Kim’s amazing rounds should be remembered
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – Twenty-two years ago this week, David Duval shot the most famous come-from-behind final round in The American Express, a fabled 59 that erased a seven-shot deficit for a victory in the 1999 edition of the PGA Tour tournament.
What Patrick Cantlay did Sunday at the Pete Dye Stadium Course at PGA West in La Quinta could easily have stood side by side with Duval’s final round. An 11-under-par 61 brought Cantlay back from four shots behind and could easily have qualified as the round of the year on the PGA Tour.
Only Si Woo Kim managed to do what Steve Pate couldn’t do 22 years ago.
Pate missed a chance on the final hole to tie Duval and force a playoff that could have produced a different story for 1999.
Kim, playing steady and unyielding golf, made some critical swings down the stretch to not only catch but pass Cantlay in the closing holes.
As much credit as Cantlay deserves for the 61, Kim deserves more for his week at PGA West. Three rounds on the Stadium Course without a bogey from the tournament tees is simply sublime golf.
For all the low numbers and course records set during the tournament week, Kim’s bogey-free streak of 54 holes on the Stadium Course is the real number to remember from the 2021 American Express.
Kim is just 25 years old and already has three wins on the PGA Tour. He has a chance, perhaps a good chance, of surpassing K.J. Choi’s eight victories as the most ever on the PGA Tour by a Korean player. And it is possible that Kim could join Y.E. Yang as a Korean player who wins a major championship in the near future.
For now, Kim is The American Express winner, and in the end he overshadowed even a 61 by Patrick Cantlay.