PGA Tour teenager forced to give up £20k prize despite starring on debut
Teenage golf star Kris Kim was unable to take home around £20,000 in prize money after finishing 65th in last week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson on the PGA Tour.
The Junior Ryder Cup star, 16, became the youngest European player to ever make the cut on the PGA Tour at the event in Texas. The Surrey-based schoolboy, who attends Epsom College, shot rounds of 68, 67, 70 and 73 to finish 65th on his Tour debut.
His amateur status meant the Boys Amateur Champion could not accept any money and he will now have to decide whether to go to college or turn pro. He does however have more pressing matters to attend to first, as he returns back to the UK to sit his GCSE exams and driving test.
Kim said: I’ve actually got to like exams to pass English high school three days after I get back. I didn’t realise, but I’ve got my driving license this year, so I think that’s going to be pretty cool.” Kim has been coached since he was five by his South Korean mother and former LPGA Tour player Ji-Hyun Suh while his father Kim Ki-yong played on the Fiji Tour
After taking an invite from the South Korean sponsors, Kim is the fifth-youngest player in PGA Tour history to make a tournament cut, and the youngest since 16-year-old Kyle Suppa made the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii in 2015. “I am happy with how I played and feel like there is definitely some stuff I can improve on,” he said.
“Definitely got to work on my stamina. Feel like I’ve got to watch what I eat as well and kind of train better. I think definitely eat more on the course fruit-wise and everything like that.” The teenager looked more than at home in his opening round on Thursday, which he ended with a superb eagle-three at the par-five ninth.
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Kris Kim made the cut at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson
A day later Kim managed to book himself a place for the weekend on his 36th hole of the week, making birdie at 18 to ensure he stayed on the right side of the cut line. In his third round the youngster almost marked his Tour debut with a hole-in-one, after his tee-shot on the par-three fourth rolled just past the hole to leave two-feet for birdie.
Kim’s only over-par round of the week came in his final 18 holes last Sunday, as he signed for a one-over-par 73. Looking forward to competing at the top level again in the future, he said on Sunday: “Next time I play a PGA Tour event I think I can definitely keep making the cut.
“But like to push on in the weekend and to move on the moving day and stuff like that, definitely some stuff I could do… I feel really proud, especially seeing the work I’ve done over the winter and my whole life. Feel like it’s definitely paying off, and I’m thankful to the guys for giving the advice.”