By Rahul Banerji
Korean teen sensation Joohyung Kim was named winner of the 2019/20 Panasonic Swing after September’s Panasonic Open Golf Championship in Japan was cancelled on Friday.
It was then decided to conclude the third edition of the series, leaving Kim winner ahead of India’s Shiv Kapur and John Caitlin of the US.
And with the Covid-19 pandemic showing no signs of easing up across Asia, the cancellation once again put the spotlight on this year’s interrupted schedule.
Only four events have been played this year between the Hong Kong Open (January) and the Bandar Malaysia Open (March) besides the Q- School in Thailand.
As of now, there are no indications that play will resume anytime in the near future, though an attempt was made in early June to try and reset the schedule.
Meanwhile, over at the Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club in Birmingham, England, Shubhankar Sharma will miss the cut into the money rounds of the Hero Open.
Sharma carded a 1-over 73 on Thursday and could not make significant gains on Friday to finish on level par 144 and tied 79th place.
At the top of the order, overnight leader Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (62-69) was joined on 13-under par 131 by Englishman Sam Horsfield (68-63).
For his part, record-breaker Miguel Angel Jiminez dropped to T6 with a level par round (64-72) after sharing second place overnight.
Final nail
On the Asian Tour, the cancellations of the Taiwan Masters and the Hero Indian Open certainly jolted plans, and the Panasonic Open abandonment may well be the last straw.
Kim was on 2,172.62 points after three events on the Panasonic Swing – the 2019 Thailand Open, 2019 Panasonic Open India and 2019 BNI Indonesian Masters.
With no signs of an early resumption, event officials were forced to conclude the 2019/2020 Swing and the top three were decided on points accumulated till the Indonesian event, the Asian Tour said.
And from an original pool of $150,000 that was adjusted down to $90,000, $50,000 went to Kim, $25,000 to Kapur and $15,000 to Catlin, the Asian Tour website said.
Kapur finished the reduced Swing on 1,960 points and Catlin on 1,903.60 points.
“I’m thrilled to win the Panasonic Swing. It has been a solid run for me,” the 18-year-old Kim said.
“I would like to thank everyone who has helped me in my journey so far. A big thank you to Panasonic for their support as well. This is a great boost to me. I will continue to work hard,” he added.
Solid effort
Kim was T6 at the Thailand Open in his second Asian Tour start last season soon after securing three victories on the Asian Development Tour.
He then took a breakthrough win in sensational style in India a week later, becoming the second youngest professional to win on the Asian Tour at the age of 17 years and 149 days.
The Korean concluded his rookie season with a tied-21st place finish at the BNI Indonesian Masters, which eventually was the last leg of the 2019/20 Panasonic Swing.
Kim has a spot booked at the 149th Open at Royal St. George’s in 2021.after finishing fourth at the SMBC Singapore Open, but will now make his Major debut a little earlier than expected.
Thanks to a first victory on home soil that saw him break into top 100 on the Official World Golf Ranking earlier this month, Kim will tee it up at the PGA Championship next week.
The year’s first Major, in San Francisco, will also see the return of Tiger Woods to tournament play for the second time in the resumed PGA Tour season.
Also read: The next domino falls: Hero Indian Open is called off