Juhyung Kim, Tied for 65th in First Tournament Appearance

Final Day at Sony Open: 1-Under-Par 69 for Kim
Taylor Clinches 5th Career Victory in Playoff
Echavarria Finishes Runner-Up, Matsuyama Ties for 16th

Kim Joo-hyung finished in the lower ranks in his first tournament appearance.

Kim Juhyung

On the 12th (local time), at the Sony Open (total prize money $8.7 million) held at Waialae Country Club (par 70, 7,044 yards) in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, Kim shot a 1-under-par 69 in the 4th round and ended up tied for 65th place (4-under-par 276). Starting from a tie for 63rd place the previous day, he made 4 birdies and 3 bogeys. He started off well with “stepping stone birdies” on holes 10 and 12, but bogeys on holes 14 and 17 slowed him down. After that, a birdie on the last hole of the front nine, hole 18 (par 5), was offset by a bogey on hole 4 (par 3). He finished the round with a birdie on the last hole of the back nine, hole 9 (par 5).

Since winning his third PGA Tour title at the Shriners Children's Open in October 2023, Kim Joo-hyung has not recorded another victory. Expectations were high for this tournament as last December, “Golf Emperor” Tiger Woods (USA), the host of the special event Hero World Challenge, and the mixed tournament Grant Thornton Invitational both finished as runners-up. Kim performed well, tied for 11th place through rounds 1 and 2, but struggled with a 4-over-par in the 3rd round. On the final day, his putting faltered, and he was unable to improve his position.

Nick Taylor (Canada) shot a 5-under-par 65 to tie with Nico Echavarria (Colombia) at 16-under-par 264, then secured the winning birdie on the second hole of the resumed playoff at the 18th hole. This marked his 5th career win, 11 months after his victory at the WM Phoenix Open in February last year, with a winner’s prize of $1,566,000 (approximately 2.3 billion KRW).

Nick Taylor is cheering after making an eagle on the 18th hole on the final day of the Sony Open. Hawaii=AP·Yonhap News

Stephan Jaeger (Germany) and J.J. Spaun tied for 3rd place (15-under-par 265), Eric Cole finished 5th (14-under-par 266), and Keegan Bradley (all USA) tied for 6th place (13-under-par 267). Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), the winner of last week’s season opener The Sentry, shot 4-under-par 66 to jump to a tie for 16th place (11-under-par 269). Last year’s Shinhan Donghae Open champion, Gensei Hirata (Japan), finished tied for 21st place (10-under-par 270) to close out the tournament.