Si Woo Kim Wins His First PGA Tour Event

Si Woo Kim Wins His First PGA Tour Event August 27, 2016

Today, twenty-one year old Si Woo Kim won his first PGA Tour tournament–the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina. One of the youngest PGA Tour winners ever, he was just little older than when current superstar Jordan Spieth won his first Tour event. Kim had been knocking at the door. Seven weeks earlier, he lost in a playoff to Aaron Baddeley in the Barbasol Championship.SiWooKim

Kim shot 60 the second round to take a three-shot lead. On the back nine in his last round today, Kim bogeyed three of his first five holes. Yet with two holes to play, he still held a three shot lead when play was suspended due to danger of inclement weather, which usually means the possibility of lightning. Tour officials wifely don’t take a change on lightning. The Western Open one time served as a lesson to them, which was tournament I played in. Three players playing together were struck by lightning–Jerry Heard, Bobby Nichols, and Lee Trevino–but none of them were seriously injured.

So, Kim had to nervously sit on his lead with two holes to play.

I used to complete in the Greensboro tournament every year. In my early years on Tour, it was held at the same venue–Sedgefield Country Club. One year I played in that tournament with legendary superstar Slammin’ Sam Snead. What a character. Sam would constantly hold court in the locker room, telling interesting and often humorous stories to the players, with younger ones like me in awe. Sam had about the thickest West Virginia accent I’ve ever heard. I used to say privately to my friends on Tour, “Sam talks like he has mush in his mouth.” Ben Hogan’s wife, Valerie, says in a book about the great Hogan that no one could make Ben laugh more than Sam Snead could, and I think that includes the many Hollywood comedians the pros rubbed shoulders with in some of their PGA Tour tournaments.

 


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