Tied for 44th in Round 1 of the PGA Tour Sony Open
Six Players, Including Hall and Hoge, Share the Lead at 6-under
Matsuyama Tied for 26th, Kim Siwoo Tied for 107th
Kim Joo-hyung started his first tournament of the year smoothly.
Kim Juhyung is teeing off at the 11th hole in the first round of the Sony Open. Hawaii - Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News
On the 9th (local time), at the Waialae Country Club (Par 70, 7,044 yards) in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, Kim shot a 2-under-par 68 in the first round of the PGA Tour Sony Open (total prize money $8.7 million). He is tied for 44th place. Six players, including Harry Hall (England) and Tom Hoge (USA), dominated the top of the leaderboard with 6-under-par 64. Some players were unable to finish their rounds due to sunset.
Kim recorded three birdies and one bogey. Starting at the 10th hole (par 4), Kim made a birdie putt of about 5 meters on the first hole. The birdie at the 1st hole was offset by a bogey at the 2nd hole, but he sank a mid-range putt from over 5 meters at the 5th hole (also par 4) to finish the first round. He is only four strokes behind the co-leaders, leaving room to catch up over the remaining three days. Kim finished as runner-up in both the Hero World Challenge and the Grant Thornton Invitational, which were event tournaments last December. This tournament is his first event of the 2025 season.
Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), the defending champion from last week's season opener The Sentry, is tied for 26th place (3-under-par 67). Meanwhile, Kim Si-woo, who won this tournament in 2023, is tied for 107th place (1-over-par 71). Also, An Byeong-hoon, who finished runner-up after a playoff in this tournament last year, is tied for 121st place (2-over-par 72). Lee Kyoung-hoon struggled, tied for 129th place (3-over-par 73), making it urgent for him to make the cut.
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