For approximately 58/60ths of his round, Si Woo Kim was good. So let’s start with the overwhelming majority. 

He was good with playing partners Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka, and he was good with their conversation, which apparently was so good that he said he couldn’t share what was said, and he’ll leave it at that. “But it was enjoyable,” he said. He was good, too, with TPC Craig Ranch, in McKinney, Texas, which is close to Kim’s home, and he was good with the event, the Byron Nelson backed by CJ Cup, which backs Kim. “So everything feels like home and feels comfortable,” he said. 

He was good on hole 1. Birdie on a 6-foot putt. And hole 3. Birdie again, on a 17-footer. And hole 5. Birdie again, after nearly getting home on the par-5 in two. And hole 6. Birdie again, after dropping a wedge to 4 feet. And hole 7. Birdie again, after rolling in a 19-foot putt. And hole 9. Birdie again, his sixth of the front nine, after sitting just over the green in two on the par-5. 

Then came the back nine. More good. 

Birdie on 10, on a 17-footer. Birdie on 11, after sticking an iron to 2 feet. Birdie on 12, after hitting to 5 feet from a greenside bunker on the par-5. Birdie on 14, after making an 8-foot putt. Birdie on 15, after hitting his tee shot on the par-3 to 8 feet, though Kim said he felt funky. “Some guy was making sneeze during my backswing,” he said, “so I pull out back and hit a wrong shot, and it went straight.” At this point, folks were starting to talk about a 59, which only 14 players have accomplished in PGA Tour history, or a 58, which only Jim Furyk has shot. Hell, if Kim birdied his last three holes, he could fire a 57. 

“I was joking there earlier,” Scheffler said, “I felt like I was hitting all my shots to 15, 20 feet and Si Woo was hitting all his shots to like 8 feet or closer.

“Yeah, it was fun to watch.”

Kim parred 16. But he birdied 17, which was good, and so was the putt. From just over the green and 16 feet away, Kim curled in a right-to-lefter. Maybe the most interesting stat of Kim’s round was that he took just 20 putts. He put himself in makable range, and he made putts — and when he was off the green, like he was on 17, he made those, too. 

On to 18, where a par would’ve given him the 59. From the tee, he found the fairway. Good. That was stroke 56. 

From 200 yards away, stroke 57 went 215 yards, and it sailed over the green. 

Adrenaline, he said. After 17, he admitted he was dreaming of the 59, though he said he even chose a 6-iron over a 5.

“I think it was too much pumping,” he said of his heart. “So it went farther than I thought.”

Stroke 58, from over the green, came up well short. Kim said he spun it too much. 

He had 18 feet left for par and the 59. 

He missed it to the right. 

Sixty. 

That’s good. He leads the tournament by five heading into Saturday. 

“So everything was perfect,” Kim said. 

“Other than the last hole.”

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