Five Asian golfers head into FedExCup Playoffs after Wyndham

Korea's Im Sung-jae, An Byeong-hun, Kim Si-woo and Tom Kim will be joined by Japan's Hideki Matsuyama as the five Asian golfers headed into the first stage of the FedExCup Playoffs after the final tournament of the regular season.

Korea's Im Sung-jae smiles on the range during practice for The 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon on July 16 in Troon, Scotland. [GETTY IMAGES]

A total of five Asian golf stars, headed by Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and Korea’s Im Sung-jae, have qualified for the lucrative FedExCup Playoffs which begin with the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis on Thursday.

Following the conclusion of the Wyndham Championship on Sunday, which was the final tournament of the regular season, Matsuyama and Im will enter the Playoffs in eighth and ninth position respectively.

Korea’s An Byeong-hun (12th), Kim Si-woo (36th) and Tom Kim (40th) will also be among the elite top-70 players who will tee up at TPC Southwind this week, with the goal of remaining in the top-50 — the cut-off for the second and penultimate Playoff event, the BMW Championship. The top-30 subsequently progress into the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta where at stake is the season-long ultimate prize, the FedExCup. Last season, all five players were also Asia’s representatives in the Playoffs with Kim Si-woo, Tom Kim and Im making it through to Atlanta.

Japanese rookie Ryo Hisatsune gave himself a shot at squeezing into the Playoffs on Sunday as he fought his way into contention at the Wyndham Championship before finishing tied third, three strokes back of winner Aaron Rai of England.

The 21-year-old, who earned his PGA Tour card through the DP World Tour Top-10 last season, needed to play 36 holes on Sunday where he fired rounds of 64 and 67 to enjoy his third top-10 of the season, which moves him up to 83rd on the FedExCup standings. He will now focus on the Fall Schedule which features seven tournaments with players fighting to secure their top-125 status to retain their Tour cards and spots into the early Signature events in 2025.

Hideki Matsuyama of Japan plays his second shot on the 16th hole during day two of the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club on July 12 in North Berwick, Scotland. [GETTY IMAGES]

Other Asian stars who missed out on the Playoffs include Chinese Taipei’s Kevin Yu (89th), C.T. Pan (92nd), Korea’s Lee Kyoung-hoon (99th), Rico Hoey of the Philippines (100th), Kim Seong-hyeon of Korea (111th) and China’s Carl Yuan (126th).

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who has won six times on the PGA Tour this season and was the gold medalist at the Paris Olympics, enters the Playoffs as the favorite to lift the FedExCup, with this season’s two-time major winner Xander Schauffele in second place and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, a three-time FedExCup champion, in third position.

Im set the record of being the best Asian finisher in the FedExCup following a tied second finish in 2022. The 26-year-old, who is a two-time PGA Tour winner, also holds a proud record of having qualified for the Tour Championship in all of his six seasons on Tour since his rookie campaign in 2019. He will enter the first of three Playoffs events in top form following seven top-10s, including six over his last nine starts.

Matsuyama, Asia’s winningest golfer with nine titles, is poised to secure a return to the Tour Championship after having his streak of making nine consecutive appearances end last year. The 32-year-old won the Genesis Invitational earlier in the season and claimed the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, ensuring he enters the FedEx St. Jude Championship in a confident mood.

BY CHUAH CHOO CHIANG [kjdsports@joongang.co.kr]