Tom Kim Finishes Third at U.S. Open on His Birthday

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, June 22 (Yonhap) -- Tom Kim celebrated his birthday with his third career top-10 finish at a major tournament.

Kim finished third at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York, on Sunday (local time) at one-under 279, three strokes behind the champion, Wyndham Clark of the United States. Kim shot an even 70 in the final round, which fell on his 24th birthday.

This was Kim's best performance at a U.S. Open and his third top-10 at a major for his career. He tied for eighth at the 2023 U.S. Open and tied for second at the Open Championship the same year.

Winless since October 2023, Kim is in the midst of a down yesar during which he has nose-dived to 141st in the world rankings. He now has two top-10s in 15 starts this year and jumped to No. 64 in the rankings released right after the U.S. Open. Kim hadn't been inside the top 100 since October last year.

Kim started the final round at one-under, six strokes behind Clark in a four-way tie for second place. Playing in the penultimate pairing right in front of Clark, Kim opened his chase with a bogey on the opening hole, and then traded a birdie at the third with a bogey at the very next hole to remain at one-over for the round.

Kim picked up his second birdie of the day at the par-4 eighth to get back to even par for the round and one-under for the tournament.

It still kept Kim in the hunt, though, as Clark committed three bogeys on the front nine to fall back to the pack.

Kim bogeyed the 10th but bounced back with a birdie at the par-3 11th. But Kim eventually ran out of holes as he birdied the 16th and bogeyed the 17th.

Clark nearly blew his lead but hung on to win by one over fellow American Sam Burns.

Kim said afterward he has a lot of positive takeaways from his performance.

"For the first time, I was able to really taste a major championship right in front of my fingertips," he said. "I can go back this whole week and just see how close I actually am. This week, I really felt like I did a lot of good things, but I really do feel like I left a lot of shots out there. It's a big positive for me and my team. I look back and am like, okay, if I can get better at just a couple more things, I can definitely get my hands on one of these."

Kim was one of three South Koreans to tee off at the U.S. Open. Im Sung-jae tied for 43rd at eight-over 288, while Kim Si-woo missed the cut by two after shooting 77-69.