Im Seong-jae, settled after finding a house, top 5 since the first contest

11th Kapalua Resort Plantation Course in Maui, Hawaii, USA. Im Seong-jae (23), who played in the US Pro Golf (PGA) Tour Sentry Tournament of Champions, put a 1.5m birdie putt on the 18th hole (par 5) in the final round. The ranking, which had been hovering around the top 10, quickly soared to a tie for fifth. On the stage of the first tournament in 2021, and also for the first time, Lim Seong-jae started fresh with a bitter back feeling.

Although it has been 4 weeks since the European Tour DP World Championship on the 14th of last month, Im Seong-jae had a bitter sense of shot. Both the drive shot accuracy and the green hit rate were 83.3%, exceeding the season’s personal average (drive shot 69.49%, green hit rate 72.22%). In particular, the drive was outstanding. On the first day of the tournament, he recorded 5 consecutive birdies from the 10th hole. On the third day, he raised the ranking with 3 consecutive birdies from the 14th to 16th holes. On the last day, the last episode was 16~18, and the ranking was raised with three consecutive birdies. Throughout the fourth round, he recorded a total of 21 at-bats (67-68-67-69) in his 60s, and tied for fifth place. It is the second top ten of the season following runner-up in the Masters tournament last November.

In the third year of the PGA Tour, Lim Seong-jae settled in Duluth, near Atlanta, USA early last month. It became comfortable in many ways. Until last year, throughout the season, he continued his tour of the lodging facilities in the tournament area. The place where I settled down after hard work is where the largest Korean town in the Atlanta area is located. The advantage is that there is a course where PGA Tour competitions were held in the past, so you can practice comfortably.

Since last month’s DP World Championship, I haven’t missed out on practicing to maintain my sense of shot every day even during the break. He expressed his confidence, saying, “I prepared well for the off season” ahead of this tournament. In March of last year, he first competed in this competition, which is a’king of kings’ character as a winner of the Honda Classic. In the final round, last year’s winner and world’s 3rd place Justin Thomas (28, USA) played together. There was a game that was not pushed at all. Thomas, who reduced seven strokes in the final round, finished in third place (24 under par).

The winner of this competition came after an overtime match. Harris English (32, USA) laughed at the end. English ended the regular round with Joaquin Neiman (Chile), who cut nine strokes in the final round, with a total of 25 under par. The championship was confirmed by putting a 2m birdie putt in the first extension on the 18th hole. English, who won three wins on the PGA Tour in seven years and two months after the OHL Classic in November 2013, won the championship prize of $13.4 million (about 1.47 billion won).

Bryson DeChambo (28, USA), who pledged to steadily hit’super long hits’ more than 400 yards this year by raising the ball speed this year, took a tie for 7th place (20 under par) by reducing 7 shots with an elaborate short game in the final round.

Reporter Kim Jihan [email protected]