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Si Woo Kim has won his fourth PGA Tour event after sealing victory right at the death at the Sony Open in Hawaii. It is Kim’s first championship since January 2021 when he won the Desert Classic in California.
Hayden Buckley will be distraught after leading the tournament at the end of rounds one, two and three but a late surge from Kim was enough to pip the American to the post. The South Korean piled on the pressure and got his rewards at the end of play on Sunday. He finished on -18 for the week, one shot ahead of Buckley.
Jordan Spieth, the highest-ranked player at the tournament, had a weekend to forget as he failed to make the cut despite having the joint lead after round one. Meanwhile, Ben Taylor performed the best from a British perspective and finished in fourth place on -14 for the week.
An enthralling final day
The final day’s play was fascinating with Buckley looking to keep the chasing pack at bay and for much of the afternoon it looked like he would do just that until Kim put together a spectacular run towards the end of his round that stopped the American in his tracks.
The final dagger came on the par 3 17th. Kim missed the green with his tee shot and looked as if a par would be the best case scario. However, the South Korean displayed his class by chipping in from 28 feet.
This not only gave him the share of the lead going into his final hole but also all of the momentum which he took full advantage of by birdying the 18th to give himself a one shot lead. Buckley was unable to repsond and his par on the 18th meant that Kim had won the tournament.
Buckley will be left ruing the two bogeys he hit on his final round in Hawaii. If he had managed to turn those into pars then he would have ended the weekend as champion, one shot ahead of Si Woo Kim.
It doesn’t get any better for Kim
After victory on Sunday, Kim was understandably ecstatic that he managed to steal victory away from Buckley at the death. Often, these types of victories taste sweeter than the ones where you’ve led for the entire tournament. He said:
“It’s like the first time, winning my first event…it can’t be better than this. It is really exciting and a lot of the season is left. I’m trying to get more confidence and then hopefully more wins.”
Since becoming the youngest winner of the Players Championship back in 2017, Kim has perhaps failed to kick on to the extent in which he should have. He’ll be hoping that this victory can lead to a breakthrough 2023.
Buckley, on the other hand, is devastated after coming so close to winning his first PGA Tour event. Afterwards, he said:
“I feel like I had control of the tournament pretty much the whole way, but just a late miss on 15 from three or four feet really hurt. I bounced bcak with a birdie at 16 and gave myself a chance. Overall I was impressed by what I did, and I think I’ll remember this day it’ll just make me better.”
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