Siwoo Kim "5-Under Par Moving Day Surge"..."Top 10 GO~"

Sony Open Day 3: 5 Birdies Only, Steele Leads, Niemann Tied 2nd by 2 Shots, Choi Kyung-Ju Tied 39th

Kim Si-woo is teeing off on the 17th hole on the third day of the Sony Open. Honolulu, Hawaii, USA = Getty Images / Multibits

[Asia Economy Kim Hyun-jun, Golf Specialist Reporter] It is Kim Si-woo's (26, CJ Logistics) ‘Moving Day Spurt’.

On the 17th (Korean time), at the Waialae Golf Club in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA (par 70, 7,044 yards), during the third day of the PGA Tour Sony Open (total prize money $6.6 million), he shot 5-under par to leap to a tie for 23rd place (11-under par 199 strokes). This tournament is the first ‘full-field’ stage of 2021. Brendan Steele (USA) leads (18-under par 192 strokes), with Joaquin Niemann (Chile) in a tie for 2nd place, 2 strokes behind (16-under par 194 strokes), in a chase battle.

Kim Si-woo started tied for 35th place, 6 strokes behind, and collected five birdies. He made a birdie on the first hole (par 4), consecutive birdies on the 6th and 7th holes, and another birdie on the 9th hole (par 5). It is rather regrettable that he made par for seven consecutive holes starting from the 10th hole (par 4) on the back nine. On the final 18th hole (par 5), he added a birdie by hitting his greenside bunker shot close to the hole. With a greens hit rate of 77.78% and an average of 1.64 putts per hole, his ‘pinpoint iron shots’ were complemented by ‘stingy putting’.

He is 7 strokes behind the leader, in a position sufficient to advance into the ‘top 10’. Steele, leading with a daily best 9-under par, is challenging for his 4th career win after a 3-year and 3-month gap since his ‘back-to-back’ Safeway Open victories in October 2017. ‘Tank’ Choi Kyung-ju (51, SK Telecom) and Lee Kyung-hoon (30) are tied for 39th place (9-under par 201 strokes), while ‘top favorite’ Im Sung-jae (23, all CJ Logistics) faltered with 2-under par for three consecutive days, remaining tied for 60th place (6-under par 204 strokes).