 holes.

The 20-year-old could do no wrong last year as he become the youngest in the modern era to reach two PGA TOUR wins. He also was a popular man at the Presidents Cup as his personality really popped in the team setting. Now he’ll turn his attention toward Kapalua for the first time, “It’s my first time in Hawaii. The course looks in great shape. You’ve got amazing sites here.” Kim has had no issues getting familiar with courses he’s seeing for the first time. He’ll remain a popular pick in all fantasy formats until he shows any sign of slowing down.

Kim piped 12-of-13 fairways to fully utilized preferred lies today. “It’s definitely playing really soft. With the wind it played really long really... I gave myself a lot of opportunities, I think. Definitely, if some things went my way, I could have got a couple more, but with the conditions that we’ve had today, the no bogey is very, very acceptable. I gave myself a good chance to kind of play well the next three days.” He is currently tied at the top alongside Sepp Straka with a few others still out on the course trying to chase them down. Kim was 130th in the OWGR at this time last year but entered the week at 15th.

The targets are (relatively) wide at Congaree, but it’s still difficult to go 14-for-14 as Kim did across the par-71 layout. The recent Presidents Cup star carded four birdies against two bogeys for a 2-under 69, moving him to 7 under at the halfway point. He’s in a large tie for sixth, four shots behind co-leaders Jon Rahm and Kurt Kitayama as he looks to win on Tour for the third time in as many months. Kim followed his Shriners triumph with a stirring performance at Quail Hollow and a T-25 finish last week in Japan, and the 20-year-old appears poised to build on that momentum this week.

The young Korean showcased his steady striking skills with 12-of-14 fairways hit and 14 GIR, both ranking top 15 at the moment. From there, he mixed and matched great approach shots with great putts. He sank a pair of birdie bombs from outside of 23 feet but also drained three birdies from inside of eight feet, including a tap-in at the 17th after stuffing his 9-iron from 150 yards. “Playing on the PGA TOUR and playing with guys like Rory and Rickie today, it’s a dream for me. I’m still high up on gas and just excited to be here.” Kim continues to impress with his week-to-week results while also impressing with his demeanor and personality on and off the course.