From pgatour.com
Korea’s birdie-machine Sungjae Im plans to cement his reputation as a match play expert at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin.
The 22-year-old makes his debut in the $10.5 million, 64-man tournament at Austin Country Club intending to use his aggressive style to help become Asia’s first winner of the event.
The tournament is a change this week from the traditional stroke-play format on the PGA Tour.
After a stellar Presidents Cup debut in 2019 where he delivered 3.5 points for the Internationals including a 4&3 singles win over Gary Woodland, Im hopes to remain in play until Sunday for the championship match.
He led the total birdies category on Tour in 2019 (480) and 2020 (390) and currently leads the category with 286 birds so far this season.
Im is drawn in Group 16 alongside Victor Perez, International teammate Marc Leishman and Russell Henley, with the round-robin group winner progressing into the single-match knockout stage.
Other Asians in this week’s elite field headlined by world no. 1 Dustin Johnson and defending champion Kevin Kisner, include Korea’s Si Woo Kim and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.
Tough group
Kim, who earned his third PGA Tour title in January and fresh from a top-10 at the Players Championship, is in Group 5 with FedEx Cup points leader Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood and Antoine Rozner.
Matsuyama will face Patrick Cantlay, Carlos Ortiz and Brian Harman in Group 10.
Im has a chance to live up to his nickname, the “Ironman”, as any player hoping to win at Austin will need to play seven matches in five days.
“In match play, I have to focus on every hole. I need play well to beat my opponent,” Im said ahead of the tournament.
“That is the main difference between match play and stroke play. In stroke play, every hole’s score matters, but in match play, if I lose one hole, I can make up in the next hole.
“I still have a chance to compete with my opponent, so I need to keep my focus and the strategy is different.”
He recalls the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in Australia in December 2019, which is one of the highlights of his burgeoning career.
Although he was the joint top scorer for his team, the Internationals narrowly lost 16-14 to the United States Team led by Tiger Woods.
“I was in good form. I had the confidence that I could beat anyone in that field,” said Im, who was T8 in his defence of the Honda Classic on Sunday.
Near misses
Asia’s closest challenger the history of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play was Japan’s Hideto Tanahira who qualified for the semi-finals in 2017 before losing 1-up to eventual winner Dustin Johnson.
Tanihara beat Ross Fisher, Paul Casey and Jordan Spieth en route to the weekend rounds.
In 2018, Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat made it through to the quarters but lost to eventual champion Bubba Watson.
China’s Haotong Li qualified for the fourth round in 2019 but fell to eventual winner Kevin Kisner.
Johnson enters as the top seed for the fourth consecutive year and will look to add to his 2017 title at Austin Country Club.
He will go up against Kevin Na, Robert MacIntyre and Adam Long in the group stages.
Defending champion Kevin Kisner, who won the 2019 event as the no. 48 seed, will begin his long-awaited title defence, joining recent Players winner Justin Thomas, Louis Oosthuizen and Matt Kuchar.
Kisner defeated Kuchar, the 2013 champion, in the 2019 final 3&2. Oosthuizen has also advanced to the final at Austin Country Club, falling to Jason Day in 2016.
Also read: Inspired Im rides birdie spree into Players’ contention
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