South Korean Si-woo Kim, thanks to two birdies in the last three holes, he delivered a 64-shot card on the last round and ended up beating the American Patrick Cantlay, who achieved 61, to win The American Express, a PGA Tour tournament that ended this Sunday in La Quinta (Caliornia).
Kim, who had finished the previous day tied for the lead with the Americans Tony Finau and Max Homa, made eight birdies on the final day without making a mistake and amassed 23 under par to win the title and a prize money of $ 1,206,000, in addition to 500 FedEx Cup qualifying points.
Two of his eight birdies were achieved on holes 16 and 17, with which to contain the formidable rise in the classification of Cantlay, which was 13th at the start of the fourth and final lap, in which he managed no less than 11 birdies to close his performance with 61 shots and set a new record on the course.
“At the 16th hole I really needed a birdie to make sure I got to the tiebreaker and after doing it I felt more confident so I tried to hit more safely at the 17th and that’s how I got it,” he said. Kim.
At 25, the Seoul-born player, who retired with a back injury last year on the same stage, won his third career title after the Wyndham Championship he won in 2016 and the Players Championship in 2017.
“I had a lot of chances to win other titles since then, but I hadn’t. And here I tried to stay calm and I succeeded. I am very happy, “he explained. Kim, who joined the American Collin Morikawa as the only PGA Tour players under the age of 26 with three career wins.
The australian Cameron Davis he finished in third place with 268 strokes (-20), while Tony Finau, one of the three leaders after the third day, was fourth with 269 (-19).
The Mexican Abraham Ancer He shared fifth place with two other golfers, scoring 273 strokes (-15) after completing the day with a score of 66 (-6).
Ancer, who won a prize of $ 247,900 and 100 points for the FedEx Cup classification, finished the round with an eagle (hole 8), five birdies and a bogey (hole 3), being the best Latin American player.
The Argentinian Emiliano Grillo, who started the day in fifth place, two strokes from the lead, had his worst day of the tournament registering 76 strokes (+4) that relegated him to 37th place in the ranking with 279 (-9). Cricket he had a journey to oblivion with a double bogey, five bogeys and two birdies.
Final classification (par 72):
1. Si-woo Kim (KOR) -23 (66-68-67-64)
2. Patrick Cantlay (USA) -22 (69-71-65-61)
3. Cameron Davis (AUS) -20 (68-70-66-64)
4. Tony Finau (USA) -19 (68-66-67-68)
5. Abraham Ancer (MEX) -15 (69-65-73-66)
. Doug Pin (USA) -15 (67-68-69-69)
. Michael Thompson (USA) -15 (67-72-68-66)
8. Byeong Hun An (KOR) -14 (65-73-67-69)
. Paul Casey (ING) -14 (72-65-68-69)
. Brian Harman (USA) -14 (68-68-67-71)
. Francesco Molinari (ITA) -14 (69-66-69-70)
12. Im Sung-Jae (KOR) -13 (68-65-73-69)
