3 Koreans advance to 2nd leg of PGA Tour playoffs
An Byeong-hun plays his shot from the seventh tee during the second round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn., Aug. 16. AFP-Yonhap
Three Korean players have qualified for the second stop in the PGA Tour playoffs, despite finishing well out of contention in the opening event in Tennessee.
An Byeong-hun was the top-performing Korean player at the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis on Sunday (local time), as he finished tied for 33rd at four-under 276. He shot a one-under 69 in the final round.
An dropped from 12th to 15th in the FedEx Cup points list but still finished safely inside the top 50 that qualified for the next playoff event, the BMW Championship, which will tee off in Castle Rock, Colorado, on Thursday.
An was among four Koreans who had qualified for the annual playoffs by finishing inside the top 70 in the FedEx Cup rankings. Of the quartet, Im Sung-jae held the highest position at No. 9. He dropped to No. 10 after tying for 40th in Memphis at three-under 277 but still easily qualified for the BMW Championship.
Joining An and Im will be Kim Si-woo, who fell from 38th to 44th in FedEx Cup points after ending up in a tie for 50th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship at one-under 279.
The fourth Korean, Tom Kim, also finished at one-under in Memphis, but he slipped out of the top 50 at No. 51. He arrived at the tournament at No. 43 but saw three players — Viktor Hovland, Eric Cole and Nick Dunlap — jump into the top 50 with strong performances in Memphis.
Kim was at six-under for the tournament with three holes to play, well on his way to securing a spot at the BMW Championship, but went bogey-double bogey-double bogey on those last three holes to play his way out of the playoffs.
Kim needed two shots to get out of a greenside bunker on the par-5 16th and two-putted from five feet away. On the next hole, the par-4 17th, Kim took two chips to find the green and then needed two putts for the double bogey. Kim then sent his final tee shot into the water and missed an eight-footer en route to another double bogey.
"This season has just been like this," Kim said afterward. "I've played really good golf, and then had some tough finishes. I feel like 2024 has really kicked me in the butt."
The top 50 after the Memphis tournament also gained eligibility for eight "Signature Events" in 2025, or tournaments with bigger purses and more world ranking points up for grabs.
The top 30 in the FedEx Cup points standings after the BMW Championship will qualify for the playoff finale, the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Those 30 players will also be eligible for the Masters next spring.
Im has played in each of the past five Tour Championships, the longest streak by a Korean player. (Yonhap)