This Week on PGA Tour Players Are Just Like Us: Si Woo Kim Dunks 5 Balls in the Water and Makes a Historic 13 on a Short Par 3
PGA Tour events can be frustrating to watch for the casual golfer. Professional players make the impossible look routine on a regular basis, which makes the average Joe watching from the couch at home think, ‘Why can’t I ever do that?’
But sometimes even the best golfers in the world can be humbled by this indomitable game.
Si Woo Kim, who’s currently the 54th-ranked player in the OWGR, proved professional golfers are human just like us by making a historic 13 on a short par 3 at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
Si Woo Kim dunks five balls in the water and makes a 13 on a short par 3
As Kim plodded through his final round at this past weekend’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, he wasn’t playing for much anymore. The South Korean golfer sat at 5-over par and more than 20 strokes back of the leaders as he walked to the tee box of the par-3 11th hole.
The 11th played relatively short on Sunday at just 155 yards, but water surrounding the island green posed a dangerous challenge for the 65 players in the field at TPC Southwind.
Kim, like many other players on Sunday, plunked his tee shot in the water to the right, but it only got worse from there. After walking to the drop zone 96 yards from the hole, Kim proceeded to splash four more approach shots in the water to the same side. He finally kept his ball in play with his 11th shot, and he got up and down from behind the green to finish with a 10-over par 13.
According to the PGA Tour, Kim’s 13 was the highest score recorded on a par 3 in non-majors since 1983. It was also the highest score ever recorded in a PGA Tour event at TPC Southwind.
Kim finished strong, but still came in last place
Kim couldn’t have been thrilled after tapping in for a 13 on the shortest hole on the golf course, but he rebounded in impressive fashion by making a birdie on the par-4 12th hole. He then made a double bogey on the par-3 14th before making three straight birdies on 15, 16, and 17 to finish his final round in style.
At the end of the day, Kim recorded an 8-over 78 on Sunday to finish the tournament at 13-over par and in dead last place.
But get this — Kim’s 78 wasn’t even the worst score from the final round in Memphis. American Kevin Kisner shot a 9-over 79 with two double bogeys and a quadruple bogey on the card.
TPC Southwind was taking no prisoners on Sunday.
What’s the highest score ever recorded on a single hole in PGA tour history?
Kim’s 13 this past weekend was surely the most embarrassing moment of his professional career, but it isn’t the highest score ever recorded on the PGA Tour.
In the 1927 Shawnee Open, as the story goes, Tommy Armour hit 10 balls out of bounds on the par-5 17th hole and ended up with an 18-over 23. A 23! Armour’s nightmare hole remains the only archaeopteryx (a score of 15-over par or worse on a single hole) in Tour history.
Cheer up, Si Woo. It could’ve been much worse!
