Im Sungjae Vanguard "K Corps Full Deployment"... PO Game 1 Ticket?

2021 Season Regular League Final Wyndham Championship Entry, Oosthuizen Breaks 'Runner-up Jinx', Matsuyama Joins

Sungjae Im, Siwoo Kim, and Kyunghoon Lee (from left) along with the 'K Army' will all participate in the final regular season event of the 2021 PGA Tour, the Wyndham Championship.

[Asia Economy Kim Hyun-jun, Golf Specialist Reporter] "The K squad is fully mobilized."

World No. 30 Im Sung-jae (23) leads the charge. The Wyndham Championship (total prize money $6.4 million), which opens on the night of the 12th (Korean time) at Sedgefield Country Club (par 70, 7,131 yards) in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA, is the final regular-season event of the 2021 PGA Tour season. Starting next week, three playoff (PO) events will follow. This is why Kim Si-woo (26), Lee Kyoung-hoon (30), Kang Sung-hoon (34), An Byeong-hun (30, all from CJ Logistics), and Choi Kyung-ju (51, SK Telecom) are all participating.

Im Sung-jae is currently ranked 28th in the PO rankings and has no issues qualifying for the playoffs. The PO is a "survival game" where 125 players compete in the first event, The Northern Trust; 70 players in the second event, the BMW Championship; and only 30 players in the final third event, the Tour Championship. Kim Si-woo also secured his third career win at the American Express in January, ranking 39th, and Lee Kyoung-hoon, who won his first title at the AT&T Byron Nelson in May, is 37th. They have already secured tickets to the second event.

It is interesting that Im Sung-jae could approach the "Top 10" with the 500 points awarded for winning this tournament. Before the PO, the PGA Tour distributes a total of $10 million (approximately 11.46 billion KRW), including $2 million (2.29 billion KRW) for first place. This is called the "Wyndham Rewards." Top-ranked players have also rested following the World Golf Championships (WGC) FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa), ranked 8th in the PO, is the only one participating.

Louis Oosthuizen aims to break the 'runner-up jinx' at the Wyndham Championship.

Oosthuizen could even take first place. It is noteworthy that he has finished runner-up four times in his last eight events, mostly on major stages. He was 2nd at the Zurich Classic in April, tied 2nd at the PGA Championship in May, 2nd at the U.S. Open in June, and led the Open Championship for three days before finishing tied 3rd after a 1-over-par final round. On the 26th of last month, he again finished tied 2nd at the 3M Open. This is a truly persistent "runner-up curse."

Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) is a player to watch. After losing the bronze medal match at the Tokyo Olympics, he finished tied 2nd in a playoff at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational that ended on the 9th, showing signs of a "poison" effect. The appearance of Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia), who won silver representing Slovakia despite being South African-born, is another point of interest. He won the silver medal under the nationality of his wife Martina Stofanikova, whom he married in 2014.

Locally, securing a "PO first-round ticket" is a hot topic. Bo Hoag is ranked 125th, Scott Piercy 126th, and Nate Lashley (all from the USA) 127th. This ticket is especially a shortcut to securing a seed for the 2022 season. In Korea, An Byeong-hun is ranked 170th, Kang Sung-hoon 188th, and Choi Kyung-ju 213th, all aiming for a breakthrough. Defending champion Jim Herman (USA) also recalls the thrilling memory of rising from 192nd to 54th last year by winning this tournament.

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