At The American Express golf tournament held on this Sunday, Kim Si-Woo birdied two out of the three final holes. Just the previous year, the 25-year-old South Korean golfer had gone away from the Coachella Valley due to his injured back. After his comeback this week, he stayed to get his newest victory in the premier golf match.
Playing against Patrick Cantlay, Kim birdied two holes out of three and finished the tournament off with a clean 8-under 64. And with that, he went on to bag his third PGA Tour win.
Last year, Kim scored a 15-over 67 during the first match. But, due to complications in his back pain, he has to withdraw from the tournament to recuperate. He wanted to win again since his 2017 Players Championship victory. Thereafter, he only made 102 straight starts, and according to Kim, this was highly disheartening. Before his game this Sunday, he could not sleep. And, he took melatonin and other measures to calm down, though it did not help.
According to Kim, his focus was on the leaderboard through the game. Cantlay birdied a 61 score just six groups in front of Kim. This way, Cantley jumped from the 13th position to the top and made a new Stadium Course record.
Steeling his mind, Kim scored on 16 as well as 17 and continued to maintain a calm resolution. Cantlay’s rise had put the golfer only one stroke ahead. Kim, on other hand, birdied a respectable par-5 16th.
After that, Kim scored a 19-foot putt on the 17th on the island green. Thereafter, Kim’s victory was apparent. Thereafter, Kim birdied a two-putt par in his third bogey-free round with a 23-under 265 finishing on the 18th.
After the monumental match in this Bob Hope-hosted event at Palm Springs, Cantlay commented on this development. He was hoping to even the margin during the playoffs. The professional golfer further admitted he did the best he could.
Although this was Cantlay’s best all-time career round, he did not manage to gain his long-coveted fourth career win.
Kim is the second person after Collin Morikawa to become a PGA Tour player who achieved three careen victories before turning 26.
Cantlay later commented that two days prior to the last match, on Thursday and Friday, he did not manage to hit the 8-ball. While he did perform well in the weekend games, that difference led to him losing his chance of victory.
Other highlights include Cameron Davis (64) from Australia who ranked third. The fourth position went to Tony Finau (68) who at the start of the final round was sharing the lead. At 15 under, Abraham Ancer (66), Doug Ghim (69), and Michael Thompson (66) stood at a tie and ranked joint-fifth.
In the final round, the 28-year-old second-rank holder made 11 birdies, out of which six went in the front line holes. He ended his round on the 18th at a 37-foot birdie. Cantley, a Long Beach native, schooled at Anaheim and was a UCLA Division 1 player.
Kim did 13 birdies during the last two rounds, while Cantlay made 20 and two bogeys on Saturday.