2021 Winner Kim Si-woo Starts Tied for 46th Place

Kim Siwoo Shoots 4-Under in American Express Round 1
Poston Leads, Lower in 2nd, Taylor 8th
Kim Joohyung 130th, Im Sungjae 152nd in Lower Ranks

2021 champion Kim Si-woo made a smooth start.

Kim Si-woo

On the 16th (local time), at the La Quinta Country Club (par 72, 7,060 yards) of PGA West in La Quinta, California, USA, Kim Si-woo shot a 4-under-par 68 in the first round of the PGA Tour American Express (total prize money $8.8 million), placing him tied for 46th. The tournament is played over three courses: La Quinta Country Club, Pete Dye Stadium Course (7,210 yards), and Nicklaus Tournament Course (7,147 yards, all par 72) for rounds 1 to 3, with the final 4th round held at the Pete Dye Stadium Course.

Kim Si-woo recorded five birdies and one bogey. Starting at the 10th hole (par 4), he exchanged one birdie and one bogey over seven holes, struggling to lower his score. After a birdie at the 17th hole (par 4) changed the momentum, he showed strong finishing power with three consecutive birdies from holes 4 to 6 in the back nine. His crisis management skills stood out with a 100% bunker save rate and 100% scrambling ability. Kim Si-woo has fond memories of this tournament, having defeated Patrick Cantlay (USA) to win in 2021.

J.T. Poston (USA) surged with a 10-under-par 62 at the Nicklaus Tournament Course to take the top spot on the leaderboard. Justin Lower was second (9-under-par 63), while Chris Kirk (USA) and Jason Day (Australia), among others, were tied for third place (8-under-par 64) with five players. Last week's Sony Open winner Nick Taylor (Canada) was tied for 8th (7-under-par 65), and defending champion Nick Dunlap (USA) was tied for 28th (5-under-par 67). Apart from Kim Si-woo, Korean players struggled somewhat: Lee Kyoung-hoon tied for 83rd (2-under-par 70), Kim Joo-hyung tied for 130th (1-over-par 73), and Im Sung-jae tied for 152nd (5-over-par 77).

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