Im Sung-jae

Im Sung-jae (Korean: 임성재; born 30 March 1998), also known as Sungjae Im, is a South Korean professional golfer. Im won twice and was Player of the Year on the 2018 Web.com Tour. He was Rookie of the Year for the 2018–19 PGA Tour, and got his first PGA Tour victory at The Honda Classic in March 2020.

Im Sung-jae
Personal information
Born (1998-03-30) 30 March 1998
Jeju Island, South Korea
Nationality South Korea
Career
Turned professional2015
Current tour(s)PGA Tour
Former tour(s)Japan Golf Tour
Web.com Tour
Professional wins4
Highest ranking20 (21 June 2020)[1]
(as of 21 June 2020)
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour1
Korn Ferry Tour2
Other1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipT42: 2018
U.S. OpenCUT: 2018
The Open ChampionshipCUT: 2019
Achievements and awards
Web.com Tour
Player of the Year		2018
PGA Tour
Rookie of the Year		2019

Professional career

Im turned professional in 2015. In 2016 and 2017 he played on the Japan Golf Tour, his best finish being joint runner-up in the 2017 Mynavi ABC Championship. In 2017 he finished 12th in the tour money list and 5th in the scoring average. He played a number of tournaments on the Korean Tour, his best finish being joint runner-up in the 2017 T-up Gswing Mega Open.

In December 2017, Im finished second in the Web.com Tour Q-school, including a third round of 60.[2] He won the first event of the season, The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic, becoming, at 19 years, 292 days, the second youngest winner in the tour history. Only Jason Day, at 19 years, 238 days, had been a younger winner.[3] Im had three solo runner-up finishes, in The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic, the Knoxville Open and the Pinnacle Bank Championship, and finished the regular season by winning the WinCo Foods Portland Open. He led the regular season money list and was named Web.com Player of the Year.

In the 2018–19 PGA Tour season, Im won the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. He became just the 13th rookie to qualify for the Tour Championship in the FedEx Cup era, ultimately finishing 19th in the standings. Im led the tour in starts (35) and cuts made (26), and his 118 rounds were 18 more than the nearest competitor. He had seven top-10s in 2019, highlighted by a T-3 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and finished 17th in strokes gained. Im joined Stewart Cink (1996–97) as the only players to be named the Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in consecutive seasons.[4]

On 22 September 2019, Im lost the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi in a playoff to Sebastián Muñoz.[5]

In December 2019, Im played on the International team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. The U.S. team won 16–14. Im went 3–1–1 and won his Sunday singles match against Gary Woodland.[6]

On 1 March 2020, Im won The Honda Classic at PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with a final round of 66 and an overall score of −6. He finished one stroke ahead of Mackenzie Hughes, and moved to second place in the FedEx Cup standings.[7]

Professional wins (4)

PGA Tour wins (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 1 Mar 2020 The Honda Classic −6 (72-66-70-66=274) 1 stroke Mackenzie Hughes

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2019 Sanderson Farms Championship Sebastián Muñoz Lost to par on first extra hole

Web.com Tour wins (2)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 16 Jan 2018 The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic −13 (69-69-72-65=275) 4 strokes Carlos Ortiz
2 19 Aug 2018 WinCo Foods Portland Open −18 (65-66-68-67=266) 4 strokes John Chin

Korean Tour wins (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runners-up
1 13 Oct 2019 Genesis Championship −6 (70-74-71-67=282) 2 strokes Moon Kyong-jun, Kwon Sung-yeol

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order before 2019.

Tournament 20182019
Masters Tournament
PGA Championship T42 CUT
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships
Tournament20192020
Championship T29
Match Play NT1
Invitational
Champions T11

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

  Did not play

NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Professional

See also

References
  1. "Week 25 2020 Ending 21 Jun 2020" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  2. Stanley, Adam (12 December 2017). "Heroics, heartbreak at Final Stage of Q-School". PGA Tour.
  3. Andress, Stephen (16 January 2018). "Im, 19, joins company of major champion with first win". PGA Tour.
  4. Beall, Joel (11 September 2019). "Sungjae Im defeats Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff for PGA Tour Rookie of the Year". Golf Digest. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  5. Young, Ryan (22 September 2019). "Sebastián Muñoz wins Sanderson Farms Championship in playoff for first PGA Tour win". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  6. Dusek, David (15 December 2019). "Presidents Cup grades: Captains, Royal Melbourne score high marks". Golfweek.
  7. "With virus in mind, Korea's Sungjae Im wins Honda Classic, Canada's Hughes 2nd". Prince George Citizen. Associated Press. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
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