'A Single Win Secured'... The Performance Report of Korea's PGA Tour Trio

Three Runner-up Finishes: Siwoo Kim Surpasses $10 Million This Season
Juhyung Kim Wins Scottish Open, Ending 33-Month Drought
Injury-Plagued Sungjae Im Advances to Playoff Round 2

It has been an unforgettable season.

This refers to the "Three Musketeers"—Siwoo Kim, Juhyung Kim, and Sungjae Im—who played on the 2026 PGA Tour. The trio only lifted one championship trophy together and did not rack up many victories, but still experienced a meaningful year.

Siwoo Kim achieved his best performance since turning pro in 2013, breaking various records along the way. Out of 24 tournaments entered, he finished in the top 10 eleven times, which included three second-place and two third-place finishes. Siwoo Kim is the first Korean player ever to record more than ten top-10 finishes in a single PGA Tour season.

Siwoo Kim became the first Korean player this year to surpass 10 million dollars in seasonal prize money and 40 million dollars in total career earnings. Photo by AFP News Agency

He also rewrote the prize money records. In the final round of the PGA Tour Playoff (PO), the Tour Championship, which concluded on August 31 (Korean time), he tied for 14th place and took home $536,250 in prize money. As a result, his season earnings reached $10,271,694 (approx. KRW 14.2 billion). He became the first Korean player to surpass $10 million in single-season earnings. Siwoo Kim also broke another barrier, becoming the first Korean player to exceed $40 million in total career prize money, with $41,169,934 (approx. KRW 56.3 billion).

Last year, Juhyung Kim suffered a dramatic downturn, but this season, he made a spectacular comeback. In 2022, he became the second-youngest player in PGA Tour history (at 20 years and 3 months) to achieve two wins, and in 2023, he became the youngest player to reach three career wins in 26 years, since Tiger Woods.

However, he struggled with severe underperformance last season. Out of 26 tournaments played, he finished outside of the top 10 in 25 events, causing his world ranking to drop outside the top 100. After marrying last winter, Juhyung Kim made a fresh start, and his third-place finish at the US Open—having earned a spot through the qualifiers in June—marked his official resurgence.

Juhyung Kim returned to the top after 33 months at the Genesis Scottish Open last June. Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

Last month, Juhyung Kim returned to the top by winning the Genesis Scottish Open, his first victory in 33 months since the Shriners Children's Open in October 2023. He recently extended his run of strong results with a tie for fifth at the Wyndham Championship and closed the Tour Championship in a tie for 14th place.

Sungjae Im also struggled with injury setbacks at the start of the season. Due to a right wrist injury from last winter, he was unable to participate in many tournaments in the early part of the season. He worked hard to improve his ranking, qualified for the first round of the Playoffs, the FedEx St. Jude Championship—open only to the top 70 players—and finished in a tie for fifth place in that event.

Sungjae Im earned his ticket to the BMW Championship, which is limited to the top 40 players in the FedEx Cup rankings, and finished tied for tenth. Although he failed to make the Tour Championship for the eighth year in a row, he still enjoyed an unforgettable 2026 season.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.