photo = AFP
‘Buddy King’ Seongjae Lim announced a pleasant start by holding a buddy show on the first day of the first PGA Tour tournament in the new year.
Im Seong-jae served 1 eagle, 5 birdies and 1 bogey in the first round of the PGA Tour Century Tournament of Champions (total prize money of $8.2 million) held at the Plantation Course (par 73) in Kapalua, Hawaii, USA on the 7th (Korean time). Hit a 6-under 67. With two eagles at the fore, he competed for the championship by two strokes behind the solo leader Cameron Smith (29, Australia), who shot an 8-under 65. World No. 1 Jon Lam (29, Spain), Patrick Cantlay (30), and Daniel Berger (29, USA) shot 7-under 66, tied for second place by one shot, Kevin Na (39, USA) and Eric Van Ruyen (32, South Africa) finished the match in tie 5 with Im Seong-jae.
Im Seong-jae is currently the best ‘buddy king’ on the PGA Tour. During the 2020-2021 season, he caught 498 birdies, setting a new record for the most birdies in a season. In 2000, Steve Fleis (USA) established 493 records that have not been broken for 21 years.
In this match, Im Seong-jae showed his side as a birdie king without regrets. After keeping a par save until the 3rd hole after the game started, he started the game by catching the first birdie on the 4th hole (par 4) and then catching an eagle on the 5th hole (par 5) to boost momentum. Seongjae Lim, who sent 334 yards from the tee shot on the 5th hole, succeeded in making a 2 on and then succeeded in putting an eagle putt from a distance of 4 meters, reducing two strokes at once.
On the 7th hole (par 4), he made three putts and recorded a bogey, but Im’s momentum did not dampen. He made up for it right away by catching a birdie on the 9th hole (par 5). In the second half, he made three consecutive birdies from the 12th hole (par 4) to further boost his momentum. He finished the remaining hole with a par save and finished the first round with a 6-under par. On that day, Im Seong-jae recorded 28 putts with an 86.67% fairway hit rate and 88.89% green hit rate. The average drive shot distance was 279.5 yards.
This competition is the ‘Wang of Kings’, where only 38 winners from last season participate. Seongjae Lim was the winner of the Schreiners Children’s Open in October and qualified for the spot. He participated in this competition for the first time last year and finished tied for 5th, but in his second appearance this year, he put the first button well and was able to aim for his first championship.
After the game, Im Seong-jae said, “It was the first game of the new year, so I was a little nervous, but I got off to a good start with the Eagle and the birdie and was able to continue the good flow in the second half.” He continued, “I came to Hawaii on a Sunday, so I was less acclimatized to the jet lag, but I tried to focus on the game and it seems to fit well. It’s an honor to play with the winners of the previous year.
The plantation course, the site of the tournament, has wide fairways and steep downhill slopes, making it an advantageous place to hit long hits. Thanks to this, the top-ranked slugging show continued in this game. Tony Finau (33, USA) hit 402 yards on the 12th hole (par 4), and Bryson Dishampo (29, USA) hit 381 yards on the 7th hole (par 5).
Si-Woo Kim (27) shot a 2-under 71 with three birdies and one bogey, tied for 25th. Lee Kyung-hoon, 31, who made his first appearance this year, finished the first round in a tie for 29th with five birdies and four bogeys, hitting 1-under 72.
Reporter Jo Soo-young delinews@hankyung.com
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