Sungjae Im


Published on   2023-03-23 by Kai

Im Sung-jae (Korean: 임성재; born March 30, 1998), also known as Sungjae Im, is a South Korean professional golfer. Im was the 2018 Player of the Year on the Web.com Tour. He was Rookie of the Year on the PGA Tour in 2018-19 and earned his first PGA Tour victory at the Honda Classic in March 2020.

Im turned pro in 2015. In 2016 and 2017, he played on the Japan Golf Tour, with his best result being a runner-up finish at the 2017 Mynavi ABC Championship. In 2017, he finished 12th in the Tour money standings and 5th in scoring average. He played a number of tournaments on the Korean Tour. His best result was a second place at the 2017 T-up Gswing Mega Open.

"60" on third round

In December 2017, Im finished second in the Web.com Tour Q-school, playing a 60 on his third round. He won the first event of the season, the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic, becoming the second youngest winner in Web.com Tour history at 19 years and 292 days. Only Jason Day was a younger winner at 19 years and 238 days.

Im finished runner-up three times, at the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic, the Knoxville Open and the Pinnacle Bank Championship, and ended the regular season with a victory at the WinCo Foods Portland Open. He topped the regular-season money standings and was named Web.com Tour Player of the Year.

First successes on PGA Tour

Im won PGA Tour Rookie of the Year during the 2018-19 PGA Tour season. He became just the 13th rookie to qualify for the Tour Championship in the FedEx Cup era, eventually finishing 19th. Im led the Tour in starts (35) and cuts (26), and his 118 rounds were 18 more than his nearest competitor.

He posted seven top-10 finishes in 2019, including a T-3 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and was 17th in strokes scored. Im joins Stewart Cink (1996-97) as the only players to be named Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in consecutive seasons.

On Sept. 22, 2019, Im lost the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi, in a playoff to Sebastián Muñoz.

Victory at Presidents Cup

In December 2019, Im played on the international team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. The U.S. team won 16-14, with Im posting a record of 3-1-1 and winning his singles match on Sunday against Gary Woodland.

On March 1, 2020, Im won the Honda Classic at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with a final-round 66 and an overall score of -6. He finished one stroke ahead of Mackenzie Hughes and moved into second place in the FedEx Cup standings.

5th place at the Masters Tournament

In November 2020, Im finished second in the Masters Tournament, five strokes behind Dustin Johnson.

On October 10, 2021, Im won the Shriners Children's Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, Nevada, claiming his second PGA Tour title in his 100th start. He played Im final round 9-under 62 strokes to win by four strokes over Matthew Wolff after trailing by three strokes early in the day.

Im qualified for the international team at the 2022 Presidents Cup; he won two matches, tied for first and lost two of his five matches.

[Source: Wikipedia.com]

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