‘Shriners Champ’ Kim Joo-hyung ‘World Ranking 21 → 15’... "I am Korea’s Number 1~"

Juhyung Kim (right) is smiling brightly with his caddy immediately after winning the Shriners Children's Open. Las Vegas, USA = Getty Images / Multibits

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] ‘Shriners Champ’ Kim Joo-hyung (20) has risen to become ‘Korea's Number 1’.

Kim Joo-hyung jumped six spots from 21st last week to 15th in the weekly men's golf world rankings announced on the 10th (local time). He earned points by winning the PGA Tour Shriners Children's Open (total prize money $8 million), which concluded the day before at TPC Summerlin (par 71) in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. This is his second victory in two months since his first career win at the Wyndham Championship in August.

Kim Joo-hyung joined the ranks of players who won twice on the PGA Tour before turning 21, following Ralph Guldahl in 1932 and Tiger Woods in 1996 (both from the USA). At 20 years and 3 months old, Kim achieved his second win faster than Woods, who was 20 years and 9 months old when he won his second PGA Tour title.

Starting the year ranked 131st in the world, Kim rose into the top 80 by finishing first and second on the Asian Professional Golf Tour, then surged to 21st after winning the Wyndham Championship, rapidly climbing the rankings.

Scottie Scheffler (USA) is ranked 1st, Cameron Smith (Australia) 2nd, Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) 3rd, Patrick Cantlay (USA) 4th, and Jon Rahm (Spain) 5th. Korea's Im Sung-jae (24) dropped one spot to 20th. Lee Kyoung-hoon (31) is 43rd, and Kim Si-woo (27) is 73rd. Rookie Kim Sung-hyun (24), who tied for 4th at the Shriners Children's Open, jumped significantly from 168th to 131st.

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