Lee Seung-taek of Korea reacts to his birdie putt on the tenth gap through the first spherical of the Sony Open at Waialae Nation Membership in Honolulu, Hawaii, Thursday (native time). Yonhap
Kim Seong-hyeon has marked his return to the PGA Tour with a blistering first spherical on the season opener in Hawaii.
Kim shot a seven-under 63 to start the Sony Open at Waialae Nation Membership in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Thursday (native time). After the bogey-free spherical that featured seven birdies, Kim is in a four-way tie for third place, one stroke behind the 2 co-leaders, Nick Taylor of Canada and Kevin Roy of the US.
Kim birdied two of his first three holes and added one other on the par-5 ninth. After one other birdie on the twelfth, Kim closed his spherical with three straight birdies.
“I had a very good begin to the spherical. I bumped into fairly a little bit of bother however escaped every time,” Kim mentioned. “I had a mixture of considerations and pleasure coming into this spherical. I hadn’t performed for fairly a while, and I used to be capable of execute what I might labored on. I’ll do my finest over the subsequent three days.”
Kim Seong-hyeon of Korea tees off on the seventeenth gap through the first spherical of the Sony Open at Waialae Nation Membership in Honolulu, Hawaii, Thursday (native time). Yonhap
Kim made his PGA Tour debut in 2023 however misplaced his tour card in 2024. He earned his method again to the highest circuit by ending eighth within the factors standings on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour, with these rating inside the highest 20 transferring up the ladder.
Kim’s fellow Korn Ferry graduate, Lee Seung-taek, shot a two-under 68 in his PGA Tour debut.
Lee began his play on the 9 and opened with back-to-back birdies.
Nonetheless, he bogeyed the thirteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth to drop to one-over. After six straight pars, Lee birdied the sixth and seventh holes.
He then closed out his first PGA Tour spherical with a birdie on the par-5 ninth gap, the place he reached the inexperienced in two and two-putted from about 36 toes.
Lee had performed on the Korea PGA Tour till 2024 and completed thirteenth within the Korn Ferry Tour rankings final yr to affix Kim on the PGA Tour.
Two different Koreans teed off Thursday, and Tom Kim and Kim Si-woo, the 2023 Sony Open champion, every shot a 69.
