South Korea’s Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim with the Scottish Open trophy at the Renaissance Club in East Berwick on Sunday. Image courtesy PGA Tour/X.
By Rahul Banerji
Seven years ago, South Korean Joohyung Kim won his first international title, the 2019 Panasonic Open India, at the Classic Golf and Country Club aged 17 years and 149 days.
On Sunday, Kim, nicknamed Tom since graduating to the PGA Tour in 2022, ended an almost three-year wait since his last victory with a masterful performance to win the co-sanctioned Genesis Scottish Open.
Kim shot a bogey-free 6 under par 64 at the Renaissance Club to total 17 under 263, two shots up the road from 2021 winner, Australia’s Min Woo Lee, who closed with a 67 to total 15 under 265.
The South Korean announced himself at the event four years ago with a third-place finish after which he went on to win three PGA Tour titles and make two Presidents Cup appearances.
A slump thereafter saw Kim fall outside the top 150 in the world before finishing third at the US Open, during which time he had sought advice from Tiger Woods, who was the first to congratulate the Korean on Sunday.
Four players including 2024 Hero Indian Open champion Keita Nakajima, home favourite Robert MacIntrye, England’s Matt Fitzpatrick and Johnny Keefer of the US shared third place on 13 under 267.
Clean card
Kim brought in the only bogey-free card on Sunday to prevail with a late run that saw him outpace overnight leaders MacIntyre, Lee and Fitzpatrick after starting the final round one shot in arrears.
“I can’t really wrap my mind over it,” the emotional Kim said later. “It’s really special and I’m just at a loss for words.
“Obviously I’ve had a tough couple years. I got to taste a lot of that humble pie and I got to really learn about myself and I’m still trying to grow, still trying to learn.
“I’m definitely appreciating this more now than I did a couple years ago, which is really cool.
“I thought about my family, all the people that were in my corner the whole time and suffered with me and who celebrated with me. Remembering all those people really brought tears to my eyes.
“Obviously .. being on Tiger’s team, I’ve been able to ask him questions on certain things. He’s been really helpful a lot of the time.
“This was my first win in three years, and the first person that texted me was Tiger Woods. Shows you the person he is and how much he cares.”
Handling pressure
Added the Seoul-born player: “This one is up there. I played probably as good as I could down the stretch with pressure and I executed when I needed to.
“Very proud of myself for just being calm out there. That last putt, I’ve hit a similar putt like that a lot in my life. I told myself, it’s the same as at home, and this is awesome.”
Besides a purse of £1.2 million, Kim ensured himself of a place in next year’s Masters at Augusta National.
Behind Kim, Keefer, Michael Thorbjornsen (US) and Victor Perez of France earned entry to next week’s Open Championship as the top three players not already exempt.
Interestingly, Kim has never finished outside the top 20 at Renaissance Club since his first appearance there in 2022.
At the Amundi Evian Championship in France which also finished on Sunday, a closing 3 over 74 saw Aditi Ashok finish in 56th place at 1 under 283 with Korea’s Haeran Ryu winning with a 19 under 265 total.
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