Im Sung-jae of South Korea walks on the seventh green at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta on Aug. 20, 2025, during a practice round prior to the Tour Championship, in this Getty Images photo. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — After squeezing into the exclusive-field Tour Championship for the seventh straight season, PGA Tour veteran Im Sung-jae said he is proud of having kept his streak alive.
Im will be the only South Korean among the 30 players who have qualified for the Tour Championship, the final event of the annual FedEx Cup playoffs. It will start Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Only the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup through two playoff events will get to tee off in the capital of Georgia, and Im ranked 28th.
“I want to pat myself on the back for playing in my seventh consecutive Tour Championship, starting in my rookie season,” Im said in an interview with the PGA Tour conducted Wednesday in Atlanta. “There have been times when things didn’t go my way but I’ve been able to overcome those hurdles quickly. I am satisfied with how well I’ve played for these past seven years.”
Im said his goal at the start of this season was to qualify for the Tour Championship and pick up his third career victory.
“I haven’t accomplished all of my goals but I am still happy that I’ve made it to the Tour Championship,” Im added.
Im, the 2018-2019 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, has recorded three top-10 finishes this season, the fewest of his career. And all three of those came within the first four months of the season, with his last top-10 showing being a fifth-place finish at the Masters in April.
“I finished third in my first tournament of the season (at The Sentry in January) and I also had a good start in the majors by finishing fifth at the Masters. But I didn’t quite play at the level I wanted in the second half,” Im said. “I started getting a bit impatient because I needed my FedEx Cup points but I wasn’t playing well. I felt stressed out, but I managed to get through the first couple of playoff events to make it to the Tour Championship.”
Though Im has had a down year, he has long been known as one of the most consistent players on the tour. Im said maintaining steady routines has helped in that regard.
“I have not changed my routine and my lifestyle much over the past seven years,” he said. “I’ve been able to avoid injuries because I’ve been taking care of my body. I’ve also been putting in consistent hours on the range.”
(Yonhap)
