A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier: Top 10 power rankings

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, WV - JULY 8 : The trophy sits on the first hole tee box during the final round of A Military Tribute At The Greenbrier held at the Old White TPC course on July 8, 2018 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images) /

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ATLANTA, GEORGIA – AUGUST 24: Sungjae Im of South Korea plays a shot on the eighth hole during the third round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on August 24, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

Sungjae Im was the only rookie to make the 2019 Tour Championship. Granted, that’s partly because the 21-year-old played literally EVERY week he could on the PGA Tour to stack up FedEx Cup points.

But the kid’s also got some serious game.

The 2018 Korn Ferry Tour money leader finished T-4 in his PGA Tour debut at the Safeway Open.

He didn’t contend for titles often, but he was a top-25 machine with 17. The highlight was a T-3 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, an elevated status event.

I envision him making the leap to win an event in 2019-2020 and start to get into the WGCs and all four majors. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship and Open Championship.

Im seems to enjoy grinding out there on Tour. Bless him for that. But he’s got plenty of money in the bank now and could afford to take some more weeks off while keeping his rhythm.

Statistically, Im was safely in the positive of each of the main strokes gained categories. The South Korean was 23rd around the green, 33rd off the tee, 39th putting and 94th in approach. That was good for the 17th total SG (1.023).

Im led the Tour in eagles (18) and was 26th in birdie or better percentage.

This will be his Greenbrier debut and one of the last new courses he’ll face.

I envision a Sungjae sophomore surge over a sophomore slump.

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