South Korea’s Im rallies for first PGA Tour victory
A year after being the halfway leader, the 21year-old captures the Honda Classic.
Sungjae Im finally backed up his reputation as one of the emerging stars of the PGA Tour by earning his first victory in the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
The 21-year-old reigning Tour rookie of the year, Im played the infamous Bear Trap, three consecutive water-laden holes beginning at 15 at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Champion course at PGA National Resort and Spa, in 2 under en route to shooting a final-round 4-under 66 Sunday. Im had to scramble for par at the par-5 18th to finish at 6-under 274 and edged Canadian Mackenzie Hughes by one stroke.
“I’ve been in this spot many times. I just felt like the experiences really helped, especially on the last few holes,” Im said through his caddie, Albin Choi, who served as an interpreter. “I just wanted to get a little more aggressive (on the last four holes). I was just happy to finish the way that I did.”
Im, who turned pro at 17, played a Tour-high 35 tournaments last season, recording seven top-10 finishes, and was the only rookie to qualify for the 30man Tour Championship.
His teammates at the Presidents Cup called him “the weapon,” and his swing has been compared to the USGA ball-testing robot Iron Byron because it is so repeatable. The South Korean also doesn’t have a permanent residence and lives week-to-week at hotels, with his parents joining him in a separate room and helping him in his adventure.
On a wild day when no less than four golfers held or shared the lead, Im birdied four of the five first holes to cut into the lead of 54-hole leader Tommy Fleetwood.
Im took just 11 putts in his first 10 holes before back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 12 and 13 temporarily slowed his march to victory.
Hughes, 29, nearly went from the cutline to the winner’s circle. After making the cut on the number at 3 over, Hughes shot 66, the low round of the day on Saturday, to improve 51 spots. Playing alongside Im on Sunday, Hughes holed a bunker shot at 13 and played his first 15 holes without a bogey to join the trophy chase.
Fleetwood, No. 12 in the world, has won five times on the European Tour but he’s the only player in the top 20 of the world ranking without a victory on the PGA Tour.
Fleetwood, runner up at the 2018 U.S. Open and the 2019 British Open, raced to a three-stroke lead with birdies on the first two holes in the final round but failed to make another birdie until 17 and hit his second shot at 18 in the water to blow another chance to put an end to the questions of when he will win on the PGA Tour. Fleetwood finished alone in third after a 1-over 71.
Im seized the moment at 15, where water guards both the front and right sides of the green and a large bunker to the left is a magnet for those who bail out. Im stuck a 5-iron to 8 feet and canned the putt for birdie, then knocked his tee shot to 8 feet again at 17 and rolled the downhill putt in moments after Hughes poured in a 54-foot birdie putt to momentarily tie for the lead.
But Hughes, who had missed five cuts in a row and hadn’t recorded a top-10 finish since the Charles Schwab Challenge in May, hooked his second shot into the stands at 18 and failed to make birdie. He finished with a second consecutive 66.
Im was the 36-hole leader at Honda a year ago, but the moment proved to be too big for him and he ballooned to a Saturday 77 and finished T-51. Not this time. Im became the youngest champion of the Honda Classic and the 14th international player to win the title in the last 27 years.