Siwoo Kim 'Masters Warm-up in Texas'... Sponsor 'Title Defense'

PGA Tour Valero Texas Open Entry
Top Rankers Absent... Byeonghun An and Seonghyeon Kim Join

This is Kim Si-woo's 'Masters Mock Test' after winning the Sony Open.

On the 30th (local time), Kim Si-woo will participate in the PGA Tour Valero Texas Open (total prize money $8.9 million) held at TPC San Antonio (par 72, 7,438 yards) in San Antonio, Texas, USA. This tournament is held ahead of next week's 'Masters Tournament,' the prestigious major championship. He is determined to have a solid warm-up to wear the 'Green Jacket.' With top-ranked players such as Scottie Scheffler (USA), Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), and Jon Rahm (Spain) absent ahead of the Masters, the competition for the title is relatively easier.

Siwoo Kim challenges for his second win of the season at the Texas Open with a ballet performance.

Kim Si-woo is the player who earned his first victory at the Wyndham Championship in August 2016. He has accumulated a total of four PGA Tour wins, including the 2017 'Fifth Major' The Players Championship, the 2021 American Express, and the Sony Open last January. He recently found psychological stability after marrying Oh Ji-hyun, who has seven wins on the Korean LPGA (KLPGA) Tour as of December last year.

Kim Si-woo is determined to wash away last year's regrets. He was in a tie for 7th place, three strokes behind after the third round of this tournament, raising hopes for a comeback victory. However, he faltered in the final fourth round with a 1-under-par 71, dropping to a tie for 13th place. Recently, Kim Si-woo has been showing peak shot form. Although he failed to advance to the round of 16 in last week's World Golf Championships (WGC) Dell Technologies Match Play, he demonstrated his skills by defeating Chris Kirk (USA) and Viktor Hovland (Norway) by four holes in the group stage. Kim Si-woo declared, "I will show a good performance at the Texas Open as well."

J.J. Spaun (USA) is aiming for his second consecutive win. He recalls the memory of his first victory after six years and 147 PGA Tour events last year. Contenders for the title include Tyrrell Hatton (England), Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), Matt Kuchar, Rickie Fowler, Cameron Champ (all USA), Corey Conners (Canada), and Cameron Davis (Australia). From Korea, An Byeong-hun and Kim Seong-hyun have entered the field.