Sungjae Im Tied for 8th at 6 Shots Back... Scheffler Leads by 2 Shots

'The 5th Major' The Players Championship Round 3

It is a leap into the upper ranks for the "newlywed" Im Sung-jae.

On the 12th (Korean time), Im Sung-jae shot an 8-under-par 64 in the third round of the PGA Tour's "fifth major," The Players Championship (total prize money $25 million), held at TPC Sawgrass (par 72, 7,256 yards) in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA, to position himself tied for 8th place (8-under-par 208). World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler (USA) leads at 14-under-par 202, with Lee Min-woo (Australia), younger brother of Lee Min-ji, in second place at 12-under-par 204.

Im Sung-jae is teeing off at the 7th hole of the 3rd round of The Players Championship. [Ponte Vedra Beach, USA=AFP·Yonhap News]

Im Sung-jae collected 9 birdies (1 bogey). Starting at the 10th hole (par 4), he made three consecutive birdies from holes 11 to 13 and back-to-back birdies at holes 15 and 16, reducing 5 strokes in the front nine. In the back nine, he made "stepping stone birdies" at holes 1 and 3, followed by another birdie at the 6th hole (par 4). He made a bogey at the 8th hole (par 3) but recovered with a birdie at the final 9th hole (par 5), finishing the round on a high note. He powered through with an average of 1.429 putts per hole. He is 6 strokes behind the leader, still in a position to hope for a comeback.

Scheffler posted a 7-under-par 65 to take control of the leaderboard. A win would reclaim him the world No. 1 ranking. Cam Davis (Australia) is in third place at 10-under-par 206, and Tommy Fleetwood (England) is tied for fourth at 9-under-par 207. Aaron Rai (England) also joined the group tied for fourth after making a hole-in-one on the 17th hole (par 3), the 12th hole-in-one in tournament history, and lowering his score by 7 strokes.

For Korea, 2017 champion Kim Si-woo shot 4-under-par 68 with 6 birdies and 2 bogeys, climbing 6 places from the previous day to tie for 26th at 5-under-par 211. An Byeong-hun is in the same group. PGA crowd-puller Kim Joo-hyung finished tied for 63rd at 1-over-par 217.

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