‘Eagle Room 2’ Kim Joo-hyung, PGA ‘Wangjungwangjeon’ 1R 4th place strong start… lead and first
Kim Joo-hyung (21) and Lim Seong-jae (25), who became ‘Nikemen’, started the first day of the Sentry Tournament of Champions (total prize money of $15 million) in the first tournament of 2023 of the American Professional Golf (PGA) Tour as the leader.
In the first round of the tournament held at the Kapalua Plantation Course (par 73) in Maui, Hawaii, USA on the 6th (Korean time), Kim Joo-hyung tied 2 eagles, 5 birdies, and 1 bogey and recorded 8 under par 65 strokes.
He rose to fourth place alone, chasing co-leaders Colin Morikawa, JJ Spawn (USA), and John Rahm (Spain) by one stroke.
Kim Joo-hyung signed a main sponsorship contract with global sports brand Nike from this year and joined the ‘Team Nike’ division with world-class players such as ‘golf emperor’ Tiger Woods (USA) and world No. 1 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland).
Kim Joo-hyung, who entered the first tournament of the new year with a lot of expectations as he won two wins at the Wyndham Championship and Shriners Children’s Open last year, performed fantastic plays that lived up to expectations. Fans were fascinated by the sense of sharp iron shots that hit all but one green and the eagle that exploded at the right place.
Kim Joo-hyung, who participated in the ‘Wangjungwangjeon’ as a winner last year, started to see the 4th hole (par 4), but after that, he played flawlessly, pulling out 2 eagles and 5 birdies.
Joo-hyung Kim, who easily caught the first birdie after going to the green twice in the 5th hole (par 5), succeeded in an eagle shot from the distance of 116 yards in the 6th hole (par 4). After changing the atmosphere at once, he added a birdie on the 9th hole (par 5) followed by a 8.5m birdie on the 10th hole (par 4) and continued his upward trend.
In hole 14 (par 4), Kim Joo-hyung caught a birdie again with an approach shot that seemed to be measured with a ruler from the entrance of the green, and in hole 15 (par 5), he dropped his second shot from 253 yards to the pin 1.7m away and caught an eagle.
Kim Joo-hyung also recorded a birdie on the last 18th hole (par 5) and finished the first round with a solo 4th place chasing the leading group by one stroke.
The overall length of this tournament is 7596 yards, and the fairways are wide, so players can score easily. Co-leaders Morikawa, Spawn, and Ram all posted 9-under-par 64 strokes.
Lim Seong-jae (25), who has played for 3 consecutive years, also recorded 7 under par 66 strokes by catching 7 birdies without a bogey, and tied for 5th place with last year’s major champions Scotty Scheffler (USA) and Matthew Fitzpatrick 토토사이트.
Lee Gyeong-hoon (32), the eldest member of the “Korean Brothers,” scored a 5-under-par 68 with one eagle and three birdies to tie for 17th place.
This tournament will be held as a ‘King of Kings’ competition in which only the winners of the previous year’s PGA Tour and players who advanced to the Tour Championship, the final round of the playoffs, can participate.
