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| Lim Seong-jae is taking a shot at the Honda Classic 1R on the PGA Tour on the 19th (Korean time). © AFP=News1 |
‘Defending Champion’ Lim Seong-jae (23, CJ Logistics) started off on the first day of the US Professional Golf (PGA) Tour Honda Classic ($7 million in prize money).
In the first round of the tournament held at the PGA National Champion Course (par 70, 7125 yards) in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA on the 19th (Korean time), Lim Sung-jae tied 4 birdies and 2 bogies to write 2 under par 68 strokes.
Lim Sung-jae started the tournament with a tie for 15th place, 7 strokes behind Matt Jones (Australia, 9 under par 61), who took the lead alone.
Im Seong-jae stood at the top of this competition last year and held his first personal PGA Tour trophy in his arms. With a large number of top rankers absent this year, Lim Seong-jae is challenging to win the tournament as a top ranker.
Im Seong-jae announced a smooth start by catching a birdie in the 3rd hole (par 5). However, it shook while violating the 4th hole (par 4) and the 5th hole (par 3).
After that, Im Seong-jae, who had a three-hole par march in a row, finished the first half with a 7.9m birdie putt on the 9th hole (par 4).
Lim Sung-jae added a birdie in the 10th hole (par 4). Since then, he hasn’t been able to reduce his number of strokes, but it was a good result that he did not lose his number of strokes in the notorious’Bear Trap’ section.
Im Seong-jae succeeded in a birdie by putting the third shot within 1m of the hole cup from the last 18th hole (par 5), and finished the first round comfortably.
Except for Lim Seong-jae, Korean players struggled in the first round. Noh Seung-yeol (30, Isu Group) was tied for 43rd with an even par 70.
Ahn Byung-hoon (30, CJ Logistics) and Lee Gyeong-hoon (30, CJ Logistics) were tied for 82 with a 2-over par 72, and Choi Gyeong-ju (51, SK Telecom) with a 3-over par of 73, tied for 96th.