SILVIA, Ill.
Michael Kim didn’t just win his first PGA Tour event on Sunday. He dominated in a fashion never seen at TPC Deere Run.
Kim’s prizes? A little over a million bucks, a two-year exemption on tour and a trip to the British Open.
Kim shot a final-round 66 on Sunday to win the John Deere Classic by a record-setting eight strokes. Kim, who turned 25 on Saturday, finished at 27-under 257 to break Steve Stricker’s tournament record from 2010 by one shot.
Kim also qualified for next week’s Open at Carnoustie — an unexpected bonus for a player who had missed five of his last six cuts before his breakthrough in the Quad Cities.
Kim also made 30 birdies for the week, a season high on tour in 2018.
Bronson Burgoon, Francesco Molinari, Joel Dahmen and Sam Ryder all finished at 19 under.
Kim took all the drama out of the final round with birdies on his first three holes and secured the largest margin of victory during the tournament’s stay at the course, which began in 2000. J.P. Hayes (2002) and Vijay Singh (2003) won the event by four strokes.
Kim, who had previously had just one top-10 finish in 84 career starts — a third at the Safeway Open two years ago — entered play with a five-shot lead. It was the biggest edge for a third-round leader at the John Deere Classic since Stricker’s six-stroke advantage eight years ago.
Kim, a former star at Cal who had struggled to find his footing as a pro, made it obvious from his first swing that he wasn’t about to let anyone catch him.
Kim knocked in a 13-foot birdie putt on the opening hole, and then holed two more from 15 and 24 feet to give him seven straight birdies dating back to the end of Saturday’s round — and a seven-shot lead.
The field might have felt a glimmer of hope when Kim dumped his tee shot into the greenside bunker on the par-3 seventh hole.
But Kim got his bunker shot to within 7 feet and made the downhill par putt, and he walked to the next tee with an eight-shot edge.
Senior Players
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — Vijay Singh hit a perfect approach to set up the winning playoff birdie. His celebration as the ball rolled into the cup was nowhere near as spectacular.
Singh closed the door on Jeff Maggert on the second playoff hole to win the Constellation Senior Players Championship on Sunday, giving an understated fist pump as his birdie putt dropped from about two feet. It was the first major title on the PGA Tour Champions for the 55-year-old Fijian, a past winner of the Masters and two PGA Championships.
Singh (67) and Maggert (68) finished at 20-under 268 at Exmoor Country Club. Brandt Jobe (66) was two strokes behind, while Jerry Kelly (64) and defending champion Scott McCarron (71) finished at 17 under.
LPGA
SYLVANIA, Ohio (AP) — Thidapa Suwannapura’s main focus going into the Marathon Classic was trying to put together four solid rounds that would help her keep her LPGA Tour card.
She doesn’t have to worry about that any longer.
Suwannapura picked up her first win on Sunday, closing with a 6-under 65 and birdieing the first playoff hole to defeat Brittany Lincicome at Highland Meadows.
Senior Women
WHEATON, Ill. (AP) — Laura Davies immediately recognized the significance of having her name inscribed on the first U.S. Senior Women’s Open trophy.
Davies went virtually unchallenged in Sunday’s final round of the inaugural USGA championship for women 50 and older, claiming the title by 10 strokes over Juli Inkster.
The 54-year-old Davies shot a 5-under 68 to finish at 16-under 276.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
