Sungjae Im Breaks into Top 20 of World Rankings After 6 Months

Weekly World Ranking Climbs 5 Spots from 23rd to 18th
Opening Match The Sentry Earns 3rd Place Points
Schauffele, Schofley, McIlroy Maintain 'Top 3' Positions

Im Sung-jae has jumped to 18th in the world rankings.

Im Sung-jae is teeing off at the 18th hole of the 4th round of The Sentry. Hawaii=AFP·Yonhap News

In the men's golf weekly world rankings announced on the 5th (local time), he received 3.08 points, rising five spots from 23rd last week. Im Sung-jae earned points by finishing 3rd at The Sentry, the opening event of the 2025 PGA Tour season, held at the Plantation Course (par 73, 7,596 yards) at Kapalua Resort on Maui Island, Hawaii, USA. It is the first time in six months since July last year that he has been ranked within the top 20 in the world. He also came close to his career-best individual ranking of 16th (February 2021).

The Sentry is a "champion of champions" event where last season's tournament winners and players ranked within the top 50 of the FedEx Cup can participate. This year, a total of 59 players competed. Im Sung-jae has been particularly strong in this tournament. He has entered the top 5 three times in five appearances. Notably, last year he set a new PGA Tour record for the most birdies in 72 holes since 1983 by making 34 birdies. This year, he finished 3rd again, earning $1.36 million (approximately 2 billion KRW). He surpassed $30 million (31.259508 million USD) in career earnings, becoming the second Korean player to do so after K.J. Choi ($32.803596 million).

After the match, Im Sung-jae said in an interview, "I'm happy to finish in 3rd place," and added, "I hope this good start from the first tournament of the season leads to a successful year." He also said, "I plan to rest and practice at next week's Sony Open. I want to work harder this year and achieve my third career win."

Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele (both USA), and Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) maintained the top 3 positions. The Sentry champion Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) rose one spot from 6th to 5th. For Korea, Kim Joo-hyung is 23rd, An Byeong-hun 25th, and Kim Si-woo is ranked 65th. Jang Yoo-bin, who moved to LIV Golf this year, is 134th, and Lee Kyung-hoon is 157th.