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Tom Kim repeats in Vegas
Kim defends at the Shriners on the PGA Tour, Angel Yin beats Lilia Vu in a playoff in China, Brooks Koepka wins in Jeddah, and Pavon captures the Spanish Open
Jack Middlebrook
October 16, 2023
Winner’s Circle
LIV Jeddah
Shriners Children's Open
Open de España
Buick LPGA Shanghai
Japan Open Golf Championship
Macao Open
KOREIT Championship
Fujitsu Ladies Golf Tournament
PGA Tour - Shriners Children's Open
Tom Kim defended his title at the Shriners with a one-shot win over Adam Hadwin in Las Vegas.
Returning to the winner's circle 🏆
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR)
12:44 AM • Oct 16, 2023
At only 21, Kim is now a three-time winner on the PGA Tour and rises to 11th in the world. He gained the lead with a blistering 62 on Saturday and converted the 54-hole lead with a closing 66.
Adam Hadwin notched his third solo second finish of the year (Rocket Mortgage Classic & Zurich Classic) in his first start in the fall season.
Both Eric Cole and Ludvig Åberg finished with 62s on Sunday. For Cole, the nine-under round moved him to a tie for third place and helped build his case for PGA Tour rookie of the year. Åberg finished in a tie for 13th, and the 62 was his career low on the PGA tour and marked another solid result for his fall season.
LPGA - Buick LPGA Shanghai
Angel Yin won in a playoff in Shanghai to capture her first LPGA tour victory.
It's celebration time! 🥳
@angelyinlol
— LPGA (@LPGA)
12:49 PM • Oct 15, 2023
The victory for Yin came in a repeat of the playoff battle at the Chevron Championship earlier in the year, where she faced Lilia Vu. However, the results flipped this time around, and Yin managed to birdie the first playoff hole to hold on for her first win after 159 starts on the LPGA tour.
Lilia Vu got off to a hot start on Sunday, birdieing four of her first five holes to gain the early lead over Yin, but she cooled off over the next 14 holes to finish in a tie with Yin after four rounds and head to a playoff. For Vu, the number 1 player in the world, the playoff loss marks another impressive finish on a career year that has seen her win two majors and rise to the top of the game.
DP World Tour - Open de España
Matthieu Pavon won in Madrid for his first European Tour win. Pavon had been having a consistent season with five top-10 finishes heading into the Spanish Open, and his opening round 63 helped him break through for a win by four shots.
Pavon’s closest competitor was South African Zander Lombard, who played the entire weekend bogey-free.
Jon Rahm finished with a final round 64 to move inside the top 10 but comfortably out of reach of Pavon.
LIV Jeddah
Brooks Koepka successfully defended his title in Jeddah with a playoff win over Talor Gooch. Koepka’s win last year in Jeddah came in a three-hole playoff with Peter Uihlein, and he needed only two holes to defeat Gooch this year.
The win marks Koepka’s third of the season (LIV Orlando & PGA Championship) and moves him to over $22 million won on the year.
For Talor Gooch, the playoff loss came with the consolation prize of an individual season championship, passing Cam Smith on the season-long points race. The individual points win gave Gooch an $18 million bonus to go along with the $2.25 million for the solo second finish.
As the Jeddah event was the last individual tournament of the LIV campaign, the bottom four season-long point finishers won’t be on the LIV tour next season: Jediah Morgan, James Piot, Chase Koepka, and Shiwan Kim.