Johnson "I'm the WGC Slammer"... What about Im Sungjae?

Advancing to 2 Wins at Workday Championship, World Stars Including 'Number 2' Ram and Thomas Gather, Reed Aims for Title Defense

World No. 1 Dustin Johnson launched his bid for a second victory at the WGC Series Workday Championship.

[Asia Economy Kim Hyun-jun, Golf Specialist Reporter] It is world No.1 Dustin Johnson (USA) aiming for his ‘second victory’.

The Workday Championship (total prize money $10.5 million), which opens on the night of the 25th (Korean time) at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida (par 72, 7,474 yards), is also the first stage of the 2021 World Golf Championships (WGC) series, famous for its ‘money festival.’ Until last year, it was held in Mexico, but the Mexican conglomerate Salinas Group gave up the title sponsorship due to COVID-19, and this time Workday stepped in as the sponsor. World stars such as No. 2 Jon Rahm (Spain) and Justin Thomas (USA) have all gathered.

Johnson is especially a ‘WGC slammer.’ He swept all four different WGC series trophies: the 2013 HSBC Champions, the 2015 edition of this tournament (then Cadillac Championship), the 2016 Bridgestone Invitational, and the March 2017 Dell Technologies Match Play. In 2017, with the Dell Technologies Match Play and this tournament, he made big news by achieving consecutive WGC series wins for the first time in four years since Tiger Woods (Cadillac Championship-Bridgestone) in 2013.

It is interesting that Johnson has reached the top three times in recent six years on odd-numbered years: 2015, 2017, and 2019. This tournament is truly his ‘winning stronghold.’ He showed his No.1 power to the world with 4 wins including 3 wins in the 2020 season and 1 win in the 2021 season, and achieved the lowest winning score ever (20 under par 268) at the ‘Fall Masters’ in November. This year, he warmed up with a win at the European Tour’s Saudi International on the 7th and a tie for 8th place at the Genesis Invitational on the 22nd.

Rahm and Thomas have taken a stand to stop Johnson’s runaway lead. The defending champion is Patrick Reed. It is a revenge match for last year’s runner-up ‘Hulk’ Bryson DeChambeau (both USA). His average driving distance of 327.4 yards (No.1 on the PGA Tour) is powerful, but his iron shot green hit rate is only 68.21% (95th), showing ‘rollercoaster play.’ Max Homa (USA), the Genesis Invitational champion, is challenging for ‘back-to-back wins’.

Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) is another contender. Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau (both USA) are eager to break their ‘second place jinx.’ Schauffele finished second consecutively at the Farmers Open on the 31st of last month and the Phoenix Open on the 7th, and Finau was runner-up at the Farmers Open and the Genesis Invitational. Korea’s only participant is Im Sung-jae (23, CJ Logistics). After the Phoenix Open, he took a sweet break for the first time in a while and has thrown his hat in the ring after three weeks.

Sungjae Im resumes his march to victory at the WGC Series Workday Championship.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.