Another victory for Tom Kim at the Shriners Children’s Open means another opportunity for him to be linked with Tiger Woods.
Kim’s win on Sunday was his third on the PGA TOUR, making him the youngest player since Woods to earn his third TOUR title. Kim was 21 years, 3 months and 24 days old when he collected a one-stroke victory over Adam Hadwin on Sunday at the 2023 Shriners Children’s Open.
Kim and Woods also are the two youngest players since World War II to win three times on TOUR.
Kim’s three TOUR wins have been laden with historical significance.
Kim won his first PGA TOUR title at the 2022 Wyndham Championship, becoming the first player in recorded history (since 1983) to win a tournament after making a quadruple-bogey on the opening hole. Kim shot a Sunday 61, including a front-nine 27, to win by five strokes at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Kim won last year’s Shriners Children’s Open by three strokes over Patrick Cantlay and Matthew NeSmith to become the first player since Woods to win twice on TOUR before turning 21.
Kim’s win at TPC Summerlin on Sunday made him the second-youngest player to defend a title on the PGA TOUR. Only John McDermott, who was 20 years, 11 months and 21 days old when he won the 1912 U.S. Open, was younger.
Gene Sarazen and Horton Smith were the youngest players to win three times on the TOUR. They were each 20 years old when they won their third TOUR title, at the 1922 PGA Championship and 1929 Pensacola Open, respectively.
Kim is the fourth-youngest player to earn a trio of TOUR titles, and the three ahead of him are all enshrined in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Sarazen is one of five players to win the career Grand Slam. His 38 PGA TOUR wins include seven major triumphs. He was just 20 years old when he won both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in 1922. He went on to win three PGAs (1922, ’23, ’33), two U.S. Opens (1922, ’32) and had one victory apiece at The Open Championship (1932) and the Masters (1935). Sarazen’s win in the second Masters, made famous by his albatross at the par-5 15th in the final round, was sandwiched between Smith’s victories in the first and third editions of the tournament.
Smith won 30 times on the PGA TOUR, including those two Masters titles.
Kim is keeping incredible company.
Source: pgatour.com
