Juhyung Kim, Sprinting Full Speed with a Driver One Minute Before Tee Off

Genesis Invitational Final Round
Forgetting Match Time While Practicing Putting Causes Incident
2-Stroke Penalty for Being Late, Disqualification if Over 5 Minutes

‘Practice bug’ Kim Joo-hyung almost ended up being late.

Kim Juhyung

On the 18th (local time), he was putting on the practice green ahead of the final 4th round of the PGA Tour Genesis Invitational (total prize money $20 million) held at Riviera Country Club (par 71) in California, USA. He was so absorbed in practice that he didn’t realize the tee-off time was approaching.

When someone informed him, "1 minute before tee-off," Kim hurriedly headed to the 1st hole (par 5). Scheduled to tee off at 8 a.m. local time, he grabbed only his driver and sprinted, barely arriving at the teeing ground just before tee-off. His run to the 1st hole teeing ground was vividly captured on the TV broadcast. If he had been late for the tee time, he would have received a two-stroke penalty. If he had been over 5 minutes late, he would have been disqualified.

Kim recalled the nerve-wracking moment, saying, "I arrived at the practice green 27 minutes before tee-off. Unfortunately, I was practicing at the farthest spot from the 1st hole teeing ground," and added, "I think I arrived only about 10 to 15 seconds before tee-off." Kim shot 2 under par 69 that day and laughed, "If I had been late, I might have recorded an even par." He finished the tournament tied for 24th place (5 under par 279).

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