‘Crazy’ Victory Sees 20-Year-Old Kim’s Stock Soar

North Carolina, United States: Kim Joo-hyung announced his arrival on the PGA Tour and cemented his rising star status following an emphatic five-shot victory over fellow-Korean Im Sung-jae and Amerian John Huh at the Wyndham Championship.

At age 20 years, one month and 17 days, Kim is the second-youngest winner since World War II (youngest: Jordan Spieth, 2013 John Deere Classic) and the first born in the 2000s to win on the PGA Tour after he closed with a stunning final round of nine-under 61 for a 20-under winning total.

After starting the week on Thursday with a quadruple-bogey – Kim is the first player on record (since 1983) to make a quadruple or worse on the first hole and go on to win – he has now qualified for the FedEx Cup Play-offs starting on Thursday as victory earned him immediate membership. Last Sunday, he secured enough FedEx Cup points as a Special Temporary Member to earn his Tour card for the 2022-23 season.

“It’s crazy,” said Kim. “I mean, I’ve never won a golf tournament starting with a quad and here we are. I played great this week. It was hard to stay in the moment in the final round just knowing I was so close. But I never let my guard down until I holed that putt on 18.”

Kim returned early Sunday to complete the remaining eight holes of the weather-disrupted third round with a 68 and trailed third round leader Im by two. Nicknamed Tom after ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’, due to his liking of the locomotive character from a British children’s book series, Kim charged out like a bullet train in the final round, shooting six birdies and an eagle for an outward 27 to take control of the tournament, the final event of the Regular Season.

With a hot putter in hand – he ranked first in Strokes Gained: Putting and had gained 12.5 strokes over the field – Kim made bogey on 10 which only slowed him down momentarily before birdies on 15 and 16 allowed him to coast home to a winner’s cheque of US$1.3 million. He will also rise to 21st on the Official World Golf Ranking and has put himself in position for a spot in the International Team for the Presidents Cup against the US at Quail Hollow next month.

“It’s been a hectic month and a lot of things have changed, for sure,” said Kim, who was playing in his fifth successive week and will now feature in at least two more Play-offs tournaments at the FedEx St Jude Championship (top-125) and BMW Championship (top-70) due to his FedEx Cup ranking of 34th position.

“Like I’ve expected so much of myself and so does my team, we expect the highest. And it hasn’t been the easiest. It might look easy for a lot of people, but it’s a lot of work behind the scenes just from the manager doing so much beyond for me and my family who put in sacrifices,” added Kim, whose nine previous professional wins were achieved in Malaysia, Singapore, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan and Korea.

“This is just a start for me and I still have so much I want to accomplish,” added Kim, the reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit champion.

Kim said securing his Tour card last week in Detroit with a solo seventh place finish had given him the freedom to free-wheel his game at the Wyndham Championship, where he became the third Korean winner of the event following KJ Choi in 2005 and Kim Si-woo in 2016. He is also the ninth Korean to win on Tour.

“It took so much pressure off,” said Kim. “I think that’s why I was able to rebound so nicely. I think last week that back nine was a nine-under-par round as well, but it was tough. Just knowing that if I could play well that week, I could come in here just not worrying about have I secured my card and everything.

“I told myself: ‘Just have fun, enjoy it, you’ve got your card already, just enjoy every single moment and don’t get too intense’. But this back nine was crazy. It was probably the most intense round I’ve played. My putter felt like 200 pounds today. I’m not going to lie, it was crazy.”

The 24-year-old Im was disappointed he fell short in his attempt to land a third PGA Tour win after he signed off with a 68. But finishing tied second saw him finish 10th in the Comcast Business Tour Top-10 as he pocketed a US$1 million bonus pay out. He also took his hat off to Kim, whom he had played a practice round with at the start of the week.

“I missed a few clutch putts on the front nine which got me to a bad start, but overall I’m happy with the tie for second,” said Im. “I’m really happy for Tom. He’s a great kid and to come out here and to win on Tour as a non-member and secure your card is not an easy task and he achieved that. I’m really proud of him.”