Korean golfers return to site of Presidents Cup breakout for PGA Championship

Im Sung-jae, Korean golf player, hits a shot on the second hole during a practice round ahead of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., in this Getty Images photo, U.S., Tuesday. Yonhap

In the fall of 2022, Korean golfers Kim Si-woo, Im Sung-jae and Tom Kim were the few bright spots for the losing International Team at the Presidents Cup, a match play competition against the mighty United States, at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Kim Si-woo led his side with three points, which included a singles victory on the last day against former world No. 1 Justin Thomas, who had won his first career major title at Quail Hollow in 2017. Kim and Tom Kim teamed up to take down the favored tandem of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele 1-up in their fourball match on Day 3. Tom Kim, in particular, fired up the crowd with exuberant celebrations in what became his international coming-out party.

This week, those three Korean players will return to Quail Hollow for the second major tournament of 2025, the PGA Championship. The trio will be joined by An Byeong-hun.

Im is the top Korean in the FedEx Cup standings at No. 16. He tied for fifth at the Masters, the season's first major, in April.

Kim Si-woo, Korean golf player, chips onto the 13th green during a practice round ahead of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., in this Getty Images photo, U.S., Tuesday. Yonhap

Kim Si-woo sits at 41st in FedEx Cup points after posting three top-20 finishes in his last four starts. He squandered his one-stroke final round lead to tie for eighth at the RBC Heritage last month. It remains Kim's only top-10 showing of 2025.

An, 66th in the FedEx Cup standings, also has one top-10 finish this season. The 33-year-old is still chasing his first PGA Tour title.

Tom Kim is in need of a spark this season, as he's stuck in 81st place in FedEx Cup points with one top-10 finish in 12 starts with four missed cuts already. He missed five cuts in 24 tournaments last year.

There has been only one Korean major champion so far, Yang Yong-eun at the 2009 PGA Championship, and the four players this week will be in for a tough battle to join Yang in the exclusive group.

Thomas, who ended a three-year winless drought at the RBC Heritage, will be pursuing his third career PGA Championship title and second at Quail Hollow. Xander Schauffele is the defending champion coming off an eighth-place showing at the Masters.

Then there's Rory McIlroy, who completed the Career Grand Slam with the Masters title last month. He is also the last player to win any tournament at Quail Hollow as the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship winner.

McIlroy has won that tournament four times overall at Quail Hollow, which fellow PGA Tour star Jordan Spieth recently called "Rory McIlroy Country Club."