Si Woo Kim of South Korea became the youngest winner of The Players Championship, displaying a game and nerves well beyond his 21 years.
Kim was nearly flawless Sunday on the TPC Sawgrass, closing with a 3-under 69, with no bogeys on his card for a three-shot victory in golf’s biggest tournament this side of the major championships.
He also managed to take all the drama out of the final round, rare for this tournament and this golf course.
Ian Poulter made a remarkable bogey from the bushes and trees on the 18th for a 71 and tied for second with Louis Oosthuizen, who fell back with two bogeys on the back nine.
Kim gets $1.89-million for his second PGA TOUR victory, and a three-year exemption to the Masters Tournament.
Final leaderboard The Players Championship (USA unless stated):
278 – Kim Si-Woo (KOR) 69-72-68-69
281 – Ian Poulter (ENG) 72-67-71-71, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 69-66-73-73
282 – Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP) 69-70-73-70, Kyle Stanley 69-66-72-75
283 – Brendan Steele 69-71-75-68, Lucas Glover 70-70-73-70, Adam Scott (AUS) 70-72-71-70, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 69-74-69-71
284 – Alex Noren (SWE) 68-71-72-73
285 – Emiliano Grillo (ARG) 72-71-67-75
286 – Dustin Johnson 71-73-74-68, Smylie Kaufman 74-67-76-69, Chris Kirk 74-72-69-71, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 75-71-68-72
287 – Blayne Barber 70-76-72-69, Vijay Singh (FIJ) 70-68-79-70, Webb Simpson 71-69-77-70, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 72-70-74-71, Mackenzie Hughes (CAN) 67-75-74-71, Brooks Koepka 74-69-71-73
288 – Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) 72-71-76-69, Patrick Reed 72-73-74-69, Paul Casey (ENG) 71-69-77-71, Noh Seung-Yul (KOR) 73-69-75-71, Yuta Ikeda (JPN) 73-69-72-74, William McGirt 67-75-71-75, Pat Perez 74-72-66-76, Patrick Cantlay 69-70-72-77
