Si Woo Kim

ELIGIBILITY: The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21, 2024.]

Kim started playing golf at age 5 while accompanying his father on the golf course. He remembers at age 12 watching the major championships on television and K.J. Choi winning the 2011 Players Championship. This motivated Kim to one day become a champion, just like Choi.
Growing up, Kim won the Korean Junior Championship four years in a row. At age 14, he was playing on both the One Asian Tour and the Korean Tour. The following year, he registered his first top-10, a T-9th, at the 2011 SK Telecom Open on the Korean Tour. The next year, he finished T-3rd at the SK Telecom and turned professional.
When Kim finished T-20th at the 2012 PGA Tour Qualifying School, he was only 17 years, 5 months, and 6 days old and the youngest player to graduate from Q-School. Due to PGA Tour rules, he could not become a PGA Tour member until he turned 18, midway through the 2013 season. In eight PGA Tour starts in 2013, Kim missed the cut in seven tournaments and withdrew from the eighth. He also played in seven Korn Ferry Tour events in 2013, making four cuts, with his best finish a T-11th at the Mid-Atlantic Championship. He later finished T-22nd in the Korn Ferry Tour's Q-School.
2014 Notes: He played 19 events on the Korn Ferry Tour, recording one top-10. He made four cuts. He finished the season 96th on the money list. His best finish was 3rd at the Cleveland Open. His rounds of 66-69-71 set the stage for a bogey-free final-round 65, which left him one stroke short of the epic 11-hole Steven Alker/Dawie van der Walt playoff. He finished T-35th at Korn Ferry Tour Q-School in December despite a final-round 79.
2015 Notes: He finished the Korn Ferry Tour season playing all 25 tournaments, recording one win and one runner-up finish among his three top-10s. He had eight top-25s and 18 made cuts. He was 23rd in the final Korn Ferry Tour priority-ranking order.
At the Stonebrae Classic, he started with 66-65 and was T-2nd, one stroke back with four others, including Jamie Lovemark and Wes Roach. The trio all shot 69s on Saturday to share the 54-hole lead. On Sunday, they matched scores again (68) to finish at 12 under, setting up a playoff. Kim missed a chance to win in regulation when his short birdie putt lipped out. He had an excellent opportunity to win when Lovemark three-putted from 35 feet for par on the first hole. Kim's 50-yard pitch-and-skid stopped three feet short of the hole, a putt he would not miss a second time. The win came at the age of 20 years, 21 days. Only Jason Day was younger (19 years, 7 months, 26 days) when he won the 2007 Legend Financial Group Classic near Cleveland. Kim's victory was worth $108,000 and vaulted him from No. 67 to 16 on the Tour money list through 16 of 21 regular-season events. He became the fourth South Korean to win on Tour, joining Kevin Na, James Hahn, and Seung-Yul Noh. He made the cut in three of the four Korn Ferry Tour Finals events, with a T-16th at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship and a T-18th at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, his top performances.
2016 Notes: Recorded his first PGA Tour top-10 with a 4th-place finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii, finishing four strokes behind winner Fabian Gomez. His second top-10 came when he finished 2nd at the Barbasol Championship, where he lost on the fourth hole in a playoff with Aaron Baddeley. Four starts later, Kim earned his first PGA Tour victory at the Wyndham Championship at 21 years, 1 month, 24 days, becoming the youngest player to win in the 2016 PGA Tour season. He set the tournament course record with a 10-under 60 in the second round, which included eight birdies and one eagle, earning his first lead on the Tour. Kim entered the final round with a four-stroke lead and closed with a 3-under 67 to finish at 21-under-par 259, tying the 72-hole tournament record (Carl Pettersson, 2008) and winning by five strokes over Luke Donald. Kim played in all four FedExCup playoff events and finished T-10th at the Tour Championship, ending the year 17th in the FedExCup standings and 26th on the money list. He returned to Korea and finished T-2nd at the Hyundai Insurance KJ Choi Invitational.
2017 Notes: At The Players Championship, Kim began the final round two strokes off the lead and posted the only bogey-free final round, a three-under 69, to win. Kim became the first winner on the PGA Tour to go bogey-free over his last 18 holes since Jordan Spieth earlier in the season at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the first Players Championship winner to do so since Tim Clark in 2010. Kim won his second career PGA Tour victory in his 61st start, 23 starts since his maiden win at the 2016 Wyndham Championship. At age 21 years, 10 months, and 16 days, Kim became the youngest winner of The Players Championship. He was the first player from Asia to win twice on the PGA Tour before age 22. He is one of eight Korean-born players to win on the PGA Tour and became the fifth with multiple victories. He finished T-13th at the U.S. Open, his last top-30 finish of the year. He ended 2017 ranked 54th in the FedExCup standings and made his Presidents Cup debut at Liberty National, finishing with a 1-2-0 record.
2018 Notes: Made 31 PGA Tour starts, making 23 cuts with five top-10 finishes. He was 55th in the FedExCup standings. He finished 2nd at the RBC Heritage, where Satoshi Kodaira defeated him in a playoff. Took 3rd place at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, four strokes behind winner Patton Kizzire. Finished T-10th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and lost in the Round of 16 to Justin Thomas at the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship. He notched his fifth top-10 of the year with a T-10th at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
2019 Notes: Played in 28 PGA Tour events, making 16 cuts with five top-10 finishes. He was 46th in the FedExCup standings. He started his season with a T-10th at the CIMB Classic. Finished T-4th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the following week was 3rd at the Genesis Open, two strokes behind winner J.B. Holmes. Led going into the final round of the Valero Texas Open but shot 72 to finish T-4th, five strokes behind winner Corey Conners. After that finish, he only made two cuts in his next 11 starts, breaking out with a 5th-place finish at the Wyndham Championship. In the FedExCup Playoffs, he placed 84th in the Northern Trust and T-28th at the BMW Championship.
2020 Notes: He played in 24 PGA Tour events, making 15 cuts with one top-10 finish. He was 81st in the FedExCup standings. He had a slow start to his season and another prolonged slump in which he only cashed one check-in in 10 consecutive starts. He broke out of it with a T-11th at the Travelers Championship. He finished T-3rd at the Wyndham Championship, three strokes behind winner Jim Herman. In the FedExCup playoffs, he finished T-39th at the Northern Trust.
2021 Notes: Played in 31 PGA Tour events, making 20 cuts with five top-ten finishes. He was 34th in the FedExCup standings. Finished T-8th at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, missing the Laird/Cook/Wolff playoff by five shots. Shot a final-round 64 to win The American Express by a shot over Patrick Cantlay, earning his third PGA Tour victory and first since winning The Players Championship in 2017. The victory came in his 164th career start at age 25 years, 210 days. He was T-9th at The Players Championship. Shot 74-72 over the weekend at the Masters and finished T-12th. He was T-9th at the Memorial. Lost in a six-man playoff at the Wyndham Championship, shot a final-round 64 to get into the playoff. In the FedExCup Playoffs, missed the cut at the Northern Trust and T-29th at the BMW Championship.
2022 Notes: Played in 29 PGA Tour events, making 23 cuts with one top-ten finish. He was 58th in the FedExCup standings. Despite only having one top-ten finish, he was in the top-25 11 times. Shot 66-66 over the weekend to finish T-8th at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Was T-11th at the season-opening Fortinet Championship and in back-to-back weeks at the American Express and Farmers Insurance Open. In the FedEx Cup playoffs was T-42nd at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and 67th at the BMW Championship. In his second Presidents Cup, he was 3-1-0 and beat Justin Thomas in the singles, 1 up.
2023 Notes: He played in 30 PGA Tour events, making 24 cuts and five top-ten finishes. He was 20th in the FedExCup standings. He began his season with a T-8th finish at the Shriners Children's Open. He won the Sony Open in Hawaii by a shot over Hayden Buckley, earning his fourth PGA Tour title in his 220th start at 27 years, 6 months, and 18 days. He entered the final round trailing by three shots and shot 64 in the final round to become the fourth consecutive winner of the event to come from behind after 54 holes. Was T-7th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with partner Tom Kim. Shot 63 in the final round to finish T-2nd at the AT&T Byron Nelson, a shot back of winner Jason Day. Finished 4th at the Memorial, two shots back of the Viktor Hovland/Denny McCarthy playoff. In the FedExCup playoffs was T-16th at the FedEx St. Jude, T-31st at the BMW Championship and T-20th at the Tour Championship.
2024 Notes: Shot a final round 64 to finish T-6th at the Players Championship, five back of winner Scottie Scheffler.