Sungjae Im Eyes Tour Championship ... PGA Tour PO 2nd Event 3R 10th Place

Rising in Rankings with 4-Under 67... Approaching 4 Consecutive Years of Participation
Lee Kyung-hoon Stays Even Par, Drops to 26th Place

Im Sung-jae is teeing off at the 6th hole during the 3rd round of the BMW Championship, the second event of the PGA Tour Playoffs. AFP [Photo by AFP]

Im Sung-jae (24), the flagship of Korean men's golf, took a step closer to advancing to the final round of the PGA Tour Playoffs (PO) for the fourth consecutive year.

On the 20th (local time), Im Sung-jae shot a 4-under-par 67 with five birdies and one bogey in the third round of the PGA Tour BMW Championship (total prize money $15 million, approximately 20.04 billion KRW) held at Wilmington Country Club (par 71, 7,534 yards) in Wilmington, Delaware, USA. With a three-day total of 7-under-par 206, Im moved up 12 spots from 22nd place the previous day to tie for 10th place alongside Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) and Danny McCarthy (USA).

Ranked 11th in the 2021-2022 FedEx Cup standings, Im Sung-jae can advance to the Tour Championship, the final event of the playoffs, for the fourth consecutive year if he finishes within the top 30 in this tournament. Previously, Im recorded his best PO tournament finish of 3rd place at this event last year.

Starting the third round smoothly with birdies on the 1st hole (par 4) and the 3rd hole (par 5), he added another birdie on the 6th hole (par 4) with a successful birdie putt of about 2 meters, reducing his score by three strokes in the front nine. Although he stumbled with a bogey on the 11th hole (par 4) in the back nine, he bounced back with birdies on both the 12th and 14th holes, which are par 5s.

In today's competition, Patrick Cantlay (USA), who shot 6-under, took the solo lead with a total of 12-under-par 201. Following him, Xander Schauffele and Scott Stallings (both USA) are tied for second place at 11-under-par 202. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (USA) and Adam Scott (Australia) are also in a fierce battle for the top spots, recording 10-under-par 203, just two strokes behind the leader.

Lee Kyoung-hoon (31), who performed well in the first and second rounds, failed to reduce his score in the third round, shooting even par and dropping to a tie for 26th place with a total of 4-under-par 209. Lee needs to improve his ranking to around 17th place in the final round to qualify for the Tour Championship, which features the top 30 players.

Kim Joo-hyung (20), ranked 25th in the FedEx Cup standings, struggled in the third round with a 3-over-par 74, making it difficult for him to advance to the Tour Championship. Kim also remained tied for 58th place with a total of 3-over-par 216. Kim Si-woo (27) also tied for 58th place alongside Kim Joo-hyung.

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