Rising Korean star Sungjae Im returns home

His sisters might have been the first to know. Sungjae Im was 4 when his family moved from Cheongju, the historic city smack in the middle of South Korea, to golf-mad Jeju Island. That was when he first followed his mother to the golf course and got his first club, and soon he was tagging along to the course with his sisters. Right away they saw his potential; the boy hit it straight and rarely suffered a bad shot. A few years later, Brian Vranesh was among the first to know in the States. Vranesh had played on both the PGA TOUR (T8, 2009 Buick Open) and the Web.com Tour (playoff loss, 1999 Chitimacha Louisiana Open), so he’d seen great golf. He saw it again when he first caddied for Im at the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament, Final Stage, at the end of 2017. “His ball doesn’t move much,â€� Vranesh said of Im, who led the Web.com money list wire-to-wire and is the most highly touted PGA TOUR rookie this season. “He hits it far enough with the driver. He’s one of the best putters I’ve ever seen. And he hits his irons really high, so on firm greens, which the majority of them are out here compared to the Web, he’s going to be fine.â€� He could be better than that. Everyone may soon know of the prodigious talent that is Im, 20, maybe as early as this week as the TOUR moves to Jeju Island for THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, his boyhood course. Korea got its first marquee male player in K.J. Choi, who won THE PLAYERS Championship in 2011, and its first potential superstar in Si Woo Kim, who dominated at THE PLAYERS in 2017. Now brace yourself for Im, a big-bodied, cool-headed young pro who played junior golf (and shares a manager) with Si Woo Kim. Ernie Els, the International Team Captain for the 2019 Presidents Cup, is taking notice. “The kid is for real,” Els said Tuesday during a pre-tournament news conference. “He’s only 20 years old and he’s got a really unbelievable future ahead of him.” The immediate future, specifically the next few days on his home course, certainly could be unbelievable — especially if he can deliver a win to his home fans. “He’s going to bring a lot of popularity to the event this week,” Els said. So good, so young It was hard to miss the resemblance as Im tied for fourth at the season-opening Safeway Open two weeks ago, coming up just one shot shy of the Kevin Tway/Ryan Moore/Brandt Snedeker playoff that Tway eventually won. Im, with his deliberate takeaway, swings a bit like Hideki Matsuyama. “I never had any intentions of following his swing,â€� Im said of the Japanese star, through an interpreter. “But I like the fact that he plays to his own rhythm. I wanted to find my own unique swing rhythm as well, and people have been telling me that my swing resembles his.â€� Im actually is a bigger fan of Adam Scott and Tiger Woods, the latter of whom he took cell phone video at the PGA. (Having cracked the top 100 in the world, Im got a special invite and finished T42.) Somehow, though, Im has maintained his sense of wonder without the awe. “He’s got no fear,â€� Vranesh said. Prodigies often don’t. Im got his first coach at 7; was enrolled at a Korean golf academy by 12; and turned pro at 17. He ironed out the kinks on the Japan Golf Tour, among other places, and, traveling with his manager and parents, left little doubt as to his prowess on the Web.com Tour last season. Im won in his first Web.com Tour start before going on to produce 54 rounds in the 60s and 397 birdies, both tour records in 2017-18. He won again at the end of the regular season and also had three runner-up finishes and three other top-10s. He was the first Korean-born player to end the season as the leading money-winner and No. 1 in the final priority-ranking order. “He’s got the full package,â€� fellow Web.com Tour graduate Kramer Hickock said at the end of last season. “He’s got the mentality and the game of a 30-year-old.â€� That would make Im a decade wiser than his years, and more remarkable still was his T4 right out of the gate at the Safeway. So much for rookie nerves. “I didn’t know he was 20,â€� Tway said. “When I was 20, I don’t know what I was doing; playing college golf and drinking beer at J.R. Murphy’s in Stillwater. “His game was great,â€� Tway added. “He’s going to have a nice career, for sure. It didn’t look like anything phased him and he hit the ball well, putted well, so I think he’ll win soon, for sure.â€� If history is any indication, that’s a safe bet. “The atmosphere and environment of these tournaments have been amazing,â€� Im said through his interpreter/manager, Rambert Sim, at the Safeway. “Ever since I was a little kid, my dream has been to compete on the PGA TOUR, so I’m happy to have accomplished that goal.â€� Home cooking As the pride of Jeju Island, Im, whose parents travel with him and help with logistics (he doesn’t have his driver’s license) is sure to get copious attention at THE CJ CUP. Golf-wise, he said, the goal is a top-10 finish. That seems modest, but less so when you consider he’ll be focused not just on his game but also on Jeju having a great week. He hopes the field gets to experience the island’s signature winds, and plans to order his favorite dish, Jeju Black Pig. More broadly speaking, he dreams of becoming the first Korean to win the Masters. He could be a vital cog for the International Captain Ernie Els’ Presidents Cup team next year at Royal Melbourne. Nothing is off-limits except for maybe a No. 4 golf ball, as the number is said to be unlucky in South Korea. As Im once told the Portland (Oregon) Tribune: “In South Korea, the No. 4 represents death, so I try to avoid it for obvious reasons. That number doesn’t give me good vibes. Most South Koreans don’t like that number in general. Even in elevators, the fourth floor is represented with the letter ‘F’ instead of the No 4. It’s a common theme for most Korean golfers to never use a No. 4 golf ball.â€� After THE CJ CUP, the Asian Swing will end with next week’s World Golf Championship-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, after which Im will come back to the U.S. for the remainder of the fall schedule. It’s a lot of golf after a Web.com Tour season in which he played nearly every week. In fact, Im played 18 weeks during a 19-week stretch this season, and this comes after a 2017 campaign in which he made 14 starts in a 15-week stretch in the second half of the year. But why not? Im is young and embracing all the world has to offer. “I’ve definitely matured these last few years on the road,â€� he told the Tribune. And now that he has his TOUR card, there are a lot of FedExCup points at stake. Plus: room service. Lacking a U.S. base, Im and his parents live in hotels. He says he loves that someone makes his bed, among the other perks of hotel living, and is no hurry to buy a house. They look for Korean restaurants on the road, often finding them when tournaments take them to the bigger cities. “It’s been about eight months since I’ve been back in Korea,â€� Im said at the Safeway, about an hour north of San Francisco, “so I’m incredibly excited to go back.â€� Whatever his results this week, Im will return to Jeju after the fall season to rest up for 2019. The plan is to work on his driving; he hopes to get his license. Assuming he does, he may soon find himself traveling portions of the TOUR in a Porsche Cayenne, his car of choice. That seems about right. It’s all happening pretty fast for Sungjae Im, for whom life is an open road. THE SUNGJAE IM FILE BULLET POINTS • Recorded eight top-10s in 25 starts during the 2018 Web.com Tour season, highlighted by three runner-up finishes and two victories (The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Bay and WinCo Foods Portland Open presented by Kraft-Heinz). • Became the first player since 1990 to win the first and last event of the Web.com Tour’s Regular Season. • Earned his TOUR card for the 2018-19 season by finishing No. 1 on the Web.com Tour’s Regular season and became the first player in Web.com Tour history to go wire-to-wire atop the money list for the entire season (27 weeks). • At 20 years old, Im is the youngest member among the 21 rookies in the 2018-19 TOUR season. • Competed in two major championships in the 2017-18 season. He missed the cut in the 2018 U.S. Open, but produced the best result out of any Korean in the field at the PGA Championship, finishing T42. • In his first TOUR start as a full member, played his way into the final group on Sunday at the Safeway Open and finished T4, the best finish among the 21 rookies in the field. BY THE NUMBERS 19 days, 9 months, 7 days — Age when he won the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic, becoming the second youngest to win on the Web.com TOUR (Jason Day won the 2007 Legend Financial Group Classic at 19 years, 7 months, 26 days). 54 — Number of rounds in the 60s, the most of any player during the 2018 Web.com TOUR season. 397 — Total number of birdies, the most of any player in a single Web.com TOUR season since 2011. 68.00 — Final-round scoring verage, the lowest of any player during the 2018 Web.com TOUR season. $553,800 — Total earnings in 2018, the fourth most by any Web.com TOUR player in a single season. For more on Sungjae Im, click here for his player page.

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