A pair of South Korean stars -- Tom Kim and Sungjae Im -- headlined many shortlists for potential winners at this year's Sony Open leading up to the event. Not on that list? Fellow countryman and eventual champion Si Woo Kim. Firing rounds of 64-64 over the weekend at Waialae Country Club, Kim finished at 18 under and successfully tracked down 54-hole leader Hayden Buckley en route to his fourth career victory on the PGA Tour.
"Three strokes behind, it can always happen fast, just like last week," said Kim. "I tried my best every shot. It was a little shaky the last four holes, but I was trying to keep confidence and stay calm."
Beginning the final round three strokes off the pace, Kim left nothing in the tank and consistently fired at tucked pin locations to set up birdie look after birdie look. He began with a barrage, making birdies on his opening three holes and quickly cut the three-stroke deficit to one.
The comeback could have been expedited if not for a short miss on the par-3 fourth and a pair of bogeys to round out his inner nine, yet Kim held steady. A less stressful back nine consisted of just one birdie in his first seven holes before he gave the fans something to cheer for down the stretch. Momentarily losing possession of the lead after a Buckley birdie on the hole behind, Kim summoned a clutch short game for a chip-in birdie on the par-3 17th.
"Right before that went in, I heard the noise [from Buckley's birdie on 16], so I knew," said Kim. "It was kind of a tough shot, into the grain, so I had to hit aggressive. I had nothing to lose, so I just hit it aggressive and it was exciting."
This excitement carried over onto the finishing hole where Kim missed the fairway badly. Forced to hit a brave recovery shot out of the fairway bunker, the 27-year-old found the par-5 putting surface in two to set up a closing birdie. With Buckley later making par, it proved to be enough for Kim's first title since the 2021 American Express and showcased the raw talent the South Korean still very much possesses.
"First time winning my first event [of the year] so it can't get better than this. This is really exciting," said Kim. "There is a lot of season left, so hopefully I'm trying to get more confidence and hopefully get more wins."
More victories should be in Kim's future -- perhaps this year, perhaps not -- but what struck me was his continuous quest for confidence despite literally just winning. Calling his Sunday Singles victory over Justin Thomas at the 2022 Presidents Cup "lucky" earlier in the week, it is almost bizzare this former Players champion is not more sure of his game.
Yet this is likely the very reason he remains a borderline top-50 player in the world. Still in his mid 20s, there is plenty of time for his inner belief to blossom (just look at someone like Max Homa). Once it does, only then will an already dangerous, world-class talent become a member of the game's elite. Grade: A+
Rick Gehman, Kyle Porter, Mark Immelman and Greg DuCharme recap Sunday's action at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Here are grades for other notable players on the 2023 Sony Open leaderboard.
T21. Adam Scott (-11): It was a nice week for Scott, who said he came into the event pretty cold and didn't practice much in December. Strangely, he struggled with perhaps the strongest part of his game as he lost strokes off the tee throughout the week at Waialae. Still, he's going to be really interesting this year as he's now one of the old guys on the PGA Tour trying to hold off the young stars. Scott will take the next month off before he resurfaces at Riviera for the Genesis Invitational. Grade: B
MC. Jordan Spieth (-1): What a strange week for Spieth, who led after Round 1 and then missed the cut on Friday evening. The 64-75 swing was wild even by Spieth's standards. The good news if you're a Spieth fan (which I presume is all humans) is that Spieth seemed the most surprised of anyone that he shot 75 on Friday. When he's playing poorly, he's almost the first to acknowledge that he has no idea where the ball is going or what is going on. This is not that, and it leads me to believe that this is a minor blip in what I still believe is going to be a big year for Spieth. Grade: D-
MC. Tom Kim (+1): This one was slightly more concerning than Spieth's if only because Kim doesn't have the capital that 13 PGA Tour wins and three major championships buys you. We are mildly overrating Tom Kim right now, and while how he played this week doesn't necessarily prove that point, it is emblematic of it. This golf course set up perfectly for him, and he was just lousy on it, especially on Thursday with his short game. Again, I don't have a ton of concerns about Kim in either the short or long term, but I do think he's eventually going settle somewhere between winning two of his first 20 events and missing cuts at the Sony Open. Grade: F