Four Korean golfers set for Tiger Woods-hosted Genesis Invitational

Kim Si-woo watches his tee shot on the fourth hole during the third round of the Phoenix Open on Saturday in Scottsdale, Ariz. [AP/YONHAP]

Four Korean golfers are set to tee off on Thursday at The Genesis Invitational as the PGA Tour heads to Los Angeles.

An Byeong-hun, Kim Si-woo, Im Sung-jae and Tom Kim, also known as Kim Joo-hyung, will be among a stacked 70-player field vying for the biggest slice of a $20 million purse.

All four have yet to win a title this season.

An, who so far has zero career wins, came the closest to a title with a runner-up finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January. He carded a 17-under-par, 263, but lost to Grayson Murray of the United States in a three-way tiebreaking playoff.

An had notched a fourth-place finish the weekend earlier at The Sentry, the season opener, but has failed to manage a Top 10 finish since the two Hawaii stops.

Kim Si-woo finished tied for 12th at last week’s Phoenix Open, carding a 12-under-par, 272. He has four career PGA wins, with his most recent title coming from the 2023 Sony Open.

Im, with two career wins under his belt, saw his best results of the season so far at the Sony, where he carded a 25-under-par, 267, to finish tied for fifth.

Tom Kim, who at 22 years old is the youngest of the four golfers from Korea, is fresh off a banner 2023 season — his second year on the PGA Tour. He defended his title at the Shriners Children’s Open last October, carding a 20-under-par, 264.

Kim, with three career wins, is currently the world’s highest-ranked Korean golfer, at No. 17.

Tiger Woods, who is hosting the tournament, will also be on the green, marking his first official appearance on the PGA Tour since withdrawing from the Masters mid-way through the tournament last April.

Woods famously made his PGA Tour debut at the Riviera Country Club tournament in 1992, then called the Nissan Los Angeles Open. He competed as an amateur at 16 years old but failed to make the 1-under-par cut.

This year’s invitational will see a 36-hole cut, with players outside of the Top 50 or more than 10 strokes away from the lead eliminated after the second round.

Nine of the world’s Top 10 men’s golfers will be in this weekend’s player pool including Max Homa, the 2021 Genesis champion.

The tournament runs from Thursday to Sunday at the Riviera Country Club, and the weather is set to hover above 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 degrees Celsius) with a chance of light rain during the final round.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]