[PHOTO: Icon Sportswire]
Tom Kim will not defend his maiden PGA Tour title due to injury.
Last August, Kim fired a final-round 61 at Sedgefield Country Club to win the 2022 Wyndham Championship, becoming the second-youngest player since World War II to win on the PGA Tour. The fledgling star was set to return to North Carolina for next week’s regular-season finale, but Kim is no longer in the field after suffering a sprained ankle at the Open Championship.
“I am very gutted to not be able to defend my first PGA Tour win,” Kim said. “I am still having a hard time with my ankle, so I am getting the treatment I need to heal completely.”
Kim added that he flew home to South Korea to receive treatment for his ankle after The Open.
Kim suffered a grade-1 ankle sprain at Hoylake after the first round of the Open Championship. Despite the injury Kim returned to Royal Liverpool on Friday, and responded with rounds of 68, 68 and 67 to finish T-2 behind Brian Harman.
“Obviously coming down the stretch of a major when you’re playing well the adrenaline kind of hits and makes sure you’re kind of in it,” Kim said of playing through the injury on Sunday. “It was kind of nice to almost forget about it a little bit, because when you’re in the moment you don’t really think about it. I think today was probably the best it’s been out of the three days, so kind of relieved.”
With two weeks to go before the FedEx Cup Playoffs, Kim is 14th in the FedEx Cup standings and 17th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
