TEXAS — Kim Si-woo carded a spectacular 60 marred only by an agonising bogey at the last to seize a five-shot lead at the PGA Tour CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Mckinney, Texas.
South Korea’s Kim was poised to post just the 16th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history after his 12th birdie of the day at 17 – where he rolled in a 17-foot putt from the fringe.
But with the adrenaline pumping, his second shot from the fairway at 18 flew the green and he was unable to get up and down for par, his chip leaving him an 18-foot putt, AFP reported.
His 11-under 60 at TPC Craig Ranch in suburban Dallas left him on 18-under 240, five clear of defending champion Scottie Scheffler, South Korean Im Sung-jae, Japanese rookie Kensei Hirata, former US Open champion Wyndham Clark and American Jackson Suber.
Im surged up the leaderboard with an impressive 10-under-par 61 that included a hole-in-one and a closing eagle. Suber also shot 61, closing with back-to-back birdies for his share of second.
Scheffler, playing alongside his good friend and fellow Dallas resident Kim, carded an eight-under 63 that was matched by Clark, and Hirata signed for a six-under 65.
“I hit it great and putted great, so everything was perfect, other than the last hole,” Kim said. “I’ll still take it.”
Inspired by Im’s early round, Kim launched what he called his greatest round with a six-foot birdie at the first, rolled in a 17-foot birdie from the fringe at the third, then birdied three in a row at five, six and seven, where he drained a 20-footer.
He birdied four straight from the ninth through the 12th – where he blasted out of a greenside bunker to six feet.
