Kim Si-woo’s impressive birdies beat up No. 1 player

South Korean golfer Kim Si-woo, at 76th in the world rankings, became a source of pride of the International Team in the Presidents Cup 2022 held at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday (local time). Teaming up with Cam Davis of Australia (66th place), he had a foursome match with Scottie Scheffler (1st place) & Sam Burns (12th place) to win 2-up.

The Presidents Cup 2022 is a match-play event between the U.S. team and the International Team, which consists of countries worldwide, excluding European nations. Five foursome matches were held on Thursday where two players as a pair take turns hitting the same ball. Excluding the one involving Kim, the remaining four games ended with the International Team’s loss.

Lagging by two holes until the 14th hole, Kim and Davis made a turnaround for the last four holes (15th to 18th) to grab a victory. Kim’s two birdie putts running in the 16th and 17th holes were the key to securing the International Team’s winning. Kim said in an interview that he tried to get his mind off of the world’s No. 1 player on the other side, adding that things may turn out to be different because it is not one-on-one but a two-on-two match.

All four South Korean players joined the matches on Thursday. The pair of Kim Joo-hyung & Lee Kyoung-hoon lost to Cameron Young & Collin Morikawa 2&1. Likewise, Im Sung-jae with Corey Conners of Canada lost to Jordan Spieth & Justin Thomas 2&1. Earning eight wins running in this competition, the U.S. Team records a total of 11 wins, one loss, and one tie, way ahead of the competitor.

On Saturday, four ball games will open where two players on a team play their own ball, and the better score of either is considered a final record of the team in question in each hole. Im Sung-jae & Sebastian Munoz will compete against Scottie Scheffler & Sam Burns, while Kim Joo-hyung will team up with Hideki Matsuyama to fight against Patrick Cantlay & Xander Schauffele.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com