Iron Man’ Lim Seong-jae (25) emerged as a candidate for the championship in the crisis of ‘missing the cut’ with his superpowers, reducing 11 strokes by rounding 27 holes a day.
Lim Seong-jae won the PGA Tour’s ‘5th Major’ Players Championship (total prize of 25 million dollars) held at TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course (par 72, 7256 yards) in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA on the 12th (Korean time). R) Recorded a total of 8 under par 208 strokes for the three days until the 3rd round, and tied for 8th place.
Lim Seong-jae, who was in danger of missing the cut after hitting a 3-over-par 75 in the first round, failed to reduce the number of strokes in the first nine holes of the second round, which was disrupted by bad weather, and was likely to miss the cut as he stayed in the top 80. However, by snatching 3 birdies from the remaining 9 holes of the 2nd round, he tied for 41st with an even par 144 until the 2nd round and passed the cut. In the third round that followed, he maintained an upward trend and swept 9 birdies while blocking 1 bogey, reducing a total of 8 strokes. He played 27 holes in one day and cut a whopping 11 strokes, so his ranking jumped to a tie for 8th. 메이저사이트
However, if Lim Seong-jae wants to win a come-from-behind championship, he must overcome the mountain of Scotty Scheffler (27, USA), who is ahead by 6 strokes. Schaeffler, who is aiming to recapture the world ranking, took the sole lead with a total of 14-under-par 202 strokes for three days. Currently ranked No. 2 in the world, he will challenge for his second win of the season following last month’s WM Phoenix Open. If he wins this event, he will return to world number one. World No. 1 John Lam (29, Spain) withdrew before the second round, and world No. 3 Rory McIlroy (34, Northern Ireland) also missed the cut, so the plate was laid for Schaeffler.
Australian compatriot Lee Min-woo (25) cut 6 strokes in the 3rd round and shot 12 under par 204, and came in 2nd alone, 2 strokes short of Schaeffler. Kim Si-woo (28), the winner of this event in 2017, finished the third round with Ahn Byeong-hun (32) and others in a tie for 26th with a 5-under-par 211 stroke. Kim Joo-hyung (21), who managed to pass the cut by hitting 2 over par 146 until the 2nd round, cut another stroke in the 3rd round to finish tied for 63rd with 1 over par 217 strokes.