PGA Tour youngster Tom Kim finished in eighth place at the men’s golf tournament of the Paris Olympics on Sunday, the best performance ever by a South Korean male golfer in Summer Games.
Kim, a three-time PGA Tour winner, shot a three-under 68 in the final round at Le Golf National in Guyancourt, south of Paris, to finish at 13-under 271. He ended up four shots behind the bronze medal winner, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan.
Scottie Scheffler of the United States, one of Kim’s playing partners on Sunday and his close friend, won the gold medal at 19-under, following a blistering, bogey-free round of nine-under 62. Scheffler, world No. 1, has six victories on the PGA Tour so far this year, including the Masters title from April.
Tommy Fleetwood of Britain grabbed the bronze medal at 18-under after shooting a 66 on Sunday. Matsuyama shot a 65 for the bronze, holding off the Frenchman Victor Perez by one stroke.
Kim hung around the medal contention after 한국을 recording four birdies on the front nine. But a bogey on the par-3 11th halted his momentum, and a double bogey on the final hole pushed him further down the leaderboard.
The other South Korean player, An Byeong-hun, tied for 24th at six-under. He went one-over 72 in the final round.
Kim was overcome with emotion afterward, and said he didn’t think he could feel so overwhelmed after playing in his first Olympics.
He insisted he wasn’t crying because he was disappointed not to have won a medal. It was far more complicated than that.
“I started getting emotional from about the 17th hole,” he said. “I had been stressed out preparing for the Olympics. And then some of the words that Scottie Scheffler told me really got to me, and tears just started flowing.”