Seonghyun Kim, PGA runner-up… ‘Jumped’ to 57th place in FedEx Cup

Kim Seong-hyun (25) took the opportunity to ‘rise in status’ by achieving the best score since entering the PGA Tour’s fall series.

Seonghyun Kim finished second with a final total of 19 under par and 269 strokes at the Fortinet Championship (total prize money of $8.4 million), the first tournament of the PGA Tour Fall Series held at the Silverado Resort & Spa (par 72, 7,123 yards) in Napa, California, USA on the 18th (Korean time). occupied. He was two strokes short of Sahis Sigala (26, USA), who won the championship.

Runner-up is the best result for Seong-Hyun Kim, who debuted on the PGA Tour in the 2022-2023 season after winning the Korn Ferry Tour Rookie of the Year Award in the 2022 season. Seong-Hyun Kim has never been in the top 10 since tying for 4th place at the Shriners Children’s Open last October, which was his third tournament since his debut. He made the cut 20 times in 32 competitions and entered the top 25 eight times. Because of this, he finished the regular season FedEx Cup in 83rd place, failing to earn the playoff spot given to the top 70 players.

He added 300 FedEx Cup points in this tournament and earned a total of 846.3 points, jumping to 57th place in the FedEx Cup rankings. The PGA Tour has fixed the FedEx Cup point rankings of the top 50 players as of the end of the Tour Championship held last month, and is allowing the remaining players to continue competing for the FedEx Cup rankings in the fall series. The top 125 players at the end of the fall series will be eligible to participate in the 2024 season, and among them, the top 10 players (ranked 51st to 60th) will be granted the privilege of participating in two special competitions. Kim Seong-hyun, who is currently ranked 57th, has not only virtually secured the right to participate in next season, but will also be able to participate in some special competitions if he completes the fall series as is.

Kim Seong-hyun, who previously had to watch as Lim Seong-jae (25), Kim Si-woo (28), Kim Joo-hyung (21), and An Byeong-hun (32) made it into the top 50 of the FedEx Cup, said before the competition, “I will keep moving forward,” and approached the competition with extraordinary determination. Kim Seong-hyun, who was tied안전놀이터 for second place by two strokes through the third round, finished all nine holes in the first half with pars and showed his potential by reducing the score by four strokes in the second half. He took the first birdie of the day at the 10th hole (par 4), and then added birdies at the 15th hole (par 5), the 16th hole (par 4), and the 18th hole (par 5), and finished the tournament in sole second place.

Sigala, who was in the lead the previous day, reduced 4 strokes that day and won with a total of 21 under par 267 strokes. This is Cigala’s first win since his PGA Tour debut after turning professional in 2020. Sigala was ranked 31st in this season’s FedEx Cup points and secured the right to participate in all special competitions next year, so he did not have to participate in this competition, but he participated for reasons such as maintaining his performance and hit the jackpot.

Lee Gyeong-hoon (32) finished the tournament in a tie for 14th place with 11 under par 277 strokes. Bae Sang-moon (37), who was in 3rd place until the 2nd round, performed poorly in the 3rd and 4th rounds and was pushed down to a tie for 52nd place with 5 under par 283 strokes. The fall series begins with this competition and continues with the Sanderson Farms Championship, Shriners Children’s Open and Zozo Championship in October, and the Worldwide Technology Championship, Bermuda Championship and RSM Classic in November.