Kim Joo-hyung and Lim Sung-jae continued to compete at the top of the leaderboard in the third round of the first round of the 2022-2023 season playoffs on the United States Professional Golf (PGA) Tour.
Kim shot a 1-under 69 with two birdies and a bogey in the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship ($20 million purse) at TPC Southwind (par 70, 7,243 yards) in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, on Wednesday (July 13).
His 9-under-par 201 total puts him in a tie for sixth place, down three spots from a tie for third the day before.
He is five strokes behind leader Lucas Glover (USA – 14-under par 196).
The FedEx St. Jude Championship is limited to the top 70 players on the FedExCup standings after the 2022-2023 regular season, which concluded with last week’s Wyndham Championship. After this event, the top 50 players on the FedExCup standings will advance to the BMW Championship.
Kim, who entered the playoffs ranked 14th in the FedExCup standings, maintained his top-10 finish with a second-place finish on day one and a third-place finish in round two. Although the gap to the leader has widened from the previous day, he is still in position to challenge for an upset victory on the final day.
After trading a birdie on the third (par-5) for a bogey on the fourth (par-3), Kim was unable to reduce his score in the first half of the day, but he birdied the 10th (par-4) with his second shot to within one meter of the hole to finish under par.
Lim Sung-jae, who was tied for third with Kim the day before, dropped one stroke with three birdies and two bogeys to finish tied for sixth.
Lim, who enters the playoffs in 32nd place on the FedExCup standings, will need to finish in the top 30 to qualify for the Tour Championship at the end of the playoffs.
Lim got off to a fast start with a birdie putt of more than 15 meters on the par-4 second hole, but the South Korean continued his par streak on the front before making two birdies and two bogeys on the back.
Glover, who jumped into sole possession of the lead with a six-stroke victory in the second round, shaved four more strokes off his total on the day to remain atop the leaderboard.
Glover, who earned his fifth career PGA Tour victory at last week’s Wyndham Championship and moved from 112th to 49th in the FedExCup standings, boosted his playoff chances for a second straight week.
Taylor Moore (USA – 13-under 197), Tommy Fleetwood (England – 12-under 198), Jordan Spieth and Max Horma (both USA – 11-under 199) followed.
Joining Kim and Lim in a tie for sixth 안전놀이터 place were World No. 2 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), World No. 4 Patrick Cantlay (USA) and World No. 5 Viktor Hovlan (Norway).
Byung-Hoon Ahn and Siwoo Kim are tied for 16th (7-under par 203).
World No. 1 Scotty Schaeffler (USA) dropped one shot to tie for 23rd (6-under par 204), while World No. 3 Yon Ram (Spain), who began the playoffs atop the FedExCup standings, finished the third round in a tie for 42nd (3-under par 207).