Si Woo Kim Player Profile And What's In The Bag

SI WOO KIM shot a final round of 64 to pip Hayden Buckley and win the Sony Open in Hawaii by a stroke.

It was Kim’s fourth PGA Tour victory and was probably his most satisfying to date. He began the final round three behind Buckley and this was his first success using the long putter.

He turned things around with three straight birdies and finished with two more, including a chip-in at the 17th seconds after Buckley had birdied the 16th, and a two-putt birdie at the last, where he chased his second shot onto the green with a five iron from a fairway bunker.

Chris Kirk (68) finished alone in third, three back.

“It’s always hard to win,” Kim said. “but I’m trying to get - I’ve got too much pressure and too much high expectation, so I think that makes me more nervous and pressure and stress.

“With Manny [Villegas, his caddie], I talked to him the week before here, so I'm trying to have a better attitude and trying to act better. When I hit not the best shot, I try to be less upset. I think that helps for this week.”

Kim admitted he got ahead of himself after his three-birdie start, and what Villegas called his best shot of the day, his 220-yard tee shot at the par-3 fourth hole, to a back-right pin with the wind coming in off the right. The ball stopped 4 feet, 2 inches from the pin, but Kim missed the putt and bogeyed the sixth and eighth holes. He birdied seven and nine to negate the damage, then got back on track, going bogey free as he drew level with Buckley before moving in front.

Player Profile

Si Woo Kim was born in Seoul on June 28, 1995.

He finished tied for 20th at the PGA Tour qualifying school in 2012 aged 17 years, five months six days to become the youngest player ever to come through qualifying. PGA Tour rules meant he was too young to compete so had to wait until he turned 18 in 2013. He missed seven cuts in eight starts and ended up on the Web.Com Tour, where he won for the first time in 2015, ending the year in 10th place on the money list to make it back to the PGA Tour.

In 2016 he won the Wyndham Championship at the age of 21 and the following year added the Players Championship, beating Ian Poulter and Louis Oosthuizen by three shots. He lost in a playoff at the RBC Heritage in 2018 and won his third title, the American Express Championship, in 2021 and lost the Wyndham Championship in a playoff. He also represented the International Team at the Presidents Cup in 2022, winning three points out of a possible four.

Kim averages 299.1 yards from the tee, finds 70.59% of fairways and hits 74.72% of greens in regulation. He averages 4.05 birdies per round and gets up and down from the sand 54.55% of the time. His scoring average is 69.36. He began the week ranked 84th in the world and 84th in the FedEx Cup standings.

What's In The Bag

Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond Driver (8.5°) - Fuji Ventus Black 6X Shaft

Fairways: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond Fairway Wood (15°) - Fuji Ventus Black 8X Shaft, Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond Fairway Wood (18°) - Fuji Ventus Black 9X Shaft

Irons: Callaway X Forged CB Irons (3-PW) - KBS Tour V 125 Shafts

Wedges: Callaway JAWS Raw Wedges (54° & 60°) - KBS Tour V 125 Shafts

Putter: Odyssey 2-Ball Ten Broomstick Putter

Golf Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft X