Tom Kim gets engine back on track with Scottish Open victory

NORTH BERWICK, Scotland (AP) — Tom Kim played bogey-free during a tight race to the finish Sunday and closed with a 6-under 64 for a two-shot victory in the Scottish Open, his first PGA Tour title since the fall of 2023.

It was the latest and best sign the 24-year-old Kim had his game on track after spending all season outside the top 100 in the world. He finished third in the U.S. Open, and then outlasted a strong field and a marathon day at The Renaissance Club.

Kim, who reached as high as No. 11 in the world at age 21 when he won in Las Vegas nearly three years ago, delivered the clinching blow with a shot from 203 yards to six feet on the par-4 16th, giving him a two-shot lead.

“That second shot might be one of the best shots I’ve hit in my career so far,” Kim said.

He finished with a four-foot par putt on the 18th as his closest pursuer, Min Woo Lee, watched from the 18th fairway and realized he needed to hold out from the fairway to force a playoff. Lee closed with a par for a 67 to finish alone in second.

Matt Fitzpatrick, who shared the 54-hole lead with Robert MacIntyre when the fog-delayed third round was completed Sunday morning, had a 69 and tied for third with MacIntyre (69), Keita Nakajima (67) and Johnny Keefer (67).

It was a big finish for Keefer, the Korn Ferry Tour player of the year in 2025 who earned one of three spots to the British Open next week at Royal Birkdale. The other two spots went to Michael Thorbjornsen and Victor Perez.

Keefer had been the third alternate and Thorbjornsen the fourth alternate for the British Open, and now they have tee times secured.

Rory McIlroy got within one shot of the lead before the co-leaders teed off when he shot 30 on the front nine. He wound up with a 64 to tie for seventh with Thorbjornsen. McIlroy was tied for the 18- and 36-hole lead until a 73 in the third round left him six shots back.

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., finished in a four-way tie for 26th at 6 under, 11 shots behind Kim. Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., and Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Ont., finished in a seven-way tie for 52nd at 1 under.

“It’s nice to sign this week off with a good score, but I know I need to do a bit of work between now and next Thursday to feel really comfortable with my game,” McIlroy said. “But I don’t feel like it’s too far away. There’s definitely some positive signs.”

Kim got off to a fast start in his PGA Tour career with a third-place finish in the Scottish Open on a sponsor exemption as a 20-year-old. He won twice on the PGA Tour that year, added another Las Vegas title in 2023 and played in the Olympics and Presidents Cup in 2024.

But the last two years has been a struggle, and Kim said he worked hard without as much attention to get going in the right direction.

“I’ve had a tough couple of years,” he said. “I got to taste a lot of that humble pie, and I got to really learn about myself and I’m still trying to grow, still trying to learn — still got a long way to go. But this one I wanted to dedicate to the people that were in my corner the whole time and struggled with me and who celebrated with me.”

He opened with a birdie and said a 2-iron he hit into the wind to seven feet on the second hole — even though he missed the birdie putt — gave him confidence that his swing was good enough to win. And then he held off a strong chasing pack along the back nine without dropping a shot.

Kim only had two par putts outside four feet and he made them both.

MacIntyre was done in by four bogeys in a seven-hole stretch in the middle of his round, only to make eagle on the par-5 12th to at least give himself a fighting chance.

“Coming home here, playing the Scottish Open, having a chance to win with the whole crowd behind you is unbelievable,” he said. “Just a shame I couldn’t give them something.”

Kim, the first South Korean player to win the Scottish Open, was projected to move just outside the top 30 in the world and to No. 32 in the FedEx Cup with the season winding down.

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The Associated Press