Siwoo Kim "Starts at 3 Under Par"... Raymi Leads at 8 Under Par

'The 5th Major' The Players Championship Round 1

‘2017 champ’ Kim Si-woo had a steady start.

On the 10th (Korean time), Kim Si-woo shot a 3-under-par 69 in the first round of the PGA Tour’s “fifth major,” The Players Championship (total prize money $25 million), held at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA (par 72, 7,256 yards), placing him tied for 12th. Chad Ramey leads with 8-under-par 64, followed by Collin Morikawa (both from the USA) in second place at 7-under-par 65, and Taylor Pendrith (Canada) tied for third at 5-under-par 67. Due to delays, some players have not yet completed their rounds.

Siwoo Kim (right) and Tyrrell Hatton are walking on the 17th hole green on the first day of The Players Championship. [Ponte Vedra Beach, USA=Photo by AFP·Yonhap News]

Kim Si-woo recorded seven birdies and four bogeys. After birdies on holes 11, 14, and 17 in the front nine, he took a brief breather with a bogey on the 18th hole (par 4). In the back nine, he smoothly made “stepping stone birdies” on holes 2 and 4 but faltered with three consecutive bogeys from holes 5 to 7. However, he showed strong finishing power with back-to-back birdies on holes 8 and 9, improving his position. He relied on an average of 1.538 putts per hole. He is five strokes behind the leader, aiming for his second win of the season and fifth career victory, defending his title for the first time in six years since 2017. Kim Si-woo secured his first win of the new year at the Sony Open last January.

Ramey dominated the leaderboard with eight birdies and no bogeys. He is ranked 225th in the world and earned his first win last March at the Corales Puntacana Championship. World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler (USA) is tied for 6th place at 4-under-par 68. World No. 1 Jon Rahm (Spain) is also looking for an opportunity, tied for 32nd at 1-under-par 71. On the other hand, World No. 3 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) struggled, tied for 118th at 4-over-par 76.

From Korea, An Byeong-hun joined the group tied for 32nd. Lee Kyoung-hoon is tied for 72nd at 1-over-par 73, Kim Joo-hyung tied for 94th at 2-over-par 74, Im Sung-jae tied for 109th at 3-over-par 75, and rookie Kim Seong-hyun finished tied for 127th at 5-over-par 77.

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