With nine of the top 15 players on the leaderboard entering the final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii trying to claim a maiden PGA Tour title, it seemed likely a first-time winner would emerge in Honolulu on Sunday.
Si Woo Kim had other ideas.
The 27-year-old South Korean, a former Players Championship winner who shined for the International side at last September’s Presidents Cup, started the day three off the lead, then shot a six-under 64 at Waialae Country Club, including a chip-in birdie from 28 feet on the par-3 17th hole and a two-putt birdie from just inside 42 feet on the par-5 18th. The momentum pushed him past Hayden Buckley and allowed Kim to claim victory for the fourth time on tour with an 18-under 262 total.
Additionally, only nine 54-hole Sony leaders had won since 2000 and only five 54-hole leaders of any tour event so far in the 2022-23 season had closed the door.
Kim knew those odds, too. “Three strokes behind, like always … [jumping to the lead] can happen fast. Like last week. So I tried my best on every shot.”
Buckley saw his lead slip away early on the back nine, making a birdie on the first hole then nine straight pars before a bogey on the 11th. He bounced back with birdie on the 12th, made another on the 14th to reclaim the lead, fell back to a tie with a bogey on the 15th, then regained it—for just seconds—with a birdie on the 16th hole as Kim was playing the 17th.
That’s when Kim punched back. “Right before I hit [the chip] I heard the noise [Buckley making a birdie putt on the 16th hole to go out front by one], Kim said. “It was a tough line into the grain. I had to hit it aggressive. Nothing to lose. It was exciting.”
Kim then made his birdie on 18 to take the one-shot lead. Buckley hit his drive on the home hole against the collar of rough through the fairway, then left his second shot short right of the green, giving him a tricky up-and-down chance for birdie. His chip settled just inside 11 feet, but he couldn’t convert the putt, leaving him with a closing 68.
With the win, Kim earned first-place prize money payout of $1.422 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million. Here’s the prize money payouts for each golfer at the Sony Open. Come back shortly after the conclusion of the event and we’ll update the list with names and individual payouts.
Win: Si Woo Kim, 262/-18, $1,422,000
2: Hayden Buckley, 263/-17, $861,100
3: Chris Kirk, 265/-15, $545,100
T-4: Andrew Putnam, 266/-14, $332,458.34
T-4: David Lipsky, 266/-14, $332,458.33
T-4: Ben Taylor, 266/-14, $332,458.33
T-7: Aaron Baddeley, 267/-13, $231,865
T-7: Matt Kuchar, 267/-13, $231,865
T-7: Nate Lashley, 267/-13, $231,865
T-7: Maverick McNealy, 267/-13, $231,865
T-7: Nick Taylor, 267/-13, $231,865
T-12: Corey Conners, 268/-12, $138,908.34
T-12: Nico Echavarria, 268/-12, $138,908.34
T-12: Andrew Novak, 268/-12, $138,908.34
T-12: Byeong Hun An, 268/-12, $138,908.33
T-12: Austin Eckroat, 268/-12, $138,908.33
T-12: Ben Griffin, 268/-12, $138,908.33
T-12: S.H. Kim, 268/-12, $138,908.33
T-12: Taylor Montgomery, 268/-12, $138,908.33
T-12: J.J. Spaun, 268/-12, $138,908.33
T-21: Stewart Cink, 269/-11, $77,025
T-21: Brice Garnett, 269/-11, $77,025
T-21: J.T. Poston, 269/-11, $77,025
T-21: Adam Scott, 269/-11, $77,025
T-21: Brendon Todd, 269/-11, $77,025
T-21: Kevin Yu, 269/-11, $77,025
T-21: Carl Yuan, 269/-11, $77,025
T-28: Will Gordon, 270/-10, $55,300
T-28: Harry Hall, 270/-10, $55,300
T-28: Stephan Jaeger, 270/-10, $55,300
T-28: K.H. Lee, 270/-10, $55,300
T-32: Ben Martin, 271/-9, $41,387.23
T-32: Michael Thompson, 271/-9, $41,387.23
T-32: Tyson Alexander, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-32: Cam Davis, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-32: Brian Harman, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-32: Russell Henley, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-32: Denny McCarthy, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-32: Ryan Palmer, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-32: Doc Redman, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-41: Ryan Brehm, 272/-8, $28,045
T-41: Nick Hardy, 272/-8, $28,045
T-41: Tom Hoge, 272/-8, $28,045
T-41: Augusto Núñez, 272/-8, $28,045
T-41: Chez Reavie, 272/-8, $28,045
T-41: Justin Suh, 272/-8, $28,045
T-41: Adam Svensson, 272/-8, $28,045
T-48: Danny Lee, 273/-7, $20,250.34
T-48: Greyson Sigg, 273/-7, $20,250.34
T-48: Zac Blair, 273/-7, $20,250.33
T-48: Adam Long, 273/-7, $20,250.33
T-48: Hideki Matsuyama, 273/-7, $20,250.33
T-48: Brendan Steele, 273/-7, $20,250.33
T-54: Joseph Bramlett, 274/-6, $18,249
T-54: MJ Daffue, 274/-6, $18,249
T-54: Keita Nakajima, 274/-6, $18,249
T-54: Chad Ramey, 274/-6, $18,249
T-54: Davis Thompson, 274/-6, $18,249
T-54: Kevin Tway, 274/-6, $18,249
T-54: Joseph Winslow, 274/-6, $18,249
T-61: Eric Cole, 275/-5, $17,380
T-61: Cole Hammer, 275/-5, $17,380
T-61: Kelly Kraft, 275/-5, $17,380
T-61: Aaron Rai, 275/-5, $17,380
T-65: Troy Merritt, 276/-4, $16,906
T-65: Brian Stuard, 276/-4, $16,906
T-67: Anders Albertson, 277/-3, $16,353
T-67: Russell Knox, 277/-3, $16,353
T-67: Adam Schenk, 277/-3, $16,353
T-67: Taiga Semikawa, 277/-3, $16,353
T-67: Austin Smotherman, 277/-3, $16,353
72: Kazuki Higa, 278/-2, $15,879
T-73: Harris English, 279/-1, $15,642
T-73: Kurt Kitayama, 279/-1, $15,642
75: Zach Johnson, 281/+1, $15,405
76: Patton Kizzire, 282/+2, $15,247