The first time the reporter met Kim Si-woo was eight years ago, in January 2013.

Kim Si-woo, who was a sophomore at Anyang Shinseong High School at the time, was a dreamy youth full of acne.

In December 2012, when he was 17 years old, he passed the PGA Tour Qualifying School in the U.S. as the youngest ever, and became a hot topic. In front of the SBS coverage camera, Kim Si-woo was very shy in front of the SBS coverage camera and said all his words.



"I'm excited to think that I'm playing on the same stage as Tiger Woods. I want to face-to-face in the same group as Woods. My dream is to achieve a grand slam to dominate the 4 major tournaments on the PGA Tour for the first time in Korea," he said with a small voice. The content was also aired on SBS 8 News Sports News.


(▶'Youngest PGA participation' Kim Si-woo "Confrontation with Woods, it's like a dream" (January 11, 2013)) As



soon as this broadcast goes out, the comments include "I'm glad to keep the PGA Tour seed", "I'll go to the PGA Tour and win 1 It is true that there were also vulgars such as "Can I do it?" and "What can I not dream of?"



However, Kim Si-woo, as if making fun of such a viciousness, took a step toward his dreams and finally made his debut on the PGA Tour at the Wyndham Championship in 2016 when he was 21 years old, decorating a page in PGA history with the record of the youngest ever. I did.

(At the time, this news did not receive much attention due to the news of Park In-bi's Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro.) And the following year, in May 2017, Kim Si-woo was proud to surpass all of the world's top ranking players in the Players Championship, which is called the 5th major tournament. He won the championship and made it known to the world golf world as'SI WOO KIM'.



Since then, we haven't been able to build a win over three years, and the chance to win the championship that we have come across was shaken and blown away in the final round.

Meanwhile, three-year junior player Lim Seong-jae, who came up on the second part of the tour, grew frighteningly and emerged as a representative of Korean men's golf, receiving attention with the 2019 PGA Tour Rookie Award, 2020 Honda Classic Championship, and Masters runner-up.

Kim Si-woo, who was inclined to win, regained confidence with a victory in 3 years and 8 months, and recorded 3 wins in the PGA career. After 8 wins of Choi Kyung-ju, who he selected as a role model, he ranked second in the most wins in Korea.

(Yang Yong-eun-Bae Sang-moon 2 wins each, Noh Seung-yeol-Kang Seong-hoon-Lim Seong-jae each 1 win)



Kim Si-woo, who received the winning prize of $1.26 million and KRW 1.33 billion, made his debut at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Competition in 2013, and earned more than $13 million and KRW 14.3 billion in total in 164 competitions. Stood.

Kim Si-woo, who is on a tour alone because the manager is banned from entering the venue due to Corona 19, moved to San Diego, where the next Farmers Insurance Open will be held right after the winning awards ceremony.




Kim Si-woo, who is known as a poker face because there is no change in facial expression during the game, confessed in an interview with the PGA Tour that he was too nervous to sleep well ahead of the final round of this tournament.



"I had two or three chances in the past three years, but I couldn't save it. So I couldn't sleep well before the final round. I had several chances to win after the Players, but I didn't always win. But I was calm. I kept it and I was able to win. So this win is very meaningful. I think I will have more confidence after this competition. I am very happy."



Kim Si-woo said in an interview after finishing the third round, "I will play safely and not aggressively in the final round." In the last round, the 11th hole (par 5) broke expectations and chose an aggressive shot.

When I took out the driver from the fairway, I looked very anxious because there was water on the left, but Kim Si-woo said that there was a plan in his head.



"The remaining distance from the 11th hole to the pin was 288 yards, so it was worth looking at it. Rather than falling to the left because there is water on the left, the carry is short enough to roll, so to prevent it from going to the left, "I don't hold onto it, safely, and I believe that the driver will never go to the left, so I hit the driver to shorten the carry and use the hill to go further down."



In the end, Kim Si-woo, who sent the ball to the green area, took an approach close to the hole, grabbed a birdie here, and continued the sparkling competition with Patrick Cantley.

In fact, Siwoo Kim often hits the driver on the fairway.

Even when I won the Players Championship in 2017, the scene where the ball was put on the green with a driver on the 14th hole in the third round with 268 yards left from the rough to the pin under the tree was said to be one of the best scenes of the tournament.

As such, Siwoo Kim was confident in the driver shot, but in the last hole 18, where he was ahead by one stroke to the Candlelay, he made a safer and more seasoned choice of throwing a tee shot with the third wood instead of the driver.

Eventually, I was able to defend the par here and win.




The PGA National Golf Course, the venue for this tournament, is a good memory for Kim Si-woo when he was 17 years old and passed the qualifying school as the youngest PGA ever.

At the stadium course designed by legendary course designer Pete Dai, Si-Woo Kim laid the foothold for victory with unprecedented flawless play for three days.



"First of all, when I come to this golf course, I always have a good memory, and I had a really good memory because I got the chance to come to the PGA Tour for the first time on this course, and I passed the Tour Q-School when I came to this course when I was 17 years old. So I always played with confidence when I came, but I think I played a little more comfortably this week as well, and I think I was able to win because of these good memories.”



With this win, Siwoo Kim raised the world ranking from 96th to 48th and entered the 50th place in 2 years and 5 months.

The FedEx Cup points were also raised by 60 places, rising to 9th place, and regaining participation in the Masters Tournament, which expired last year.

The possibility of participating in the Tokyo Olympics with Lim Seong-jae, 17th in the world, has also increased.

At the last Rio Olympics, Ahn Byung-hoon and Wang Jeong-hoon both participated in men's golf, and both of them drank from the cut.



Kim Si-woo, born in 1995 and turned 26 this year, humbly answered the PGA Tour's question whether he thinks he will be able to break the record of Choi Kyung-joo's most wins and 8 wins in Korea.



“First of all, since there are so many achievements that Gyeong-ju Choi has accumulated, I couldn’t think of the record or win wins for Choi, and my goal was to win this year, but I achieved it earlier than expected. I would like to go and add another championship."



(Photo = Getty Image Korea)