South Korea’s Tom Kim likes how he handled the pressure Sunday and the reward that came with it.
Lee shot a final-round 6-under-par 64 without a bogey and emerged from a crowded field to win the Genesis Scottish Open at North Berwick, Scotland.
“I played probably as good as I could down the stretch with pressure, and I executed when I needed to,” Kim said. “Very proud of myself for just being calm out there.”
He finished at 17-under 263 for a two-shot victory over Australia’s Min Woo Lee, who posted a final-round 67 at The Renaissance Club.
Kim’s fourth PGA Tour victory marked his first since the 2023 Shriners Children’s Open. He notched three birdies on each nine to break free from the pack.
Lee used a third-round 66 to share the lead with Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick going to the final 18 holes. Kim, Michael Thorbjornsen and defending champion Chris Gotterup stood one shot back.
Lee couldn’t catch up because of Kim’s steady play. Still, there were reasons for Lee to be satisfied.
“I’m just happy with the week and obviously a win would have been nice,” Lee said. “But it was one of the first weeks that I was just happy with myself mentally.”
Several golfers had a full day because of the third round’s fog-related suspension, which meant some contenders played more than 27 holes on Sunday.
“It was a lot of work,” Kim said.
Kim pointed to his second shot on the par-4 16th hole as perhaps one of the best shots he has hit in his career. It set him up for a 6-foot putt that resulted in his final birdie of the tournament.
Johnny Keefer (67 in the final round), MacIntyre (69), Fitzpatrick (69) and Japan’s Keita Nakajima (67) shared third place at 13 under.
Based on the result, Keefer and Thorbjornsen played their ways into the Open Championship for the coming week.
“Not only a great result but also getting into The Open is just tons of fun,” Keefer said.
Thorbjornsen made birdies on three of the last five holes.
“Things were looking good up until this round where I struggled a little bit on the front nine but yeah, again, really, really happy with the way I finished,” Thorbjornsen said.
MacIntyre was bidding for a victory in his home country, but he said too many putting failures prevented that. Still, it was a special weekend.
“Having a chance to win with the whole crowd behind you is unbelievable,” MacIntyre said. “… Super excited to play more links golf, and enjoy the weather.”
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy recovered from a third-round 73 to shoot 64 and climb back to a tie for seventh place at 12 under. Thorbjornsen closed with a 69 and joined McIlroy at 12 under.
“Obviously there was some good in there today but there was some bad, as well,” McIlroy said. “So I’m going to need to work a little bit over the next couple days to be ready for Thursday.”
McIlroy tried to make it interesting by playing the first seven holes of the final round in 5 under.
Gotterup had a difficult stretch, shooting 71 in the final round and finishing tied for 11th at 10 under. He was only one shot off the lead when the day began, though like many others he had plenty of work remaining in the third round.
–Field Level Media
