Best of the Players Championship: The 25 Most Dominant Performances
By Bill Felber
At age 21, Si-woo Kim became the youngest winner in Player’s Championship history, and one of the least expected as well. In only his second full season, Kim did have one victory, but it came at the 2016 Wyndham, the event immediately preceding the Tour Championship Series, and thus overladen with players in the nether regions of the tour rankings.
At the 2016 Players, Kim had delivered a credible tie for 23rd, but in the intervening year he had missed 11 cuts.
His first-round 69 left him two shots behind the co-leaders, but in a massive 11-way tie. He fell back to even par 72 on Friday, but on Saturday posted a 68 that positioned him fourth, again two strokes behind the co-leaders, J.B Holes and Kyle Stanley.
When Kim birdied the first hole of the final round, it elevated him into a four-way tie for the lead with Holmes, Stanley and Louis Oosthuizen. Kim shuttled in and out of the lead through the next several holes until a birdie at seven boosted him one ahead of Ian Poulter. That lead went to two with a birdie at nine, and Kim parred in, throwing the pressure onto his chasers. When none of them mustered a serious drive he won by three over Poulter and Oosthuizen.