Im Sungjae's Fierce Effort "Tied 39th → Tied 12th"... 'Number 4' Hovland '3rd Place, 1 Stroke Behind'

Arnold Palmer Invitational Day 3: 2 Under Par 'Strong Performance', Horschel and Goochi Tied for Lead, 'Phoenix Open Champ' Scheffler Chasing 4th Place

Im Sungjae is teeing off at the 10th hole on the third day of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] ‘Shriners Champ’ Im Sung-jae (24, CJ Logistics) is showing a strong performance.

On the 6th (Korean time), at Bay Hill Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, USA (par 72, 7,466 yards), during the third day of the PGA Tour premium match Arnold Palmer Invitational (total prize money $12 million), he shot 2-under par to climb to a tie for 12th place (1-under par 215). Billy Horschel and Taylor Gooch (both USA) share the lead (7-under par 209), while world No. 4 Viktor Hovland (Norway) is one stroke behind in third place (6-under par 210).

Im Sung-jae started from a tie for 39th place, 10 strokes behind, and made three birdies (one bogey). After his first birdie on the 1st hole (par 4), he made pars for 10 holes, then sparked momentum with consecutive birdies on the 12th and 13th holes. However, it was unfortunate that he made a bogey on the 16th hole (par 5) after his second shot landed in the rough and his third shot ended up in the greenside bunker. He relied on his long drives averaging 320.4 yards and ‘stingy putting’ with 1.727 putts per hole. He narrowed the gap to the joint leaders to six strokes.

Victor Hovland is cheering after making a 'bunker shot eagle' on the 6th hole of the third day at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Orlando, USA = Getty Images / Multibits

Horschel added 1-under par to continue his bid for the title. Viktor Hovland, who led the previous day, recorded one eagle, one birdie, and six bogeys. He struggled with 3-over par and could not maintain his position at the top of the leaderboard. ‘Phoenix Open Champ’ Scottie Scheffler (USA) surged with a 4-under par round to leap to fourth place, two strokes behind (5-under par 211). Gary Woodland (USA) is in fifth place (4-under par 212). 2018 champion Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) lost four strokes and slipped to a tie for sixth place (3-under par 213).

2020 champion Tyrrell Hatton (England) is tied for 12th. World No. 1 Jon Rahm (Spain) lost two strokes with one birdie and three bogeys, tied for 17th place (even par 216). His long drives averaging 335 yards stood out, but his putting average of 2.00 per hole held him back. From Korea, Lee Kyung-hoon (31, CJ Logistics) recorded one eagle, two birdies, and four bogeys. Along with Kim Si-woo (27, CJ Logistics), they are tied for 33rd place (2-over par 218) heading into the final round.

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