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Korean stars' Shriners Children's Open success over as PGA scraps tournament

Published: 18 Dec. 2024, 15:39 Updated: 01 Jan. 2025, 09:26

PAIK JI-HWAN
[email protected]

Tom Kim plays his shot from the eighth tee during the final round of the Shriners Children's Open at TPC Summerlin on Oct. 15, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. [AFP/YONHAP]

Korean PGA stars Tom Kim and Im Sung-jae will not be able to secure another victory at the Shriners Children's Open in the 2025 PGA season as the Tour scrapped the 41-year-old tournament.

The 2025 PGA schedule announced Tuesday does not include the Nevada tournament as one of the FedEx Cup events, putting an end to successful runs for Kim and Im in the competition. Im was the first Korean contender to win the competition in 2021, before Kim became the first Korean to win the title back-to-back in 2022 and 2023.

Kim, who had won the Wyndham Championship in August 2022, became the second-youngest golfer to win two PGA titles at 20 with his first Shriners Children's Open, and is the first contender to win twice on the Tour before the age of 21 since Tiger Woods.

The 2025 season offers the Korean PGA duo plenty of opportunities to add another title, with the season running from January through December across 39 tournaments.

Kim did not add a title in the 2024 season, but still had a successful run with three runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour and another runner-up finish at the Genesis Championship — a co-sanctioned event by the KPGA and DP World Tour.

He also represented Korea at the Paris Olympics this summer, where he finished in eighth place and fell short of a top-three finish that would have earned him an 18-month military service exemption.

Im, too, had a successful 2024 PGA campaign, during which he made eight top-10 finishes and made the cut in 20 out of 26 tournaments, with a joint third-place finish at the Travelers Championship in June his best result.

Im Sung-jae reacts after his drive on the fourth hole during the final round of the Hero World Challenge PGA Tour at the Albany Golf Club, in New Providence, Bahamas on Dec. 8. [AP/YONHAP]

The 2025 season will tee off with the Sentry on Jan. 2 next year.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly said that the 2025 PGA season has 49 tournaments, but it has 39 events.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]