HONOLULU — Si Woo Kim carded three straight birdies to begin the final day of the Sony Open in Hawaii and closed with two more to earn a one-stroke victory over 54-hole leader Hayden Buckley at Waialae Country Club on Sunday.
Kim, of Seoul, shot 6-under 64 for the second straight day and 18-under 262 overall to became the first South Korean winner of Oahu’s PGA Tour event since K.J. Choi in 2008. It was Kim’s fourth win on tour and first since the Desert Classic in January 2021.
It was a major confidence boost for the 27-year-old, who acknowledged he’s had some self-doubt despite taking The Players Championship at age 21 in 2017. He received $1.4 million out of the tournament purse of $7.9 million.
A large contingent of local fans and visitors cheered down the home stretch for the second straight Sony champion from Asia.
“Everyone was screaming (on the) back nine, the Korean fans,” Kim said with a laugh. “That definitely helps me… I feel like I was in Korea.”
Kim’s early surge and late push — he made a chip-in birdie from the rough on 17 and tapped in for birdie on 18 to put pressure on Buckley, who was one group behind — made for a dramatic final few holes.
Seconds after Buckley sank a 15-foot birdie on the signature No. 16 hole to recapture a one-stroke lead, a roar went up from 17, where Kim uncorked a huge fist pump after his dead-eye chip shot from a couple feet off the green, and 28 from the cup, tied it up at 17 under.
Kim said knowing Buckley had just put in a birdie actually lessened the pressure on him on that shot.
“If he made a par, like I’m more nervous because I have to save it, and then especially into the grain with the pressure, it’s much nervous for me,” he said.
That was the separation the two needed from a jammed leaderboard with about a dozen players within two strokes going into the final handful of holes.
Kim hit his drive on 18 into the left-side bunker where the hole dog-legs toward the final approach. But he hit a great shot out of the sand 222 yards to within 42 feet — he said he was comfortable from that bunker, having hit out of it on Saturday — and his slightly downhill eagle putt was about 18 inches off as the crowd roared.
Kim, ranked 84th in the world, said he still has something of an inferiority complex when he goes up against the best of the best. He joked that his family keeps him grounded, too.
“My dad (keeps talking) to me, ‘You’re not the top player, so don’t try to act like top player,’” he said with a laugh.
Buckley had a chance to send it to a playoff for the third time in the last four editions of the tournament, if he could muster a matching birdie on the par-5 hole.
The Tennessee native, seeking his first win on tour in his second full season, had recovered nicely after two back-nine bogeys by birdieing the following holes. On 18, he hit his drive into the intermediate rough with a clear shot at the green. But his approach came up short into the thick rough to the front right. He chipped up about a dozen feet past the cup and had to negotiate a right-to-left break for the tie.
“Winning on the PGA Tour is the hardest thing to do and sometimes you just get beat, and I feel like that’s what happened today,” Buckley said.
As those in the packed grandstands held their collective breath, Buckley pushed it left and held his face in disappointment. He shot a 68 with that final par.
“I knew it went left,” he said. “I feel like it was just so grainy that it’s tough. I feel like I missed left all day. That’s kind of my tendency. It’s tough to mentally come back from that when you’re missing a lot of putts left and you have a right-to-left putt at the end.
“But I feel like I hit it on a good line, maybe just not enough speed.”
Still, he said he draws confidence from playing in Hawaii. He was 12th at the Sony last year and won a collegiate event on Kauai when he golfed for Missouri.
Kim, like Buckley, got married in December. He came out to Hawaii with his wife a week early as a de facto honeymoon.
Chris Kirk came in third at 15 under.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.