Si Woo Kim was hardly distraught on Friday afternoon after narrowly missing out on shooting the 16th sub-60 score in PGA Tour history.
In the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, on a renovated TPC Craig Ranch course that was yielding birdies by the dozens in favorable Texas weather, the Dallas resident made 12 birdies over the first 17 holes. That got him to 12-under on the par-71 track, and Kim needed “only” a par of 4 at the 18th to shoot 59.
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Unfortunately, a rush of excitement seemed to get the best of the 30-year-old from South Korea, and after a perfect drive, he airmailed the green. Left with a chip of 64 feet to the hole, Kim scuffed it a bit and wound up 18 feet short, and his putt for bogey dived inches in front of the hole for a disappointing 5.
The consolation was that Kim’s 11-under 60 put him five strokes ahead of his closest pursuers at 18 under as he bids to win for the fifth time on tour.
“I hit it great and putted great. So, everything was perfect, other than the last hole,” Kim said. “I’ll still take it; 60 is hard, but I was a little bit of thinking about the 59 after I make that on 17. It was a little bit of like adrenalin.”
Kim said that with 195 yards left to the flagstick at 18, he was between choosing a 5- and 6-iron. “The wind was like a little into off the left. So I feel like I had to hit it really hard with a 6-iron,” he said. “I think I hit it OK, but I think it was too much pumping. So it went farther than I thought.”
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Of the putt for 59, he said, “I hit it really great, but misread it a little less.”
Kim hit 12 fairways and 13 greens and even overcame an odd hiccup at the par-3 15th hole.
“I was everything committed, and some guy was making sneeze during my backswing,” he said. “So I pull out back and hit a wrong shot, and it went straight and ended up like 10 feet. So I made birdie that hole. That makes me a little bit more good mood.”
The vibes were good for the first two days as Kim played alongside Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler. The latter also lives in the Dallas area and Kim regularly plays money games with him. The World No. 1 managed to stay in the tournament by shooting 63.
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“When you’re watching somebody like Si Woo … birdie every hole and you feel like the tournament is getting further and further away from you, I think I did a good job of staying patient and not forcing things,” Scheffler said.
Kim admitted after the round that he wasn’t thinking about 59 until he impressively canned a curling birdie putt from just off the green at 17.
As for Scheffler, he wasn’t going to say a word to Kim about the pace he was on. For a fellow player, that’s akin to talking about another sporting milestone.
“I would say it would definitely be in poor taste to remind somebody they’re on 59 watch,” Scheffler said. “Yeah, I’d equate it to a no-hitter. Not going to go in the dugout, like ‘He, man …’”
Kim seems as primed as anyone to win soon. In 14 starts this year he has five top-6s, including a T-2 at Torrey Pines in late January, and two top-4s in his past four starts.
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