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Kim Si-woo sits 5 off lead entering final round at PGA Championship

Published: 18 May. 2025, 15:27 Updated: 18 May. 2025, 16:41

Kim Si-woo hits from the bunker on the 18th hole during the third round of the PGA Championship at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 17. [AP/YONHAP]

Kim Si-woo is five strokes off the lead heading into the final round of the season's second major championship on the PGA Tour.

Kim shot an even-par 71 in the third round of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday. It put him in a tie for fifth place at six-under for the tournament, five shots behind the leader, Scottie Scheffler of the United States, with 18 holes to play.

While playing in the same group with Scheffler, Kim briefly grabbed the lead during the third round but ended up trading three birdies for three bogeys, including one on the par-4, 482-yard 18th.

Kim is trying to join Yang Yong-eun, the 2009 PGA Championship winner, and become the only Koreans to win a major title. Kim has not even had a top-10 finish at his 31 career appearances at the four big tournaments — the Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship.

"It was a tough day and then winds kind of kept switching, hurting and sometimes helping," Kim said. "I just played well the last three rounds. So just have one more round, try to have fun and go as low as I can tomorrow."

Kim is facing the daunting task of catching Scheffler, the world's top-ranked player widely considered the best ball striker since the peak Tiger Woods.

Scheffler is going for his third career major win and first PGA Championships title after shooting 65, the low round of the day. This was the first time in Scheffler's major championship career that he shot the outright best round of the day.

Scheffler went eagle-birdie-par-birdie-birdie over the final five holes. Scheffler has been the 54-hole leader at a major on two previous occasions, the 2022 and the 2024 Masters, and he won both tournaments.

Two other Korean players made the cut but are far out of contention.

Tom Kim shot 75 in the third round to drop to five-over for the tournament, tied for 63rd. An Byeong-hun put up 79 and is now eight-over after three days, in a tie for 72nd.

Yonhap