"'On the Brink of Elimination' Lee Kyung-hoon’s Final Push: 'FedEx Cup Final Qualification Secured'"

Lee Kyung-hoon Ties 5th at 6 Under on Final Day of BMW Championship, Jumps to 26th in FedEx Cup Rankings
Im Sung-jae Ranks 10th in FedEx Cup, Makes Playoffs for 4th Consecutive Year, Kim Joo-hyung and Kim Si-woo 'Disappointed'
Cantlay Sets Rare Record with First Back-to-Back Playoff Losses, 'Number 1' Scheffler and Schauffele Tie for 3rd

Lee Kyung-hoon (left) is celebrating with his caddie after successfully making a par save on the 15th hole during the final day of the BMW Championship, the second event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Wilmington, USA = Getty Images / Multibits

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] Lee Kyoung-hoon (31), who was on the brink of elimination at the ‘AT&T Byron Nelson Champ,’ has finally secured his spot in the FedEx Cup final.

On the 21st (local time), at Wilmington Country Club (par 71, 7,534 yards) in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, Lee finished the final day of the PGA Tour 2021/2022 FedEx Cup Playoffs (PO) second event, the BMW Championship (total prize money $15 million), with a 6-under-par round to tie for 5th place (10-under-par 274). This marks his second top-3 finish of the season since his second career win defending his title at the AT&T Byron Nelson in May.

Lee Kyoung-hoon qualified for the Tour Championship, the FedEx Cup final event featuring only the top 30 players, for the first time since participating in the PO first event, the Northern Trust, in August 2019. After the third round of the BMW Championship, he was ranked 33rd in the FedEx Cup standings, making it seem unlikely he would advance to the final, but he showed strong finishing power and dramatically moved up to 26th place to qualify. Last season, he narrowly missed the final, finishing 34th in the PO rankings and only playing up to the BMW Championship.

Starting tied for 26th, 8 strokes behind, Lee collected seven birdies and one bogey. He had an outstanding start with four consecutive birdies from holes 1 to 4, and although a birdie at the 8th hole was offset by a bogey at the 10th (both par 4s), he maintained par for the next five holes before climbing the leaderboard with back-to-back birdies on holes 16 and 17. He relied on his long drives of up to 350 yards and a sharp iron shot accuracy rate of 88.33%. He gained 3.89 strokes from putting.

Lee Kyoung-hoon won a team gold medal in golf at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. He claimed two victories on the Japan Golf Tour (JGTO), winning the Nagashima Shigeo in 2012 and the Honma Tour World Cup in 2015. He also achieved back-to-back wins at the Korean Open, considered Korea’s national title, in 2016 and 2017. In 2018, he ranked 5th on the Korn Ferry Tour money list, which earned him a move to the U.S. in 2019, where he showed promise with a tie for 3rd at the Zurich Classic in April and a tie for 2nd at the Phoenix Open in February 2020.

Last May, Lee shot 6-under-par on the final day of the AT&T Byron Nelson to secure a 3-stroke victory. It was only his 80th PGA Tour event since joining in 2019. He became the eighth Korean champion in history, following ‘Tank’ K.J. Choi (55), Yang Yong-eun (50), Bae Sang-moon (36), Noh Seung-yul (31), Kim Si-woo (27), Kang Sung-hoon (35), and Im Sung-jae (24). This year, he won the AT&T Byron Nelson again, becoming the first Korean player to achieve back-to-back wins on the PGA Tour.

Im Sung-jae struggled to reduce strokes and finished tied for 15th (7-under-par 277), but secured a Tour Championship ticket ranked 10th in the FedEx Cup standings, marking his fourth consecutive appearance in the PO final. On the other hand, ‘youngest Korean champion’ Kim Joo-hyung (20) added 1-under-par but finished tied for 54th (2-over-par 286), ranked 34th in the FedEx Cup. Kim Si-woo also struggled with 7-over-par, dropping to 67th (10-over-par 294), ending the season ranked 57th in the FedEx Cup.

Defending champion Patrick Cantlay (USA) added 2-under-par to complete a 1-stroke victory (14-under-par 270). He achieved his first back-to-back win in a PO event, marking his second win of the season and eighth career victory, with a winner’s prize of $2.7 million (3.6 billion KRW). Scott Stallings finished 2nd (13-under-par 271), while ‘Number 1’ Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele (both USA) tied for 3rd (11-under-par 273). ‘PO powerhouse’ Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) tied for 8th (9-under-par 275).

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