Monday qualifiers: Shriners Children’s Open

The 2019 International Presidents Cup team could only laugh in amazement. It was Monday of tournament week at Royal Melbourne and the team was looking to get on the course and fine-tune their strategy. But wild winds meant practice might prove difficult. Given the forecast didn't call for similar conditions at any other stage during the week, the majority of the team figured playing might do more harm than good on the notoriously hard and fast layout. But not playing golf has never sounded good to Sungjae Im. "It was so windy that I certainly didn’t even think about touching any of the holes because I didn’t want to destroy my confidence," International Team veteran and spiritual leader Adam Scott recalls. "Sungjae was the only guy who went out there to play, so we ended up walking out and watching him play a few holes, and even in a 25 mile-an-hour wind at Royal Melbourne he was just fairway, green, fairway, green, and it was a bit like Iron Byron, like a machine." Im put on quite a show for his new teammates and continued to do so over the practice days. He'd adjust to hitting shots on demand when Captain Ernie Els suggested certain lines. Teammates started making requests - initially out of jest. But Im nailed them all. What they weren't fully aware of was that Im could imitate all of his new friends - on demand - if he wanted to. Im's rise at that point had already been meteoric. He'd gone from the Korean Tour to the Japan Tour to the 2018 Korn Ferry Tour in quick time and opened there with a victory that would help him stay on top of the Points List for the entire season - earning Rookie and Player of the Year honors. A year later he was the 2018-19 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year after a trip to the TOUR Championship and he was a no-brainer for Els to compete in Melbourne at just 21. Scott predicted Im would be a "silent assassin" in the competition that week - a thought that proved on the money as Im went 3-1-1. Els knew Im would be methodically accurate and as such wasn't afraid to give him three different partners across the four days. Entering 2020, Im was riding high on confidence and at The Honda Classic he took a chance to grab his first TOUR win by the throat. Four birdies in his first five holes Sunday put him in the mix and then he brought out his machine-like precision when it counted - on the infamous Bear Trap. Im hit laser approaches right at the stick to set up birdies at Nos. 15 and 17, and on 16 he also took dead aim despite coming from a fairway bunker. It was as bold as it gets and helped him hold off the challengers for a one-shot win. He returns this week to defend his title. "When he is feeling his rhythm, it’s incredibly repetitive, and it doesn’t matter the conditions. He knows he can just point and shoot and get the result," Scott says. "It’s hard for his caddie to talk him into hitting it away from a pin ever because he thinks he can just pin-seek it all day." Im's rise was one he may have dreamed of, but it certainly was one he hadn't initially planned for. This was showcased by the fact he held no home base in the U.S. and just went from hotel to hotel with his parents - playing more TOUR stops than anyone else. It wasn't until late last year he finally purchased a home here. That's a move he can still scarcely believe. It wasn't really that long ago he was a plastic-club wielding toddler growing up on Jeju Island in South Korea with golf-mad parents. His father Ji Taek would watch a lot of golf on television and Sungjae would stare at the rhythmic swings of the pros. When he was a little older he'd head to the indoor range with his mother, Mi Kim, and watch the technique of golfers in real time. He was locking it all in and it was here his obsession with golf would grow. "Sungjae has a special ability to memorize, with his eyes, what he sees or screens... his ability to take a good look at something, put it in the brain, and re-imagine and then implement it... I think it is superior to anyone," Ji Taek recently told the TOUR’s International Media division for an upcoming in-depth PGA TOUR profile. "He watched a lot. It’s a little hard to describe but he was one of a kind in that area. And now he still reviews his swing in videos and watches other golfers’ videos a lot too." So Im had analyzed Scott's swing many times before. His favorite was probably Rory McIlroy. When McIlroy played the Korean Open, a 15-year-old Im actually got a lesson from the Northern Irishman as a perk of the Korean junior system. With all this information ingrained in his growing brain Im went about creating his own perfect swing in his childhood years. But while most kids want to learn to shape and curve the ball, Im was fixated on making it go straight. Dead straight. "When he was a kid Sungjae was very annoyed if he didn’t like the ball he hit. Every time he takes a shot, one by one, he always had to hit the high ball on the straight," his father adds. "From an early age. High ball, straight. If the ball draws or fades a little, he was very annoyed." It was this search for perfection that is part of the birth of his very slow and deliberate backswing. Im comes back slow before transitioning into higher speed on the downswing. The drills used to get a smooth tempo would eventually find their way to the course. "When he would go to the practice range, it’s always tempo. One, two, three. I kept putting it in his head. So, when swinging back, you have to say ‘one, two, three," Ji Taek says. "One, two, three... it must have been in his brain... I repeated it for one to two years. "But now it is slower than that. Originally, his swing tempo was at that level, but his swing seems to have been slower since the Korn Ferry Tour. That’s the rhythm that only he has kept on his own." In the fifth grade - Im began playing junior tournaments on the mainland. Jeju Island sits off the southern tip of South Korea's mainland with Seoul about an hour flight away. It was actually a wrong turn looking for the golf course one day that would change his trajectory. "One day, he participated in a competition held in Cheonan, and we went to the (nearby) driving range by accident," Ji Taek explained. "About 10 academy students are there training under a pro coach. Sungjae was very envious when he sees it. I asked him if he wanted to be in the academy. He immediately replied that he wanted so. So, after consulting with the pro and the academy director, I put Sungjae into the academy." From there he was able to put full focus on his golf. When he reached high school his coach was Hyun Choi - a mentor he continues to work with today. Im often sends video back to Korea for his coach to analyze, they discuss drills, and Im puts it into practice. During the COVID-19 pandemic break in 2020, Im flew Choi out to the U.S to keep their work going. A great swing is one thing - but a great competitive drive and mental game is another. It was the emergence of these traits that saw Im become one of the best young players in the world and had good judges suggesting the U.S. was the place for him. He turned professional at 18 and conquered every step put in front of him. Im's parents couldn't help but be amazed by their son’s quick progress through various Q-School stages in Korea and then in Japan. He held the fifth-best scoring average on the Japan Tour in 2017 and while his top finish was a runner-up - it was a ringing endorsement from a local legend that would have the Im family thinking of taking a run at something bigger. Shingo Katayama - a 31-time Japan Tour winner who also has two top four finishes in majors - played with Im that season. He walked away telling some of his friends he'd seen the future. In his opinion Im was perhaps the only player on that tour with PGA TOUR proficiency. One of those friends, Han Lee, passed on the information to Im's parents. "When we heard it, we were so excited. Sungjae, his mom and me. All of us. The legendary permanent seeded player, Katayama Shingo praised him!" Ji Taek beams even now. "Further, it was not just an ordinary praise, but specifically rate him as the only one who can go to the PGA (TOUR). That was when Sungjae was 18 years old and in the first year of Japan Tour. "We had never thought he had such potential. We just thought it would be nice if Sungjae played on the Japan Tour. When the legendary Katayama Shingo expressed about it, that’s what made a milestone for us. We should go to America!" The family gave themselves a three-year target to progress from the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA TOUR. He needed just one year - winning in the season opener and the season ender - and the rest is history. In 2019 in his rookie TOUR season he played 35 times - gaining a reputation as an iron man for doing so. Hotel-to-hotel living was actually preferred. His parents in one room, he in another. Im played golf. His parents did the rest. They continue to act as a traveling team to this day and not a round goes by without seeing his folks watching his efforts. But after a few years of the same pattern the golfing nomads have recently put down roots - in Duluth, Georgia - buying a house near TPC Sugarloaf. They're still coming to terms with it but didn't make the decision lightly - canvassing many Korean golfers that came before them. "When I was on the Korn Ferry Tour three years ago, I practiced at Sugarloaf a lot," Im says. "At that time, after seeing this place and feeling the atmosphere of the course, I had already thought that I would definitely want to settle down here. I like the environment where I practice, and I really like it because the atmosphere itself is good." And so now the next step awaits. Im's goals have shifted to more wins and better efforts on the biggest stages. He has 16 career top 10s so far - but only one of these came at a major, THE PLAYERS, a World Golf Championships or in the FedExCup Playoffs. Im battled with Dustin Johnson but ultimately finished as runner-up last November in his Masters debut. Further to that, he likes to keep an eye on lists and his place on them. Like securing a Presidents Cup slot for a rematch against the U.S. in 2022 and climbing up the FedExCup standings and world rankings. "Currently, my President’s Cup ranking is at the top and I want to keep it there. I haven’t won this year yet, but I want to win once," Im says. "I want to get good results in the majors this year. Besides that, what I always want every year is to attend the last TOUR Championship and finish off with good results." Given he's continually exceeded all of his goals as his journey has evolved don't be surprised if in a few months he's a major-winning, Olympic-medal winning, FedExCup champion.

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A quick look at Sunday’s final round of THE PLAYERS Championship. THE DRAMA At one point in Sunday’s final round the list of potential champions was longer than a Rory McIlroy drive … the 2019 PLAYERS Championship was certainly one of the most dramatic in the events history. While McIlroy eventually had the relatively “easyâ€� task of two-putting from 12 feet to win, it came after an afternoon where multiple challengers put their hands up as serious contenders. From overnight leader Jon Rahm and his fellow final group member Tommy Fleetwood. To upstarts Ollie Schniederjans and Abraham Ancer and familiar names like Hideki Matsuyama, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day and Brandt Snedeker. To 48-year-old Jim Furyk – who wound back the clock with an incredible performance – and to a pair of headline seekers in Eddie Pepperell and Jhonattan Vegas who will forever be inked in PLAYERS history after heroics at 17. All of them, and more, contributed to a blockbuster finish. One that won’t soon be forgotten. In fact it was the cacophony reverberating around TPC Sawgrass that was the hardest for McIlroy to deal with. Particularly given he’d had five top-6 finishes in 2019 without winning leading into this week. “The toughest part is seeing yourself up there, whatever score you’re on, and seeing 10 or 11 guys with a chance,â€� the now 15-time PGA TOUR winner said. “But there’s been a few times where I’ve been in positions like that, and I’ve taken the tournament by the scruff of the neck.â€� What McIlroy saw throughout the day was enough to make anyone’s head spin. First it was the likes of Mexico’s Ancer and young American Schniederjans making moves. Three birdies for Ollie and two for Abraham in the opening six holes had them thrust into the spotlight. The American seemingly dropped out of it with a double bogey on the 10th. Ancer was gone with bogeys on 12 and 13. Attention turned to Matsuyama next. Previously out of sight an eagle on the par-5 16th introduced the Japanese star to the mix. When he failed to birdie either of the final two holes he had the clubhouse lead at 12 under, but you figured it wouldn’t be enough. And you knew it wouldn’t be when England’s Pepperell got red hot. A closing 5-under 31, including an incredible double breaking 49-foot birdie on 17, took the mark to 14 under. Just as the echoes of Pepperell’s out of this world putt had subsided around TPC Sawgrass, Vegas stepped up and made one from 70-feet on the Island Green. It was the longest ever made in the ShotLink era (since 2003). Now the Venezuelan was the man. Especially after his approach to the 18th green stopped at six feet. But he failed to roll it in, settling for a tie with Pepperell. Johnson and Snedeker were making small moves at this point, but their challenge took a back seat to 48-year-old Furyk – his exploits ahead of them would force their hands and they would come up short. The local favorite Furyk had been hanging around all day, including hitting the lead when he was four under on his round through 11 holes. But he was almost dismissed when he bogeyed the 15th hole … frayed nerves they said. Birdie on 16 returned the old guy to center stage. Nerves? What nerves. He took dead aim at 17 and hit it to 14-feet. The birdie putt looked in the whole way but somehow stayed out. Never mind that though. Furyk took a deadly aggressive line off the 18th tee and then stiffed his approach to near tap in range. 15-under. Take that. Overnight leader Rahm had dropped three shots in four holes to give up the lead early on, but he bounced back with two birdies before the turn to stay in the mix. Despite a mental error on the 11th the Spaniard’s birdie on the 13th hole kept him alive. But he played the final four holes 3 over par, including a water ball on the par-3 17th. Fleetwood three-putted the opening hole and then got stuck on the treadmill going nowhere through the turn. A water ball on the par-5 11th and a bogey on the 15th seemingly took out the Englishman. That was until a stunning second shot on the par-5 16th set up an eagle. But as quick as he was back, he was gone, as his tee ball on the 17th bounced odd the railroad ties and into the drink. And so it left McIlroy. “I thought back to Crooked Stick in 2012, BMW Championship there,â€� he said of the chaos all around. “There was a lot of guys up around the lead, and I made a really good run on the back nine, was able to pull that off. I don’t know why it popped into my head, but I guess all these experiences are so helpful to draw on. “The hardest thing was just getting yourself to the point mentally where you say, well, why not me; this is my tournament, I’m going to finish it off.â€� Finish it off he did. Birdie on 15. Birdie on 16 (almost eagle). And a couple clutch pars on the closing holes, including a ripping drive down the last. Just as Pete Dye drew it up in his head all those years ago … a drama filled Sunday for us all. ODDS AND ENDS Stunning Stuff on 17: Fans around the amphitheater that is the par-3 17th were certainly given a treat. Eddie Pepperell’s 49-foot, seven-inch birdie on the Island Green was downright filthy good. “What can I say, it was pretty awesome, to be fair,â€� he smiled when recounting the double breaker up and over the rise from the front of the green to the back corner. But almost before the fans could even sit down after a standing ovation as Pepperell left the green Jhonattan Vegas decided to one up him. Vegas found a way to make the longest recorded putt ever on the green – a whopper from 69-feet, seven-inches. It beat out Bernhard Langer’s 59-foot, seven-inch effort from 2008’s second round. “Absolutely mind blowing, simple as that,â€� Vegas said. “It never crossed my mind that I was going to make such a long putt on such a phenomenal hole. But it’s one of those things, that’s kind of what you play golf for, to be in those kind of situations. Playing the 17th hole at THE PLAYERS with that crowd, it just doesn’t get any better. Obviously, the type of memories that last a lifetime and something that I’ll remember for forever.â€� Furyk falls just short: Jim Furyk claimed his second runner up finish at THE PLAYERS, lighting up his local fans with a great late charge. It is his 31st career second place, tying him with Tiger Woods for second all-time. Phil Mickelson has 36. You can read more on his efforts here. Johnson gets mini PLAYERS milestone: Coming into the week world No. 1 Dustin Johnson was without a top-10 finish in 10 starts at THE PLAYERS. But the move to March agreed with the 20-time PGA TOUR winner as he finished T5. Johnson (69-68-69-69) became the first player since Steve Elkington in 1997 to record all four rounds in the 60s at THE PLAYERS. Rahm’s regret: Overnight leader Jon Rahm would end the day with a tough 76, the pivotal moment being pinned to his approach to the par-5 11th green. Rahm drove the ball into the left fairway bunker and a path to the green was seemingly blocked out by trees – not to mention the water he would have to clear. When playing partner Tommy Fleetwood found water from the fairway Rahm’s caddie Adam Hayes worked at convincing his player to lay up to safety and try to make birdie with his wedge game. Instead the Spaniard was convinced he could hook the ball up and around the trouble. “Based on the way it was lying, with the lines  of the bunker going towards the hole, I was trying to hit a big draw,â€� Rahm said. “It was easier to take it than try to hit a wedge shot toward the fairway. It was a sand wedge. It might’ve been 80 yards tops but the ball from the angle was settled down, so I didn’t like it. Adam was trying to convince me to go right.â€� Rahm’s attempt was a poor one that got wet and had no chance of making land. It would eventually result in a bogey. “When I first got to the ball, I was really sure I could do it. If you give me 10 balls, besides that one, I’d hit the other nine on land,â€� he said. NOTABLES TIGER WOODS (69/6 under) – Best round of the week for the two-time PLAYERS Champion. Will play the World Golf Championships – Dell Technologies Match Play as his next start. ADAM SCOTT (70/11 under) – Former champ bogeyed both back nine par-5s to take some gloss off. JUSTIN ROSE (68/12 under) – The FedExCup champion secured a third top-10 of the season to move to 12th in the standings. JASON DAY (72/12 under) – The 2016 PLAYERS Champion just couldn’t get his putter hot, settling for his fourth top-10 this season. RICKIE FOWLER (76/3 under) – Illness he battled all week finally caught up with the 2015 PLAYERS Champion. PATRICK REED (78/3 under) – Front nine 41 took away any faint hope the Masters champion started with … BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU (71/9 under) – Three front nine birdies had some thinking he might charge into the mix. But two bogeys off the turn killed him off. WEBB SIMPSON (68/8 under) – The defending champ posted his best round of the week despite a one-shot penalty when his putter got caught in his clothing and accidentally hit his ball on the fringe at 14. FRANCESCO MOLINARI (72/2 under) – Last week’s winner at Bay Hill finished well back. BROOKS KOEPKA (70/2 under) – Was 4 under on his round through 16 holes with two birdies and an eagle before finding the water at 17. SERGIO GARCIA (67/8 under) – Great finish for the former champion. WORTH WATCHING 49-foot birdie putt by Eddie Pepperell on No. 17 Laser approach by Jim Furyk on No. 18 Stunning drive at No. 18 by Rory McIlroy Bunker hole-out on 3 by Tiger Woods THEY SAID IT It still stings. I mean, I’m a competitor, and I want to win, and it pisses me off I didn’t. I was hitting the golf ball well and I’m frustrated at lipping more putts out than I think I have in a very long time. I play golf because I love the game and I know that I have a talent for it and I want to make the most of it. So I’m just satisfied that I’ve added another great tournament to my CV, and it puts me in a great spot going forward. It was just a matter of time; it was going to happen. BY THE NUMBERS 3 – Number of players who have won a FedExCup, THE PLAYERS, a major and a World Golf Championship. Rory McIlroy joined Tiger Woods and Henrik Stenson 6 – Number of consecutive top-10s for McIlroy. The best streak of his career. 23 – Birdies by Abraham Ancer and Brandt Snedeker this week. Most in the field. 24 – Number of rounds in the 60s at THE PLAYERS for Sergio Garcia. The most ever. Adam Scott has 23. 7 – The highest score at the Island Green par-3 17th this week. Shared by Tiger Woods, Sam Ryder and Paul Casey. SUPERLATIVES STROKES GAINED LEADERS: Off-the-tee (Adam Scott, 2.003); Tee-to-Green (Dustin Johnson, 4.277); Approach-the-Green (Nick Taylor, 4.055); Around-the-Green (Eddie Pepperell, 3.709); Putting (Thorbjorn Olesen, 3.882); Total (Eddie Pepperell, Emiliano Grillo, Jhonattan Vegas, 5.260). LONGEST DRIVE: 356 yards – Luke List on 14. LONGEST PUTT: 69-feet, 7 inches. Jhonattan Vegas drilled a miracle birdie on the par-3 17th. LONGEST HOLE-OUT: 47 yards – Thorbjorn Olesen. MOST BIRDIES: 7 – Francesco Molinari (72), Thorbjorn Olesen (69), Eddie Pepperell (66), Nick Taylor (67), Jimmy Walker (71). BOGEY-FREE ROUNDS: Jhonattan Vegas (66), J.T.Poston (70) HARDEST HOLE: Par-4 18th. Played 4.288. Just nine birdies.

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