PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The final pathway into the Masters is through San Antonio at the Valero Texas Open, where the winner if not already eligible goes straight to Augusta National.
The exception is S.H. Kim, who goes straight home to South Korea regardless of the outcome.
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Kim, who turns 28 in September, finished eighth on the Korn Ferry Tour points list in 2025 to earn his PGA Tour card for the second time. But mandatory military service in South Korea is looming, and he was given a 90-day travel extension at the start of the year.
That gives him until the Texas Open on April 2-5 before it expires. Kim, who missed the cut at The Players Championship, has played every week he has been eligible. His best results were at the start of the year, a tie for 13th in the Sony Open and a tie for 18th at The American Express.
“I’m playing until Valero,” he said through a translator. “Anything after that is a lot of factors going into play. I might come back again this year. First I have to go back to Korea.”
Giving up two years in their prime has never been easy on players. Sangmoon Bae went from the Presidents Cup in 2015 to the military. He hasn’t been the same. Ditto for Seung-yul Noh, whose return from his conscription was about the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The PGA Tour is working on a plan to help. Tour officials are in the process of finalizing an arrangement where Kim can get a medical extension and still play at home on the Korea PGA circuit during the weeks he wouldn’t be eligible on the PGA Tour (majors and signature events).
The idea is to keep him sharp for the end of September to be ready for the Asian Games, held every four years, and now increasingly important to South Koreans. Gold medal winners in the Asian Games — individual or team — are exempt from military service.
Any medal at the Olympics comes with an exemption, which is why Tom Kim was so crushed when he fell four shots short of a shot at the bronze at the 2024 Paris Games.
Professionals played the Asian Games for the first time in 2023 (it was delayed one year by the pandemic). Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim competed with two amateurs and South Korea won the team gold by 25 shots.
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“I was still scared as (expletive),” Si Woo Kim said with a laugh. He said the world ranking determined who played the last time.
Tom Kim and S.H. Kim currently are the leading South Koreans in the world ranking among those still facing conscription. S.H. said it hasn’t been decided who will play, only that he hopes to part of that team. A gold medal is all that can bring him back to the PGA Tour in the fall.
The move to March
The Players Championship returned to its spot in March in 2019 to make room for the PGA Championship switching from August to May and to allow for the tour’s postseason to end earlier.
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The TPC Sawgrass is overseeded in March, making it greener and typically more lush. Scoring has been slightly lower in the seven tournaments since the move to March, but not overly alarming. What stands out, however, is the champions The Players produces.
Cameron Young was the first Players champion to be ranked outside the top 10 since the move to March in 2019. Young was No. 15 in the world ranking and moved up to No. 4.
The seven previous years when it was held in May, only two winners of The Players were among the top 10 in the world, both at No. 1 — Jason Day in 2016 and Tiger Woods in 2013.
Yella has a week
Sudarshan Yellamaraju is the latest example of how one week can change so much, particularly when that one week is the lucrative Players Championship.
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The Canadian rookie was sitting at 4-over for the tournament late Friday afternoon, two shots above the cut line, when he birdied three of his last five sholes. One of those came at the par-3 eighth that was playing 236 yards into the wind.
And then he delivered a 66-68 weekend on the TPC Sawgrass, not making a bogey on the weekend until the 12th hole Sunday. The result was a tie for fifth worth $925,000. Yellamaraju had made $874,957 in career earnings on the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas combined going into last week.
He also moved up 37 spots to No. 30 in the FedEx Cup. Data Golf is projecting a 66% probability of Yellamaraju finishing in the top 70 and advancing to the postseason.
“I just wanted to play the best golf I could on the weekend. I think I kind of exceeded what I thought I could do,” he said. “I fought until the very end and never gave up, and that’s all I could wish for.”
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A year ago, Danny Walker got into The Players as an alternate when Jason Day withdrew.
Walker made the cut on the number, went 66-70 on the weekend and tied for sixth. The FedEx Cup points he earned at The Players (250) was 44% of his total for the season. He finished No. 97 and narrowly kept his card.
Daly goes from Hooters to Topgolf
John Daly no longer can set up shop at Hooters on Washington Road during the Masters because the restaurant was torn down last year. So he’ll be taking his talents to Topgolf.
Daly has been selling his wares and holding court at Hooters for the last 28 years. The two-time major champion now is teaming up with Topgolf Augusta, turning it into his own 19th hole on Thursday and Friday of Masters week from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
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Topgolf Augusta is about 5 miles from Augusta National, near the South Carolina border.
“This week has always been about the fans as much as the golf, and I’ve spent a lot of great nights hanging out with them over the years,” Daly said. “This time we’re bringing that energy to Topgolf, where people can grab a drink, take some swings and just have a good time together. I’m looking forward to kicking back, meeting some folks and keeping the party going after the rounds.”
Back again
Patrick Cantlay was returning from a severe back injury that nearly ended his career when he was runner-up at the Valspar Championship in 2017. It was his second tournament back, and he secured his card for the rest of the year. He reached the Tour Championship in just 12 starts.
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But he had not been back to Innisbrook since that runner-up finish — until now.
Cantlay is in the field for the Valspar Championship. He is off to a slower start than usual, dropping to No. 35 in the world — he was No. 12 at this time a year ago — with only two finishes in the top 20 and two missed cuts.
Divots
The American Express won by Scottie Scheffler is the only time in his six tournaments this year he has broken par in all four rounds. … Chris Gotterup, Cameron Young and Jacob Bridgeman have earned the most world ranking points through 11 weeks of the year. … Travis Smyth, who won the ISPS Handa Japan-Australasia Championship on a sponsor exemption, has clinched the Order of Merit on the PGA Tour of Australasia. That gets him a European tour card for 2027.
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Stat of the week
For the third consecutive year, the winner of The Players Championship has started the final round at least four shots behind.
Final word
“My expectations are wildly unreasonable, so I think they’re less so now. This is a hard game and there’s a lot of people that are really good at it.” — Cameron Young.
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