Siwoo Kim Starts Fresh at 6th Place: "I Played Well Today"

2-under in the First Round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational
Clark Leads, McIlroy in 6th, Scheffler in 11th
Im Sungjae and An Byeonghun Tied for 45th, Kim Joohyung in 58th

Kim Si-woo ranked among the top players on the first day of the Arnold Palmer Invitational (API), a prestigious event on the PGA Tour.

Kim Si-woo is teeing off at the 6th hole of the 1st round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Orlando=AFP·Yonhap News

On the 6th (local time), at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida (par 72, 7,466 yards), he shot 2-under 70 with four birdies and two bogeys in the first round of the tournament. The Arnold Palmer Invitational is one of the signature events with a total prize fund of $20 million and a winner's prize of $4 million.

Kim Si-woo has shown consistent performance in his last three tournaments, finishing 12th, tied for 21st, and tied for 24th. He said, "I played well today. The wind was strong and the rough was long, making it difficult to play, but I persevered." He added, "The ball moves a lot. It's a bit hard to calculate the wind," but also said, "Since it is also windy in Dallas, where I currently live, the practice conditions were similar, so it was okay."

World No. 7 Wyndham Clark (USA) took the top spot on the leaderboard with a 5-under 67. Keegan Bradley (USA), Shane Lowry (Ireland), Corey Conners (Canada), and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa) were tied for second place at 3-under 69. Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) and Justin Rose (England) tied for sixth, while world No. 1 and defending champion Scottie Scheffler (USA) finished the first round tied for 11th at 1-under 71.

Strong contenders such as Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, and Patrick Cantlay (all USA) joined the group tied for 11th. Ludvig Aberg (Sweden) was tied for 15th at even par 72. Korean players struggled somewhat. Im Sung-jae and An Byeong-hun finished tied for 45th at 4-over 76, while Kim Joo-hyung was tied for 58th at 6-over 78.