Lim Seong-jae, 23, plays his first title defense after advancing to the PGA Tour at the Honda Classic (total prize pool of $7 million), which will be held in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on the 18th (Korean time).
Im Seong-jae, the first Asian nationality rookie in the history of the 2018-2019 PGA Tour, won his first PGA Tour victory last year.
Lim Seong-jae won the tournament, which ended on March 2 last year, and at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which was held immediately, finished third alone, showing a steep rise.
However, after the first round of the Players Championship, which was after the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the tour schedule was suspended for about three months due to a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), and the good trend could not continue.
This year, the order of the competitions has changed, and the Arnold Palmer Invitational ended first in early March, followed by the Players Championship, followed by the Honda Classic.
In the tournament held in 2021, Lim Seong-jae has not had a’top 10′ record since a tie for fifth place in the Century Champions tournament in early January.
However, from the end of February, starting with a tie for 28th in the World Golf Championship (WGC) Workday Championship, a tie for 21st at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and a tie for 17th at the Players Championship that ended last week, there is also a growing expectation for this Honda Classic title defense. I am raising it.
In particular, Lim Seong-jae pulled out 1 Eagle and 6 birdies in the final round of the Players Championship on the 15th, wielding a 6-under-par 66 strikes to compete with the Honda Classic as a’defending champion’.
This year’s Honda Classic is held between big competitions such as the Players Championship, which is called the “Fifth Major,” and the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play, which opens next week, and there are not many top rankings.
Daniel Burger (USA) ranked 15th among the players in the world, followed by Im Seongjae, 17th.
It is also a point to watch the performances of veteran Lee Westwood (England), 48-year-old veteran Lee Westwood (England), who recently won two consecutive PGA Tour tournaments, and senior players such as Choi Gyeong-ju and Phil Michalson (USA), who were born in 1970.
Adam Scott (Australia) and Ricky Fowler (USA), who won this competition in 2016 and 2017, are also’big names’ that deserve the attention of fans.
In addition to Lim Seong-jae and Choi Gyeong-ju, Korean players will participate by Ahn Byung-hun (30), Kang Seong-hoon (34), Lee Gyeong-hoon (30), and Noh Seung-yeol (30), who finished fourth in the tournament last year. Korean players include Doug Kim, James Han, John Huh, and Michael Kim (above America).
The PGA National Champion Course (par 70, 7,125 yards) in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, the venue of the tournament, is famous for its nickname’Bear Trap’ on holes 15 through 17.
The course was created by Tom Paggio and remodeled in the early 2000s by Jack Nicklaus, a’golf legend’, nicknamed’Golden Bear’.
This’Bear Trap’ is one of the best courses in the entire PGA tour.
Holes 15 and 17 are par 3, and holes 16 are par 4, all with water hazards and strategically dug bunkers lurking throughout the course designed by Nicklaus.
According to the US Golf Week, from 2007 to last year, all 1,515 balls were headed to the water hazard in all three holes, and 446 out of 570 players played at least one’balloon show’ in’Bear Trap’. .
‘Golf Emperor’ Tiger Woods (USA) also lost 8 strokes in the’Bear Trap’ in 2018.
On the last day of last year’s championship, Lim Seong-jae caught birdies, pars, and birdies in these three holes as the driving force behind the championship.
Founded in 1972, this is the only case in which Nicklaus, the designer of this’bear trap’, achieved two consecutive years in the history of the event in 1977 and 1978.
As for Lim Seong-jae, he must overcome the’Bear Trap’ in order to be in line with the record of’Golden Bear’ 2 consecutive losses.