Genesis Scotty Open Final Day Showdown in the Champion Group
Fleetwood 3rd, An Byeonghun and Scheffler Tied 5th
Homa 10th, Schauffele 18th, Lee Kyunghoon 39th
‘PGA star attraction’ Kim Joo-hyung’s chance to win.
On the 15th (local time), Kim Joo-hyung added 3 under par in the third round of the Genesis Scottish Open (total prize money $9 million), a co-hosted event of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour (formerly European Tour), held at The Renaissance Club (par 70, 7,237 yards) in North Berwick, Scotland. He positioned himself in second place (12 under par, 198 strokes). He will compete in the final round in the champion group against world No. 3 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), who leads at 13 under par (197 strokes).
Juhyung Kim (left) and Rory McIlroy clash for the win in the final day champion group of the Genesis Scotiabank Open. [Photo by PGA Tour]
Starting from a tie for second place, one stroke behind the leader, Kim Joo-hyung made three birdies without any bogeys. He recorded 2 under par in the front nine with birdies on holes 3 and 6, and added another birdie on the 10th hole (par 5) in the back nine. However, he was unable to lower his score on the remaining eight holes. He relied on a green hit rate of 83.33%. Being just one stroke behind the leader, this is his second win of the season and third career victory, nine months after his last win at the Shriners Children’s Open in October last year.
Kim Joo-hyung had a chance to erase the disappointment from last year’s tournament, where he was tied for the lead until the 17th hole of the fourth round but finished third after a bogey on the 18th hole. He said, “The wind was very strong, so it was tough. There were many difficult situations, but I trusted myself and got through them well,” and added, “I’m in a good position to aim for the win.”
McIlroy maintained his position at the top of the leaderboard for the second consecutive day, recording five birdies and two bogeys. He continued his good form ahead of next week’s final major of the season, The Open. Tommy Fleetwood (England) and Brian Harman (USA) are tied for third place (11 under par, 199 strokes), An Byeong-hun and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler are tied for fifth place (10 under par, 200 strokes), and Max Homa (USA) and others are tied for 10th place (9 under par, 201 strokes). Defending champion Xander Schauffele (USA) is tied for 18th place (7 under par, 203 strokes), and Lee Kyung-hoon finished the third round tied for 39th place (5 under par, 205 strokes).
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