“If you win, I definitely want to do it at Masters.”
Im Seong-jae (23, photo), who surprised the world golf world by winning runner-up in the first Masters appearance last year, is preparing for another breakthrough. He held an interview with the PGA on the 7th (Korean time) and expressed his determination, “I want to achieve the top 10 grades this year.”
The Masters Tournament will be held at Augusta National GC in Georgia, USA on the 8th. It is a major tournament with 77 years of tradition and is considered the best tournament among PGA tours. In the first and second rounds of the Masters, Lim Seong-jae will compete in Group 27 with Patrick Pantley (USA) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (England).
Lim Sung-jae tied for second place with Cameron Smith (Australia) at the Masters held in November last year. This is the highest performance among all Asian players. The match ended with 5 strokes against the winner Dustin Johnson (USA). He is the first Asian national to win an American Professional Golf (PGA) Tour Rookie Award, and is writing his first record.
The Masters is usually held in April, but last year, it was held in November for the first time in the aftermath of Corona 19. This year, it will be held again after 5 months, returning to April as it was. In an interview, he said, “It was so amazing that I continued to be in the top ranks in last year’s competitions, and I remembered playing with Johnson on the last day.” .
Having finished second in the competition with world-class athletes instilled a strong confidence. Im Seong-jae once overtook Johnson by one stroke in the final round of the tournament. He said, “I thought,’I can really win today’ when I was in the lead on the last day of last year.”
Lim Seong-jae faced another challenge in his second appearance. It is Patron’s existence. Last year, the Masters was held as a non-audience game due to Corona 19. Some Patron’s positions are allowed this year. He said, “Because there is a crowd this year, I think I will be more nervous than last year.” Lim Seong-jae starts the first round with Patrick Cantley (USA) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (England) at 2:24 a.m. Korean time on the 9th.
Reporter Jo Soo-young [email protected]
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