Korea’s Tom Kim stays in front with more history in sight at Travelers Championship

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Korea’s Tom Kim stays in front with more history in sight at Travelers Championship

Published: 23 Jun. 2024, 15:16

Korea's Tom Kim plays his shot from the sixth tee during the third round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on Saturday in Cromwell, Connecticut. [GETTY IMAGES]

Korea's Tom Kim put himself on the brink of etching his name into PGA Tour history books once again after a five-under 65 at the Travelers Championship on Saturday kept him one shot clear of the chasing pack.

Kim, who turned 22 years old on Friday, rebounded from an early bogey, his first all week at TPC River Highlands, with six birdies to finish the weather-disrupted day on 18-under 192 and ahead of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Akshay Bhatia, who both signed for matching 64s.

Compatriot Im Sung-jae fired a fine 63, which included a monster birdie putt at the last hole, to lie a further shot back alongside PGA champion Xander Schauffele (64) and Collin Morikawa (66).

Chasing a fourth PGA Tour win, Kim is attempting to become the fifth youngest player in history to reach four wins at the age of 22 years and 2 days. The other players to accomplish the feat by the age of 22 were Horton Smith, Gene Sarazen, Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Harry Cooper.

A near three-hour weather delay midway through the third round appeared pivotal for Kim, who returned back on course firing on all cylinders after the resumption. Kim was one-under through six holes when play was suspended at 3:30pm, before hitting four more birdies in his remaining 12 holes.

"The wind kind of died down after the delay, obviously the greens and fairways were really soft and there's no wind," said Kim, whose last victory was at the Shriners Children’s Open last October. "So, obviously there were a lot of birdies out there, I'm sure a lot of guys did, I didn't really look at leaderboards. But when you get soft conditions out there it's definitely gettable and I feel like I executed well enough to have a good round."

Kim insisted he feels no pressure despite many of the world's best golfers breathing down his neck, including his close friend Scheffler, who has already won five times this season. Despite dropping two strokes, the FedExCup points list leader fought back with eight birdies.

"I'm going to go out tomorrow with the same game plan and try to do the things that I've been doing and if it's good enough, it's great," said Kim."But if someone's better than that, I can't do anything about it. So just kind of go in with the expectation of there's just, it's a stacked leaderboard, out here a 5-, 6-shot lead is not safe at all. I’ve got to go out tomorrow and do the same game plan and execute."

Im, a two-time winner, charged up the leaderboard with a flawless 63 to tie for fourth place at 16-under. He holed a monstrous 41-footer on the final hole as he attempts to win his first title since the Shriners Children's Open in October 2021.

"I was pleased with my tee shots and my iron shots landed exactly where I aimed," said Im. "That made putting easy, and I kept making birdies at key moments. Tomorrow, I'll continue competing at the top of the leaderboard. I aim to finish strong by trusting my game plan, focusing shot by shot, rather than getting distracted by the leaderboard and making overly aggressive decisions."

Cameron Young also made headlines by becoming the only 12th different player to shoot a sub-60 round in the PGA Tour history. Young marked his bogey-free card with two eagles and seven birdies, navigating through the day with just 24 putts.

BY CHUAH CHOO CHIANG [kjdsports@joongang.co.kr]