Kim becomes youngest champion at Players
South Korea’s Si Woo Kim shot a 3-under-par 69 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., to become the youngest winner of the Players Championship.
Kim, 21, was the only player to go bogey-free Sunday at TPC Sawgrass as he finished at 10-under 278 for a three-shot victory over Louis Oosthuizen and Ian Poulter in golf ’s biggest tournament this side of the majors.
“I still can’t believe I’m the champion, and I’m the youngest champion,” Kim said. “I’m looking forward to working hard from now on.”
Kim said he wasn’t nervous because of his victory last year in the Wyndham Championship, which gave him a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour. This victory comes with perks beyond the $1.89 million first prize. He now gets a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour, and a three-year exemption to the Masters.
The previous youngest champion of the Players was Adam Scott, who was 23 when he won in 2005.
Kim becomes the second player from South Korea to win the Players Championship, joining K.J. Choi in 2011.
“From that moment, I was dreaming that I really want to be in this tournament,” Kim said through a translator. “And I’m very glad I could practice with him. He gave me a lot of advice. That’s why I could do well.”
The only drama at the end came from Poulter, who was happy just to be here.
Poulter, who only two weeks ago was spared his full PGA Tour status because of a clerical oversight, was the only player to seriously challenge Kim until he ran out of holes. He pushed his approach to the 18th so far to the right that it caromed off hospitality tents and bounced off a cart path into a palmetto bush. He took a penalty drop, then hit wedge over the trees and nearly holed it, tapping in for par.
Poulter, who had gone 39 holes without a bogey until a crucial one at No. 12, closed with a 71.
There was plenty of excitement Sunday.
Rafa Cabrera Bello of Spain hit 8-iron that bounded off the side of a bunker and into the cup for an albatross 2 on the par-5 16th. He followed that with a birdie on the 17th, and then holed a long par putt from just off the 18th green. That gave him a 70 and a tie for fourth with Kyle Stan- ley, a co-leader after 54 holes who shot 75.
The other co-leader was J.B. Holmes, and it was a horror show for the Kentuckian.
Holmes shot 40 on the front nine and still had hope until bogeys on the 14th and 15th holes. And then it turned ugly. He hit two shots into the water on the 17th and make a quintuplebogey 8, then finished with a double bogey to close with an 84.
He was tied for the lead at the start of the day and finished in a tie for 41st.
It was the worst finish by a 54-hole leader in tournament history, a record that belonged to Graeme McDowell (2011) and Alex Cejka (2009), who both shot 79.
Defending champion Jason Day closed with an 80, keeping very much intact the streak of no winner repeating in the Players. Rickie Fowler, who won the year before, closed with a 79. European Tour: Matt Wallace closed with a 4-under 69 for a three-stroke victory over Julian Suri in the Portugal Open in Portimao. Making only his fourth European Tour start, Wallace finished at 19-under 281.
Wallace won five straight tournaments and six overall last season on the Alps Tour to earn a spot on the European Tour’s developmental Challenge Tour. Symetra Tour: Celine Boutier beat Paola Moreno on the first extra hole to win the Women’s Health Classic in Greenwood, S.C.
Boutier birdied the par-5 18th in the playoff, and Moreno made a bogey.
Boutier posted a final-round par 72 and and Moreno a 74 to finish 72 holes at 10-under 278.