Si Woo Kim said he had nothing to lose, so he played aggressively on his chip shot on the 17th hole during the final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii. He picked a great time to chip in for birdie.
“It can’t get better than this,” Kim said.
The 27-year-old South Korean tied for the lead with a dramatic chip-in at the par 3 and added a two-putt birdie from 42 feet at 18 to match the low score on Sunday.
Kim’s 6-under 64 at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu propelled him to a one-stroke victory over Hayden Buckley and his fourth career PGA Tour title. It’s an impressive tally, which includes the 2017 Players Championship, but Kim still has work to do to catch his bride, Ji Hyun Oh, who turned professional in 2014 and has seven wins on the KLPGA to her credit. The couple tied the knot on December 19.
“Feel like we’re (on our) honeymoon because we came here early last week,” he said.
Kim said he was going to approach the final round of the Sony Open with a different mindset, trying not to focus so much on winning the tournament.
“Just play the golf,” he said.
Whatever that entailed, it worked. Kim, who trailed by three strokes at the start of the day, came out firing with birdies on the first three holes and marked six circles on his card in his first 12 holes to assume a one-stroke lead over Buckley.
In September, Kim represented the International team in the Presidents Cup. After playing a practice round with teammate Adam Scott, he adopted Scott’s putting style and use of a broomstick-length putter that week. It came in handy as he knocked off Justin Thomas of the U.S. in a singles match en route to going 3-0-1 in the competition. Kim tried to downplay the significance of his victory over Thomas, calling it “just a lucky day,” but later conceded it gave him a boost of confidence.
“My game was little down like at the end of the season, but I think that kind of like gave me momentum,” he said.
SI WOO HIM 🔥
An incredible chip-in from Si Woo Kim answering @HBuckley13’s birdie @SonyOpenHawaii. pic.twitter.com/0cgRc3cfKD
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 16, 2023
On Sunday, Kim chased down Buckley, the 54-hole leader, who started with a birdie but then his putter cooled off and he made his first bogey of the day at No. 11, missing from 5 feet, to fall one stroke behind Kim.
“I feel like the putting was a little shaky,” Buckley conceded.
Buckley’s putter temporarily woke from its slumber as he holed a 17-foot birdie at 12 and a 29-foot birdie at 14 to vault into first. But it was shaky down the stretch, especially inside 15 feet. Buckley lipped out a 4-foot par putt on the left at 15 to drop back into a tie for the lead at 16 under but rebounded with a birdie one hole later.
Buckley’s 16-footer at 16 reclaimed the lead momentarily. Just when it appeared that Buckley had the edge to grab his first title, Kim answered with his chip-in from 28 feet over the 17th green. His celebratory fist pump rivaled that of Tiger Woods in his prime.
“Right before that I heard the noise, I knew he made it,” Kim said of Buckley’s birdie putt at 16. “It was a tough lie — into the grain — so I had to be aggressive and I had nothing to lose and it went in.”
Kim drove into the left fairway bunker at 18 but his second shot, a 5-iron from 236 yards, at the par-5 was a beauty, bounding on to the green and stopping 42 feet short of the hole. He got down in two putts for the go-ahead birdie. Kim shot a pair of 64s on the weekend to finish with a 72-hole total of 18-under 262. Buckley, whose runner-up finish marked a personal best in 40 career Tour starts, signed for a final-round 68. He had a chance to tie and force a playoff but his 12-foot birdie putt at 18 slid by on the left. Chris Kirk, who was trying to end a winless drought of nearly eight years, shot 68 and finished third.
“Winning on the PGA Tour is the hardest thing to do, and sometimes you just get beat,” Buckley said. “I feel like that’s what happened today.”
