Kim Seong-hyeon earns ticket to PGA after 2nd place finish on Korn Ferry Tour points list

Kim Seong-hyeon earned his ticket to the PGA Tour, landing in second place on the Korn Ferry Tour season points list, and will likely compete on the top tier from next season.

Kim Seong-hyeon answers questions at a post-tournament interview after playing the final round of the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Kim Seong-hyeon earned his ticket to the PGA Tour, landing in second place on the Korn Ferry Tour season points list, and will likely compete on the top tier from next season.

Kim is only the second Asian-born golfer to secure his PGA Tour-bound status on the Korn Ferry Tour. The first was China’s Carl Yuan.

Kim earned his place on the second tier Korn Ferry Tour through qualifying school in November and needed 11 tournaments to meet the 900 points requirement to secure a PGA Tour card. Now, Kim has 905 points after two runner-up finishes, a third-place finish, four top 10 finishes and seven top 25 finishes this season.

Kim turned professional when he was 18 and won a Korean Tour in 2020. Kim also won on the Japan Golf Tour last year, before deciding to venture to the United States.

Going into last week’s Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation, Kim just needed to make the cut at the event to reach the threshold. He finished 55th.

Brent Grant of the United States carded a 69 in the final round to win the tournament one shot over Kevin Yu of Taiwan.

The top 25 players on the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season points list will earn PGA Tour cards.

“I can’t really feel my feeling right now, but I think I'll know better once I get to the Tour and play my first event,” said Kim on Sunday.

“When I first came here to compete on the Korn Ferry Tour, I promised myself that I wanted to be consistent, and it has really paid off. I started off well in the Bahamas and to get off to a hot start gave me confidence and comfort.”

Now that he has qualified, he intends to vie for the top seat on the Korn Ferry Tour which will give him access to PGA flagship events such as THE PLAYERS Championship.

“That’s definitely the new goal now,” he said. “With the number of events left and the game that I'm playing right now, I would love to finish No. 1. I’m going to work hard for it.”

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]